The Video Show “Water and a Chemical Turning Into Milk ?”

 

This video demonstrates the creation of fake milk when it shows a brown liquid turn milky white in the presence of water.

In October 2018, a Facebook video of a chemical being mixed with water went viral when it was combined with the assertion that it somehow demonstrated an effort to create a dangerous milk imposter. The account sharing the post indicated that the phenomenon had spread all the way to Nairobi, Kenya, and warned that “we need to be extra careful about what we are buying”:

According to a reliable source – the only evidence providing support for the suggestion that the final product was “milk” was that the solution was white and opaque. Such a description can apply to myriad other chemical concoctions, however, so there is no reason to assume that a milk substitute beverage is what is seen being created in the clip.

Therefore, based on the color of the chemical added, it is likely that brown liquid is the antiseptic liquid formulation of Dettol, an internationally popular line of cleaning and first-aid products with the active ingredient of chloroxylenol. Their antiseptic liquid solution is stored as a brown oil prior to being diluted with water.  This fact is a major part of the company’s marketing imagery. It is included in this commercial for the product designed for the same Kenyan audiences whom the Facebook video is purportedly directed towards.

Actual dairy milk, it bears mentioning, is white for the same reason as the liquid in the video – an emulsion. In the case of actual milk, the emulsion contains butterfat globules and water, not Dettol and water.

Why Dettol liquid becomes Milky when treated with water?

The active ingredient in Dettol is chloroxylenol which is a phenol. Phenols has very low solubility in water. When you add Dettol to water, the chloroxylenol being an organic liquid immiscible with water forms an emulsion and appears white.

 

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