Mothball
Encyclopedia
Mothballs are small balls of chemical pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...

 and deodorant
Deodorant
Deodorants are substances applied to the body to affect body odor caused by bacterial growth and the smell associated with bacterial breakdown of perspiration in armpits, feet and other areas of the body. A subgroup of deodorants, antiperspirants, affect odor as well as prevent sweating by...

 used when storing clothing and other articles susceptible to damage from mold
Mold
Molds are fungi that grow in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae. Molds are not considered to be microbes but microscopic fungi that grow as single cells called yeasts...

 or moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 larvae (especially clothes moths
Tineidae
Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family contains considerably more than 3,000 species in over 300 genera. Most of the tineid moths are small or medium-sized, with wings held roofwise over the body at rest...

 like Tineola bisselliella).

Their use when clothing is stored out-of-season gave rise to the colloquial
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...

 usage of the terms "mothballed" and "put into mothballs" to refer to anything which is put into storage or whose operation is suspended.

Composition and safety

Older mothballs consisted primarily of naphthalene
Naphthalene
Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass. As an aromatic hydrocarbon, naphthalene's structure consists of a fused pair of benzene rings...

, but due to naphthalene's flammability, modern mothballs use 1,4-dichlorobenzene
1,4-Dichlorobenzene
1,4-Dichlorobenzene is an organic compound with the formula C6H4Cl2. This colorless solid has a strong odor. It consists of two chlorine atoms substituted at opposing sites on a benzene ring. p-DCB is used a pesticide and a deodorant, most familiarly in mothballs in which it is a replacement for...

 instead. Both of these ingredients have a strong, pungent odor often associated strongly with mothballs. 1,4-Dichlorobenzene and naphthalene should not be mixed as they react chemically to produce a liquid which may cause damage to items being preserved. Camphor
Camphor
Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...

, an insect repellent, can also be used in mothballs.

Both chemicals kill moths and moth larvae with the vapor. Both naphthalene and 1,4-dichlorobenzene sublimate, meaning they evaporate from a solid state to a gas; this gas is toxic to the moths.

For either of these chemicals to be effective, they need to be placed with the clothing in a sealed container so the vapors can build up and kill the moths. In a sealed atmosphere like this, the vapors are not harmful to people because they are contained. The main threat would occur when opening the containers, or from wearing clothes immediately after opening (especially a problem for infants). A solution is to open the containers outside and let the clothes hang and air out for a day before wearing.

Uses and risks

In addition to repelling insects such as moths and silverfish
Silverfish
Lepisma saccharina, frequently called silverfish, fishmoths, carpet sharks or paramites, are small, wingless insects in the order Thysanura...

, mothballs are used as a stovepipe cleaner, snake repellent, and to keep away mice or other pests. Mothballs have also been used by some campers to keep bears away from their food or even their entire campsite.

The main concern about the use of mothballs as a snake, mouse, or animal repellent is their easy access to children, pets, and beneficial animals. Leaving them in a garden or in a living space unprotected makes it very easy for unintended victims such as children and pets to gain access to them. Mothballs are highly toxic when ingested, causing serious illness or death. In addition to this, using a very large quantity of mothballs in a basement or a living space may cause serious respiratory problems in people living in the space.

Mothballs are a neurotoxin - especially those made of paradichlorobenzine - and needs to be treated as such.

It has also been suggested that the toxic chemical in mothballs will bond to garden soil, causing damage to it. Research has shown that a weak bond can occur, but naturally occurring soil microbes will break down the toxic component of mothballs over extended periods of time. In addition to this, the toxic effects of mothballs may also kill beneficial soil insects while it is present in soil.

Mothballs have been used for solvent abuse
Inhalant
Inhalants are a broad range of drugs whose volatile vapors are taken in via the nose and trachea. They are taken by volatilization, and do not include drugs that are inhaled after burning or heating...

 by adolescents. Mothballs have also been found to be a carcinogen
Carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer. This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes...

. Older formula mothballs have also been used by drag racers to enhance the octane value of petrol by dissolving the mothballs in some of the fuel and filtering out the remains with a filter paper.

In the Mythbusters
MythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...

episode "Scuba Diver, Car Capers", it was shown to be "plausible" that adding mothballs to a car's fuel tank would increase its horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

.

External links

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