science

Purell

Purell is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Purell rather than just read about it. In short: Purell is an American brand of hand sanitizer invented in 1988, and introduced to the consumer market in 1997, by GOJO Industries. Its primary component is ethyl alcohol (70% v/v), and is used by wetting one's hands thoroughly with the product, then briskly rubbing one's hands together until dry.

Key takeaways

Purell belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Purell to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Purell from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Purell is an American brand of hand sanitizer invented in 1988, and introduced to the consumer market in 1997, by GOJO Industries. Its primary component is ethyl alcohol (70% v/v), and is used by wetting one's hands thoroughly with the product, then briskly rubbing one's hands together until dry. Purell was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2006, then reacquired by GOJO in 2010. That year, Purell Green Certified Instant Hand Sanitizer became the first hand sanitizer to meet EcoLogo CCD-170 standards. In early 2020, some of Purell's claims, including that it kills "99.99% of most common germs", have been met with regulatory warning to desist the claim. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, GOJO faced unprecedented demand for Purell products due to its reputation as a leading name-brand for hand sanitizer. Almost immediately, as cases began to rise in the United States, Purell products ran out-of-stock and remained largely unavailable to the general public, with new shipments being prioritized to medical and professional customers. Purell's products were still hard to find in July 2020, despite GOJO producing more than twice the amount of hand sanitizer in 2020 than in 2019. GOJO has stated it is currently investing in further strategies to source ingredients and substantially increase manufacturing space for use by mid-2021.

Ownership and distribution Pfizer acquired the exclusive rights to distribute Purell in the consumer market from GOJO Industries in 2004, and on June 26, 2006, Johnson & Johnson announced its acquisition of the Pfizer Consumer Healthcare division, which includes the Purell brand. In 2010, GOJO Industries bought the brand back from Johnson & Johnson.

Health risks and claims Purell adds an unpleasant bitter taste to its product to discourage ingestion. Since Purell has been available, the accidental or intentional ingestion of its products has been rare. The Chicago Tribune reported that children have become inebriated by ingesting Purell. One child's ingestion of the hand sanitizer caused her blood alcohol level to reach 0.218%; Purell contains 70% ethyl alcohol. The product packaging recommends that the product be "kept out of the reach of children". Purell has been claimed to "[kill] more than 99.99% of most common germs that may cause illness in a healthcare setting, including MRSA & VRE." However, in January 2020, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to Purell's maker, GOJO Industries, to stop its claims that the product is effective at eliminating diseases because there are no peer-reviewed, published clinical studies demonstrating the company's claims. The product is flammable, as mentioned in the product label. Besides ethyl alcohol, it contains Water, Isopropyl Alcohol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glycerin, Isopropyl Myristate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Copolymer, Aminomethyl Propanol, & Fragrance.

References

Further reading David Owen, "Hands Across America," The New Yorker, March 4, 2013, p. 30. On the development and increasing usage of Purell.

External links Official website

Illustrations

Purell: A bottle of Purell — A bottle of Purell

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Purell

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Purell claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Purell before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Purell ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Purell

In research: Purell appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Purell in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Purell is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010 mergers and acquisitions, American brands, Antiseptics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Purell outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Purell in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Purell means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Purell out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Purell in simple terms?

Why does Purell matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Purell?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Purell.