The simplest description of charcoal is the cold hard black remains
left over after your campfire has gone out. Essentially all the water
has been evaporated off (Pyrolysis), along with some volatile
constituents, leaving behind the familiar crusty crumbly black chunks.
Now charcoal can be made from the bones of animals, or coal, but for
medicinal use it has historically come primarily from plant-based
sources such as hardwood, bamboo, coconut, or peat. But, what is left
after the fire goes out is, apart from a few trace minerals, pure
carbon, just like the carbon atoms that make up the soft graphites in a
"lead" pencil or the 345 carat
diamonds in a golden crown. What makes them different from each other
is their distinct
physical structures.
Graphite
The carbon atoms in the graphite molecule lie in parallel sheets that allow them to "shed" easily in layers.
Diamonds
On
the other hand the carbon atoms in a diamond are arranged in a
3-dimensional framework that reinforces each facet of its perfect cubic
structure, making it the hardest mineral known.
Then
there is charcoal. It has an intricate lattice-like design with no
recognizable pattern. Quite invisible to the eye is the tremendous
surface area hidden within the countless folds and cracks of the
charcoal particles. It is to this large surface area that a vast number
of chemicals (including many that are poisonous to life), bind
electrostatically (Van der Waals force). It is this tremendous surface
area that science began to more fully harness during the late 1800s
leading to the "activation" of raw charcoal.
By subjecting the raw charcoal to the "activation" of oxidizing agents such as air, steam, or oxygen, at high 
temperatures, the internal structure of the charcoal particle is
further eroded creating an even greater surface area. Charcoal
particles have a disproportionately high
surface area as can be seen in this scanning electron micrograph of a particle of activated charcoal.
If we could unfold one gram of activated charcoal it would equal anywhere from 500 to 1500m2.
One teaspoon of activated charcoal powder (about 3.3gms) has about the
same surface area as a football field. This tremendous surface area
translates into a tremendous potential to "adsorb" large amounts of
gases, toxins, poisons, or pollutants. For example a 1 quart jar of
activated charcoal powder can adsorb 80 quarts of ammonia gas! Now
that's a "Black Hole", and one we can actually see.
Along with the tremendous surface area of charcoal there are the pores that tunnel into the actual charcoal particles.
Charcoal manufacturers have developed different activation processes so
that they can control to a large degree the size of these pores. In
this way different charcoals can be designed to match the molecular
sizes of the "pollutants" that are being targeted. These pores range in
size from small to even smaller (50µ in diameter down to under 2µ).
Manufacturers of charcoal
first look at the impurities to be removed from a substance. They then
select the material and activation process that best match the
impurities. For example, proteins are generally large molecules and are
found in most natural products. Next come coloring compounds. The range
continues all the way down to the very small, relatively volatile odor
compounds. Industry has been able to produce charcoals with internal
structures and pores that match these various molecular sizes.
Activated charcoal works through several different mechanisms. Adsorption (not to be confused with absorption),
the most well known mechanism, acts by electrostatically binding
molecules to the surfaces of the charcoal particle – technically known
as Van der Waals forces, or chemisorption. Then there are chemical
reduction reactions – as when charcoal is used to remove chlorine from
water. Activated charcoal can also catalyze a number of chemical
conversions, or can be a carrier of catalytic agents such as precious
metals. An example is using silver impregnated charcoal to disinfect
water. Charcoal can also act as a carrier of biomass, as in supporting
material in biological filters used in your backyard goldfish pond.
Another function is as a carrier of chemicals as in slow release color
applications – food dyes and pigments. Are there more mechanisms?
Scientists suspect there are.
Buckyballs
In 1985 researchers H. W.
Kroto and R. E. Smalley were curious about the atmosphere of giant red
stars. It was known that carbon forms cluster molecules under such
conditions. Among other carbon species, 
they detected the carbon molecule C60
for the first time. It possessed unique physicochemical properties,
extra stability, as well as some previously unexplained phenomena. To
account for these features, they proposed a geodesic-like structure,
one that essentially looks like the pattern on a soccer ball.
Consequently the molecule was named after Buckminster Fuller, the
inventor of geodesic domes (made famous at the 1967 World’s Fair).
Buckminsterfullerene (fondly referred to as “Buckyballs” amongst some
researchers) is the chosen name for C60,
whereas the name fullerene is conveniently used for this whole family
of closed carbon cages. They may not be as big as giant red stars, but
these microscopic cells have gigantic appetites.
In 1999 Eiji Osawa, and colleagues at the Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan, demonstrated that C60
can also be extracted from wood charcoal. As a result, many
researchers now visualize charcoal as a structure made up of fragments
of these “Buckyballs”. Along with the discovery of nanotubes or “Bucky
onions” there is the suggestion of new magnetic and
electrical properties. It all sounds a little bit like science fiction.
No doubt in time these latest models for charcoal will again be
modified. In the meantime charcoal still mystifies even the informed.
Scientists marvel as they continue to ask, “How is charcoal able to…?”
Henry Schaefer is the resident Quantum Chemist at the University of Georgia and Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, at UC Berkeley.
He is the third most quoted chemist in the world. He writes of his
different discoveries: “The significance and joy in my science comes in
those occasional moments of discovering something new and saying, “So
that’s how God did it!” How is charcoal able to…? God knows.
A Mystery
Being skeptical by nature,
I want to know how a thing works. Naturally then, I want to know
why/how charcoal works. I can hardly blame some people for questioning
charcoal as a remedy. If they ask how it works, science has no complete
answer. For some minds, that will mark the end of their interest. For
those who may be critical because there is no complete “rational”
explanation as to how charcoal works, may I point you to the classic
drug reference for students and practitioners, The Pharmacological Basis Of Therapeutics by
Goodman and Gilman. Goodman writes, “There are few drugs, if any, for
which we know the basic mechanism of action. Drug action is not drug
effect. The effect results from the action of the drug.” Regarding the
use of nitroglycerin to moderate attacks of angina, Gilman goes on to
write, “The mode of action of nitrates to relieve typical angina is not
fully understood.” The same may be said of charcoal. The positive
effects of charcoal as a remedy are well documented, as you will see
below. While the question of how charcoal works remains unclear, as it
does for most drugs, there is one big difference. Charcoal has no known
poisonous side effects.
The Future of Charcoal
From the dawn of
civilization, man has had an intimate relationship with charcoal. As
man and his technology have advanced, so too have the environmental
consequences increased. History tells us vast tracts of forests were
denuded to meet the demand for the prized charcoal to change rock and
sand into metals and glass. But the metals and glass used to build,
beautify, and conquer with were a two-edged sword. As the land suffered
from the thoughtless clear-cutting practices, the atmosphere and
streams also began to feel the added burden of industry’s pollution.
And, with the polluting came new diseases.
As time has marched on, technology has proliferated and, not
surprisingly, so too has disease, on land, in air and sea, in plants,
in animals, and in man. Two thousand years ago, in the midst of the
Iron Age, Paul of Tarsus recognized even then, that “The whole creation
groans and labors as in the pains of childbirth right up to the
present”. How well it describes our environmental concerns today.
But, we have not been abandoned to our wastelands of pollution and
disease without help. The simple benefits of the humble charcoal have
also been magnified and exploited, almost beyond imagination. Charcoal
has been found more than capable of disarming the lethal properties of
thousands of man-made pollutants. Science is employing charcoal in
countless ways as it tries to stem the tide of exponential growth in
disease in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Whether you are
living within easy access of the technological advances of North
America, or hiking the trails of some developing country, charcoal is
just as modern as it was four thousand years ago, just as universal, just as versatile, and just as powerful.
In a world being poisoned by its own near-sighted wisdom, God the
Creator has provided man with a microscopic black hole big enough to
swallow much of what ails us. CharcoalRemedies.com pp. 38-40.
