I suffer from nasal polyps which makes me more inclined to get sinus infections.  I've chosen not to have them removed surgically (at least for the moment), so I've been trying to deal with them with medication, but the sinus infections are a pain.  

My doctor has told me that antibiotics are not reckoned to be effective for sinus infections.  I have done my own research and experimented with various ideas and so far the most effective thing seems to be eating raw garlic, which I crush (to ensure that the cell walls are ruptured and allicin is produced) and then eat within a couple of hours.  

The biggest problem is that I can't manage this for more than a few days and every time I try it my tongue feels like I have burnt it all over for about a week after I stop.  It is extremely painful for quite some time.  While I eat the garlic it is very painful as well, but I can put up with that and get through it.  I have great difficulty in swallowing something without chewing thoroughly first, which probably doesn't help matters.  

I'm wondering whether the sulfenic acid (or possibly other acids) is burning my tongue and I have considered the idea of neutralising it with eg. sodium bicarbonate, but I'm a little nervous that this may cause a chemical reaction which will create something poisonous or neutralise the positive effects (and it really doesn't sound appetising).  

I'm curious to see what different ideas people may have from different disciplines and possibly personal experience?

Some sources say that carbon dioxide has no taste or smell but others say that it is acid/sour (this is the same word in German).

I think the latter are right in every aspect because if you open a bottle of sparkling water and let the gas above the water into your mouth it definitely tastes sour.

But why are there sources that say it has no taste or smell? Do they just mean you can't smell it in the concentration in which it is present in rather bad air? Or do they mean that the gas itself is neutral to our receptors, and they respond only to the carbic acid it forms with water? But it would be rather difficult to try to smell/taste DRY carbon dioxide, wouldn't it?

The car battery shape and size is pretty standard these days, I know you can purchase smaller lead cell batteries but why not much larger ones?

For example I have an electric van with 24 separate batteries but it would seem to make sense to make a bigger battery(especially as the voltage is 48v i.e. 4 in series) is there any limitations on how big you could build a lead battery and if so why?

I understand that batteries have cells at 2.2v each so could you just create bigger cells(driving more amps) or would you need to have many separate cells?

I understand that obviously their are weight/manif issues, but if we could forget these for now.

Hi, I've found some info about the color change of black tea based on acidity, but I would like to get some concrete answers and maybe pics of the polyphenols and tannins that are responsible for the "black" of black tea :) I'm a Chemistry student, so don't spare the details :)

At school we have been learning about metals reacting with acid.  I had a look at the periodic table and I saw that pottasium (K)  was an alkali metal.  I also knew that bananas are an excellent source of pottasium.  So why, when I eat a banana, does the hydrochloric acid in my stomach not react and make me explode?

Felix, 11, Norwich