When we think about synthetic urine, what comes to mind almost instantaneously is that it’s an item used for pranks. That’s understandable given its nature.
Synthetic urine, however, is more than just a novelty item. The development of fake pee is a tremendous help in scientific studies and for companies that need to test their products or services using urine.
Urine is heavily utilized for various testing methodologies, most especially in medicine, so if you think about it, it’s quite clear why laboratory urine is so important. Below we will discuss the varying usage of synthetic urine and how it might be valuable for your studies, research, products, and services.
What is Synthetic Urine?
Synthetic urine or laboratory-manufactured urine was first made to serve as a matrix for drug testing laboratories. It is made up of elements that resemble that of actual human urine including its color, temperature, smell, and other properties.
Artificial urine is made up of chemicals like creatine, ammonia, sulfates, uric acid, and everything else that you’d normally find in human pee. It’s not surprising that someone can be easily fooled or can’t differentiate between synthetic and human urine.
Fake urine traces its development back to Friedrich Wohler, a 19th-century researcher. Wohler came up with fake pee by accident when he was working with the compound ammonium cyanate.
Since then, synthetic urine has been very useful to scientists and product researchers as well as developers. Can you imagine if they had to use actual human urine every time? That would have huge implications on necessary tests, not to mention it would be more costly.
Let’s talk about the many uses of synthetic urine.
For Laboratory Research
Human bodily fluids such as blood and urine are heavily used in scientific studies. Not just in laboratories for testing but also in schools and universities for teaching. Experts suggest that synthetic urine or blood is not going to 100% replace actual human fluids in these applications but at least be utilized for a huge part of it.
Again, can you imagine if students, researchers, and scientists were exposed to human bodily fluids frequently? That’s probably not only costly for the school or laboratory but also a bit dangerous for those involved. Laboratory-manufactured urine is a lot more predictable and controlled so they significantly lower health risks for people who participate in these fields.
Having said all of that, synthetic urine (and other synthetic human fluids) are largely utilized to advance science, help teach future scientists or medical practitioners, manufacture medicine, and test out methodologies — so you can see how useful it has been to our lives.
Various experiments and urinalysis equipment calibration are all made possible by the utilization of fake pee, as well. Students and researchers must learn how to handle synthetic pee first before moving on to actual samples.
Lab urine is also ideal as a control sample for various studies.
For Product Testing and Development
Part of the reason why synthetic urine is so high in demand is that it is heavily utilized in product testing as well as in development.
Just think about the products that benefit from utilizing fake urine as opposed to actual urine in their trial-and-error phases. This includes a wide range of cleaning products like detergents, soaps, formula, and a lot of other items we use every day.
The diaper industry both for babies and adults also utilizes fake pee in their product testing stage. Fake urine is utilized to test for absorbency and even make sure that diapers control leaks effectively.
Any product that contains fabric that should repel urine effectively benefits from the availability of fake urine. And, cleaning products are tested to make sure they cannot only clean pee on fabrics or surfaces but also remove its smell and discoloration too.
Synthetic urine may also contain chemicals as well as potential pathogens actual human urine does, so by using it, you lower (if not eliminate) the health risks (from exposure) of people handling it, and at the same time, companies may test if their products can indeed fight off bacteria or germs that come with actual urine effectively.
Gardening
It’s already a widely known fact that urine is heavily used as fertilizer in gardening and agriculture. So, it should not be surprising that synthetic urine has a place in this field too.
Fake pee like Quick Fix Synthetic Urine is well-known and effective for gardening. This is all made possible by three such elements found in both actual and lab-made urine. These are phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen.
These three elements are found in mineral fertilizers and aid a lot in helping your plants grow healthily. Did you know that urine is more preferred as fertilizer than feces? Yes, it is. That’s because urine does not carry bacteria like E. coli and salmonella.
Urine when purified is even safe to drink, but we’ll discuss that subject later. If it’s safe to drink for humans, it should be safe for your plants too, not to mention healthy.
If you’re someone who dreads using actual urine on your plants then a better alternative should be synthetic urine. Synthetic pee is also quite an effective urine fence for animals that may come and ruin your garden.
One whiff of it and they’ll stay away.
Space Exploration
We did mention earlier that when properly purified, urine may be drinken, right? Yes, that’s true. Collecting and drinking your urine in dire survival situations is a recommended technique when you’re out of water. It may not be ideal, or even a bit of a health risk, but it’s a last resort situational remedy.
Its application in space exploration is a bit similar to that. Remember that a lot of endeavors today are geared toward space exploration. Urine or synthetic urine will be crucial for bringing water into space either to water garden plants or to purify astronauts’ urine for survival.
Even today, the International Space Station (ISS) has technology that turns urine into drinking water. How else were scientists able to develop this system than by using synthetic urine?
Truly, the possibilities are endless in this application because space explorers won’t ever run out of water since they will be recycling what they drink. Space travel takes a lot of time and finding ways to remedy these mundane or basic needs is key to its success.
As of today, though, the technologies involving these aspects are in their infancy and far from being perfect.
Fetishes and Pranks
Lastly, we can’t deny the fact that synthetic urine is high on the list of items used for pranks. You don’t want to spill real pee on your friends and family, right?
Just make sure that whoever it is that you’re pulling a prank on is a good sport so no relationships get strained.
On the other hand, have you heard of urophilia? It’s a sexual fetish that’s more common than you’d think it is. The concept is to either pee on your partner or let them pee on you. But, with the use of fake urine, the fetish may be a lot less, well, unhygienic.
People who practice this can use fake urine for their pleasure as it has no toxins and is not harmful in any way, only that fake pee can still feel and smell like real pee when utilized. Each to their own.
Final Thoughts
Synthetic urine, since its discovery, has paved the way for better, more efficient research, studies, and development of a multitude of products, services, medicines, and equipment, and even helped push the boundaries of science.
Who would have thought that something so mundane as fake pee could help move our knowledge forward in various fields? Its scientific, as well as practical, usage has been largely beneficial to our daily lives even if we’ve not been fully aware of it at all.
Curious about which is the best synthetic urine? Read about Quick Fix: The Golden Standard