For protection, people will often arm themselves with pepper spray. They will use this device to disarm or harm the attacker. Usually, you spray the pepper spray in the face hoping for the shower to make contact with the eyes. Their eyes will burn, and they will be in pain. Pepper spray was made to cause people pain and stop attacking.
However, two words are used to mean the same thing. One is mace, and the other is pepper spray. However, there is a big difference. Mace is the company or brand name that makes one kind of pepper spray. Different types of companies produce pepper spray. However, over time, people use both words to mean the same device.