What is in vinegar that makes it clean well, and what is in soap/bleach that makes it clean well despite both being in opposite ends of the scale? And is it advisable to use one before the other for maximum effectiveness?
In: Chemistry
There’s a common misconception I think a lot of people hold with acidity where they associate low pH with mean, corrosive, nasty acids while they associate high pH with smooth, non-reactive and ineffective liquid.
In truth, pH is simply a measure of concentration, it stands for “percent hydrogen”. Lower pH means a high concentration of H+ and low concentration of OH-, and high pH means a low concentration of H+ and high concentration of OH-. Think of it like a scale, the less there is of one, the more there is of another.
H+ and OH- matter because at the chemical level it is how cleaners work. Basic solutions like bleach, are really good at accepting H+ from other molecules because they stick to all of their OH- ions. When this happens, the molecules that give them up lose their integrity and collapse. For acids, it is the opposite, they are really good at donating H+ ions to other molecules which destabilizes them. In both cases a substance is broken down, but in different ways.
For reasons rooted in chemistry however, basic and acidic substances work better on different things. Acidic solutions are ideal for mineral deposits, rusts, and water stains, while basic solutions excel at breaking down organic material like grease, fats, and oils.
So, it’s not that one solution is *better* than the other, they are both equally useful but in different situations (for complicated reasons). Also, NEVER MIX CLEANING SOLUTIONS TOGETHER, when acids and bases react they create dangerous gases and corrosive salts. The ONLY safe substance you can mix with either is water, as it is naturally alkaline.
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