Basically the title. Why do we use baking soda for so many cleaning tasks? What about it makes it the best for cleaning?
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Baking soda (bicarbonate) is neat, and pretty rare among common chemicals in that it’s “amphoteric” which is just fancy talk for it can act as an acid OR a base. It’s happy accepting or losing a proton (which is what bases and acids do, respectively). That means:
With acids, it acts like a base and neutralizes it.
With bases, it acts like an acid and neutralizes it!
Plus it’s non-toxic.
Plus it’s gritty and abrasive so it does good physical scrubbing if you make a paste.
Plus it’s easily water-soluble so you can easily make cleaning solutions. But being able to neutralize acids AND bases is the big one.
Multiple reasons:
– Extremely cheap. We are talking about less than a $ per kilogram here.
– Relatively neutral pH, so not attacking permanent things.
– Can still act basic and somewhat acidic to attack simple residues.
– Produces CO2 gas with acids (vinegar/acetic acid in particular, another common cleaning agent), thus creating foam, stimulation and other effects that help with cleaning.
– Acts as an abrasive powder.
However, I tend to use it only rarely for cleaning, more often for neutralizing stuff. Modern household cleaners from supermarkets are cheap enough and often easier to use.
Edit: forgot the abrasive properties.
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