Why do vinegar and baking soda clean stains?

I don't know when the seasonings on the kitchen shelf began to transform step by step into cleaning products, and the first two to bear the brunt are vinegar and baking soda. These two can shine in the array of cleaning products, which is inseparable from the life tips played on the public screens of buses and the videos on various short video platforms that teach you how to remove stains in one second.

From cleaning the entire kitchen and toilet stains to cleaning fruits and vegetables, they both have the potential to develop side businesses. After all, who wouldn't say that "cleaners" that are food-grade and do not contain irritating chemicals are good?

Baking soda is the common name for sodium bicarbonate, which is daily used as a leavening agent for foods such as steamed buns and fried dough sticks. The main component of vinegar is acetic acid, which is produced by acetobacillus during the fermentation process.

Why can't vinegar and baking soda outperform all the spices on the shelf? The answer is simple - baking soda and vinegar are at opposite ends of the pH scale. The pH scale is a measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is, ranging from 0 (acidic) to 14 (alkaline). The pH of vinegar is usually around 2.9, and the pH of baking soda (pure sodium bicarbonate solution) is about 9. So when you use baking soda or vinegar for cleaning, you are actually doing something very complex at the molecular level.

Let's start with baking soda. Its aqueous solution has a large covalent bond and can be dissolved in non-polar solvents such as alkaline earth metals, but it is insoluble in polar oils. In other words, baking soda will produce a "rejection reaction" to organic matter such as oils, so it can be used to wash stains, grease and other sticky substances.

In addition, baking soda particles themselves are also a very mild abrasive, which can make cleaning more thorough without leaving scratches. With these properties, as long as you are willing to explore, you will find a variety of uses for baking soda in life, such as kitchen cleaning, hair degreasing, unclogging sewers, washing dishes, washing clothes, etc.

Because vinegar contains acetic acid, it can decompose calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide, which are also part of the components of scale. Therefore, soaking some dirt on sinks, bathtubs, and counters in vinegar will be more effective.

Thanks to this effect, vinegar is often used by men, women, and children when fish bones get stuck in their throats. Fish bones contain calcium carbonate, so in theory it is possible to soften them with vinegar. However, the way people deal with it is not very effective, such as drinking it directly.

The softening effect of drinking vinegar directly is no different from drinking water, because it can only stay in the throat for less than a few seconds and has little effect. And drinking too much vinegar can cause stomach discomfort. (PS: Those practices such as skipping rope and swallowing rice balls are also not advisable. In serious cases, the fish bone may scratch the esophagus and cause infection. The correct way is to cough hard or induce vomiting to flush the fish bone out. If that doesn't work, you should see a doctor immediately.)

Here are some correct ways to use vinegar. Mixing vinegar and baking soda together may produce extraordinary results. But never mix them in equal amounts. You can choose which one to put more of according to your needs. Because when they are mixed, acetic acid will decompose baking soda and release carbon dioxide, which is more conducive to cleaning surface dirt.

For example, a mixture of one part baking soda and two parts vinegar can be used to break down sink and drain grime;

Add half a cup of baking soda to your laundry to enhance cleaning, and a small amount of white vinegar to your rinse cycle to kill bacteria and soften fabrics.

First, place the vinegar-soaked towel on the area where you need to remove hard water stains. After a few hours, remove the rag and scrub the dirty area with a paste made of baking soda and water.