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Updated alkaline cleaner section

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Kenneth John Odle 2025-01-17 14:48:20 -05:00
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science-of-cleaning.tex
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@ -364,9 +364,9 @@ Citric acid is commonly found in citrus fruits (hence the name). You can purchas
Hydrochloric acid is pretty strong stuff (and therefore, it's pretty dangerous stuff). It's used in a number of commercially available cleaners, especially those that are meant to clean rust or limescale. You can also buy it in your local building supply center where it probably goes by the name ``muriatic acid''.
\chapter{Alkaline Cleaners}
\chapter{Alkaline (i.e., Basic) Cleaners}
Basic (that is, ``alkaline'') cleaners work by releasing an \ch{OH-} (hydroxide) ion into a solution.
Basic (that is, ``alkaline'') cleaners work by releasing an \ch{OH-} (hydroxide) ion into a solution. Three of them are commonly available in most stores: sodium bicarbonate (i.e., baking soda or bicarbonate of soda), ammonia, and bleach. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is also an alkaline cleaner, but is not commonly available in most stores today.
\section{Sodium Bicarbonate}
@ -378,10 +378,28 @@ You will often hear the recommendation to place a box of baking soda in your ref
\section{Ammonia}
The chemical formula for ammonia is \ch{NH3}, but it reacts with water to form a weak solution of hydroxide ions:
\begin{center}
\ch{!(ammonia)( NH3 ) + !(water)( H2O ) <=> !(ammonium\ ion)( NH4+ ) + !(hydroxide\ ion)( OH- )}
\end{center}
\section{Bleach — Sodium Hypochlorite}
Household bleach\footnote{This is a term we need to be careful with when it comes to chemistry, as ``bleaching'' has a lot of differnt (albeit similar) definitions and there are a lot of compounds that can act as bleaches. Hence, I will use the term ``household bleach'' when I'm talking about sodium hypochlorite.} (sodium hypochlorite) is technically a base, but it's really the chlorine that does most of the work. The unique thing about bleach is that it doesn't really clean—it just sanitizes by destroying bacteria and viruses by destroying genetic material. But it leaves behind all of that genetic material and whatever organic bits contained it.
Although you should always avoid mixing chemicals, you \textit{really} need to avoid mixing household bleach with other chemicals, as it can produce highly dangerous compounds.
\section{Lye — Sodium Hydroxide}
Lye (that is, sodium hydroxide or \ch{NaOH}) used to be commonly available in most stores, but it extremely alkaline. Concentrated lye solutions approach 14 on the pH scale, and so are extremely caustic and highly dangerous.
Traditionally, weak lye solutions were obtained by running water through wood ashes. Those solutions were then cooked with fats to produce soap through a process called \textit{saponification}.
Sodium hydroxide is also used in a lot of drain cleaners and oven cleaners because it excels at getting rid of protein-based dirts, like hair clogs and burnt food.
\chapter{Surfactants}