Thitirat Pongprajuc

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Baking Soda + Vinegar = Powerful Cleanser?

Many of natural cleaning blogs and magazines recommend using the mixture of baking

soda and vinegar as a powerful cleanser. For example, Readers Digest suggests using the white

paste of banking soda and vinegar to clean stainless-steel kitchen sink and bathroom (Editor,

n.d.). Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate (NHCO3) is a multi-purpose household ingredient.

Cleaning benefits of baking soda includes removing stains from plastic food containers, deep-

cleaning extra greasy dishes and pans, and banishing mildew from bathroom (Piro and Smith,

2017). Likewise, vinegar or acetic acid (CH3COOH) is a superstar in removing rust, deodorizing

sponges, and killing most mildew and mold (ALL-TIME, 2015). With the effective cleaning

functions of both baking soda and vinegar, some create a new cleaning tool which is the

combination of these two chemical substances.

Sodium bicarbonate is slightly alkaline and abrasive which makes it dislodge particles

and remove stains from a number of surfaces. On the other hand, acetic acid, as its name, is an

acid. By the way, the most common household vinegars are five percent of acetic acid and

ninety-five percent of water (Falin, 2016). Acidity of vinegar makes it be able to counteract with

icky buildups. However, when the two substances are mixed, the chemical reaction that takes

place is acid-base reaction, and the reaction of acid and base is that they neutralize each other to

produce salt and water.

In case of baking soda and vinegar, sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid combine to form

sodium acetate (CH3COONa), water, and carbon dioxide gas which escapes the solution as

bubbles. The chemical equation for the acid-base reaction is:

NaHCO3(s) + CH3COOH(l) CH3COONa(aq) + H2O(l) + CO2(g)

 Since carbon dioxide escapes the solution as a gaseous compound, the products of this

remaining in this reaction is sodium acetic and water. Sodium acetate has a wide range of use

such as food preparation, medical use, laboratory use, cosmetic use, and heating pad

(Wasserman, 2017). However, sodium acetate itself is not commonly used as a cleaning agent.

On the other hand, water is known as universal solvent due to the polar arrangement of the

molecular geometry. This polarity makes water electrical charge that can be attracted to a

different molecule, and then dissolves it. Therefore, some stains that are soluble in water will

dissolve. Sodium acetate can act as an abrasive which can scrape away residues. In addition,

carbon dioxide gas tries to escape from the solution as it is seen in the form of bubbles. These

bubbles could lead people to think that the mixture of baking soda and vinegar does the cleaning

function. Moreover, in real life situation, it is difficult to measure the exact amount of substances

to completely consumed in the reaction. The significant amount of baking soda or vinegar may

do the cleaning work in which leads to misunderstanding that the combination of baking soda

and vinegar is a powerful cleanser.

In conclusion, knowing chemistry can explore and fix the incorrect method of cleaning

that has been commonly used. Mixing baking soda and vinegar does not result in boosting of

their cleaning ability, but it wastes money and time on such an ineffective cleanser. Therefore,

either choosing baking soda or vinegar as a cleaning agent will be the most effective way to

clean the kitchen appliances when they are dirty.

 References

ALL-TIME CLEANING SUPERSTARS. (2015). Good Housekeeping, 261(5), 61.

Editors, R. D. (n.d.). 5 Best Baking Soda and Vinegar Cleaning Solutions - Reader's Digest.
Retrieved December 10, 2017, from https://www.rd.com/home/cleaning-organizing/5-best-
baking-soda-and-vinegar-cleaning-solutions/

Falin, L. (2016, June 23). Vinegar Baking Soda = The Ultimate Cleanser? Retrieved December
11, 2017, from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/science/vinegar-baking-soda-
the-ultimate-cleanser

Piro, L., & Smith, L. (2017, November 06). 22 Cleaning Problems You Can Solve With Baking
Soda. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/
cleaning/tips/a25577/baking-soda-cleaning-uses/

Wasserman, R. (2017, October 03). Uses for Sodium Acetate. Retrieved December 11, 2017,
from https://www.livestrong.com/article/137973-uses-sodium-acetate/