Urban Blog

 
You’ve heard that baking soda and vinegar are good non-toxic cleaning agents. You’ve also heard of them going together in a lot of household projects, from fluffy baking to children’s science experiments.
 
This seems to have misled some people to believe they clean well after mixing. In fact, baking soda and vinegar usually clean better individually.
 
Baking soda is mildly abrasive, absorbs smells, and is chemically too basic for some microorganisms to survive an onslaught, including ugly-colored ones.
 
Vinegar is acidic. It kills tiny things. It evaporates quickly and shines glassy surfaces.
 
When you combine baking soda and vinegar, the bubbling chemical reaction might loosen up some dirt. But don’t count on the resulting mixture working after the bubbles are gone in a few minutes.
 
Those two chemicals are like opposites. The bubbling showed them neutralizing each other. Now they’re sodium acetate, too safe to even clean with.
 
So now that you have a better idea as to how to use baking soda and vinegar to clean surfaces, head to Live Renewed for a more detailed explanation. Then pick up chemically sound recipes for homemade cleaners.
 
Science!