26
votes
Accepted
Strange Sticky Substance on Digital Camera
After the lengthy back and forth perhaps an official answer is due: the blue salt deposit on the camera battery holder door is most likely copper(II) hydroxide by reaction of leaked alkaline battery ...
- 22.7k
16
votes
Accepted
How can I safely handle a concentrated (fuming) nitric acid spill?
Of course, you’ll want to prevent a spillage as well as possible (making sure the bottle doesn’t fall over etc.) but sometimes you just run into bad luck. Let’s hope that your work bench is at least ...
- 68.5k
15
votes
Accepted
Does the main washing effect of soap come from foam?
Foam is a side effect of using a tensio-active agents (though some tensio-active agents are engineered to produce as little foam as possible, e.g. in washing machines). In fact, you could consider ...
- 3,042
15
votes
Accepted
Why are acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate mixed to unblock a drain?
Quoting text from this source under the section "Why could baking soda and vinegar clean clogged drains?" :
Bicarb soda and vinegar react because of the acid-base reaction. Bicarb soda is ...
- 3,216
14
votes
Strange Sticky Substance on Digital Camera
I agree with @BuckThorn on the blue corrosion but I'd like to address the sticky substance. If it is in fact a degradation product of the plastic or some other substance being exuded by the plastic, I'...
- 366
13
votes
Accepted
Cleaning with vinegar and sodium bicarbonate
Your intuition is on point. Pretty much all the "lifehacks" praising cleaning abilities of vinegar and sodium bicarbonate are ineffective. The reaction appears vigorous due to the formation ...
- 38.4k
9
votes
Accepted
For what reasons, is isopropyl alcohol widely used as a cleaning solvent?
From this Wikipedia article
Isopropyl alcohol dissolves a wide range of non-polar compounds. It also evaporates quickly, leaves nearly zero oil traces, compared to ethanol, and is relatively non-...
- 18.8k
8
votes
Ammonia for cleaning - what is the interaction between ammonia and oils?
Common food fats and oils usually contain some free fatty acid1. The alkalinity of household ammonia serves to form a soap which will emulsify the main body of the fat/oil, if enough elbow grease (i.e....
- 14.2k
8
votes
How to Remove Copper Sulphate from a Leather Belt
Copper sulfate is water soluble, so water is your best bet. However, if it's bonded to or reacted with anything in the leather, you're probably out of luck.
Detergents and alternative solvents are not ...
- 943
7
votes
Accepted
Why is caustic soda (NaOH) used to clean beer bottles?
Caustics such as $\ce{NaOH}$ and $\ce{KOH}$ are effective in converting insoluble fatty acids in organic fats and oils into soluble soaps in a proccess called saponification. The caustics also react ...
- 34.8k
7
votes
Why are acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate mixed to unblock a drain?
$$\ce{NaHCO3(s) + CH3COOH(aq) -> CO2(g) + H2O(l) + CH3COONa (aq)}$$
From what I can see in the reaction, an amount of water and carbon dioxide is produced which has the potential to move around ...
- 381
7
votes
Are acids effective in removing soap scum?
Soap is a combination of a metal (e.g. sodium) and a fatty acid (e.g., palmitic acid). If you use acid to break the metal off (e.g., $\ce{CH3(CH2)14COONa + HCl -> CH3(CH2)14COOH + NaCl}$) you're ...
- 34.8k
7
votes
I left scented candles in a polypropylene container. How do I remove the smell?
The answer depends on (1) how patient you are (how much time you have), (2) how low a concentration of the offending substances you need to obtain, (3) whether you have someplace you can leave the box ...
- 22.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Bleach turned towel bright pink before fading to white
Although Dr. Laundry says it only happens to the incoming brighteners within a detergent and not to those fixed to the fabric, I think that your new towels should have enough brighteners - deposited ...
- 3,656
6
votes
Disrupting the chemistry of oobleck so that it behaves like a newtonian fluid
Disposal isn't a problem - add more water as you dump it down the drain.
There are two extremes to ooblek:
Almost all cornstarch and almost no water: this is a dry solid or slightly wet starch. No ...
- 28k
6
votes
Isopropyl alcohol to clean germs on countertops
A 70% “rubbing” alcohol solution will kill those pesky bacteria usually in ten seconds or less. It will also kill a host of viruses, but not all of them.
For your common household disinfecting, a 70% ...
- 161
6
votes
Accepted
Will using vinegar harm car paint?
That is a valid question, because acid rain has been known to damage paints, particularly high-gloss, i.e. clear coat. Best would be to test the effect of vinegar on a hidden area, and double-check ...
- 34.8k
6
votes
Why does saliva clean so well?
Saliva has alpha-amylase (ptyalin), which hydrolyzes carbohydrates (so starch starts to taste sweet in just a few seconds), kallikrein, an enzyme that breaks down protein, and lingual lipase, which ...
- 34.8k
6
votes
Accepted
Cleaning with Hydrogen Peroxide is not a chemical process?
Well, it is a play of words. Chemical process or a physical process do not mean a lot. Dilute hydrogen peroxide decomposes catalytically by many things, including dust/ grime, plant matter, minerals, ...
- 42.2k
5
votes
Acetic(vinegar) and citric acid as the rust remover
Long, long time ago I was employed to formulate rust removers for iron. We needed to be concerned with toxicity, corrosivity, cost, waste disposal, effectiveness, speed, damage to the (uncorroded) ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
What is the grey film/black sludge from mercury? How to remove it?
First, I would advise against using mercury in a home lab due to the ease which scattered droplets fall into cracks and evaporate.
That said, if distillation is out, then try bulb-pipetting from the ...
- 34.8k
5
votes
Accepted
When we add soap in low concentrations to water it reduces the surface tension. Why? What is the purpose of this?
The lowering of surface tension is a side effect, though it does relate to the reason why we use soaps when cleaning things.
Many of the things we want to clean are not naturally soluble in water (e....
- 37.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Dangers of expired bleach?
You have outlined the principal decomposition path of hypochlorite in the question. Chlorate in itself is rather stable under ambient conditions and would probably not decompose.
The greatest danger ...
- 68.5k
5
votes
Accepted
How to safely clean tantalum jewelry
Ultra Met uses tantalum for corrosion resistant coatings and has a list of corrosive substances that won't dissolve tantalum, comprising of hydrochloric, hydrobromic, and hydroiodic acids, nitric acid,...
- 12.7k
5
votes
Will using vinegar harm car paint?
Vinegar Test: No Visible Change After Two Hours
As advised above, I decided to test vinegar on an inconspicuous spot.
First I created a pattern of exposed paint using masking tape. The shape was ...
- 303
5
votes
Cleaning with vinegar and sodium bicarbonate
Better is using washing soda alone first ( instead of baking soda ), pouredby boiling water and kept there overnight. Next day vinegar may be used to make some bubbles desintegrating the clogging.
...
- 43.3k
4
votes
Sulfuric acid fumes from cleaning shower drain
He wasn’t wrong to be using Sulfuric acid, he just didn’t know what he was doing. Sulfuric acid is sold for cleaning pipes, but you won’t find it easily because it is one of the most dangerous ways to ...
- 191
4
votes
Accepted
Yellow stains after cleaning silver
Did find a source and the nature of reaction apparently involves some standard chemistry, surface chemistry, some radical activity and electrochemistry resulting, upon warming, in the demonstration of ...
- 5,627
4
votes
Accepted
Vinegar and baking soda: Cleaning agent or neutralized sludge?
Well, cleaning is a very broad subject. This is a question which could make a great Science Fair Project. Because vinegar is just a dilute solution of acetic acid (ignoring trace compounds present), ...
- 114
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible