If earthlings spend more time in
the home than elsewhere on planet Earth it naturally follows that more
attention ought to be paid to the environmental cleanliness in the home. Wherever
you go, you will eventually return home. A clean home is expected to engender a
healthy life. You should therefore be mindful of what you bring home, and
mindful of what you leave home with as well. We could make it a philosophy to not
take anything home that could pollute the home environment, and vice versa. We
need many things in the home to keep it running. From time to time you have to
go to the shop to get supplies for the home. One need things like milk, fruit
juice, raisin, cucumber, carrots, cutlery, china etc. There is also this one
thing that you need for the home, particularly if you are a woman. That one
thing is baking soda. The name baking soda, a chemical compound, should perhaps
strike you that it is used in baking bread. Baking soda is used in leavening
bread. It causes bread to rise. It reacts with acid in batter to precipitate a
carbon dioxide bubble which causes the bread to rise. A batter is a mixture of
flour, egg, milk etc. Some of the acid compounds the baking soda reacts with
are vinegar and buttermilk.
However, the baking of bread is
not the only use you can put soda to. Baking soda has many, many more uses.
This post is going to focus on one of the ways by which baking soda is used. As
the header of this post suggests, that one use is baking soda as a cleaning
agent- an environmentally friendly one at that.
Baking soda is a common name of a chemical compound. Other common names
for baking soda are bread soda and cooking soda. What then is baking soda? Baking
soda is a chemical compound, as hinted, by the name sodium bicarbonate. However
the technical name (IUPAC name), is sodium hydrogen carbonate. The chemical
formula for sodium bicarbonate is NaHCO₃. It is a salt made up of sodium ions
and bicarbonate ions. Ion is an electrically charged atom or group of atoms.
Baking soda often takes the form of white powder, like white granulated sugar. Baking
soda is not washing soda. Washing soda is sodium carbonate.
SOME OF THE
MANY PRACTICALLY GREEN USES OF BAKING SODA
|
NO
|
FORMULA/INGREDIENT
|
TO DO
|
APPLICATION
|
GREEN EFFECT
|
|
01
|
A paste from baking soda and 3% of hydrogen
peroxide solution
|
To render teeth
odorless and
white
|
Use as alternative to non-fluoride toothpaste
|
Odorless and white teeth free from harmful
chemicals
|
|
02
|
1
teaspoon of baking soda in half a glass of water
|
To
neutralize
mouth
odor
|
Swish
it in your mouth and, let it out and rinse.
|
Mouth
odor made ineffective
|
|
03
|
Baking soda
|
To remove body odor
|
Apply to your armpit
|
Removes body odor, and no harmful chemicals
involved
|
|
04
|
Paste
of baking soda- a
mixture
of baking soda and
water
|
To
cure insect bite
|
Apply
to insect bite/itchy place
on
your skin
|
Cures
insect bite. Alkaline in baking soda negates the venom in the poison. This
does not contain toxic ingredients.
|
|
05
|
3 parts baking soda and 1
part water
|
To remove residual dirt and
Odor from hand
|
Scrub your hands with it and rinse
|
Removes residual dirt and odor. It is safer than
harsh soaps
|
|
06
|
4
tablespoon of baking soda and 1 quart of water
|
To
disinfect
sponge
|
Soak
sponges in the solution to
to disinfect them
|
Disinfects
sponges in an environmentally friendly way
|
|
07
|
Baking soda
|
To clean
Microwave oven
|
Put baking soda on a wet sponge to clean
microwave oven, and rinse in water
|
Microwave oven cleaned, without harsh chemicals
trails.
|
|
08
|
½
cup baking soda and 1 bucket of warm water
|
To
clean floor
(e.g.
tiles)
|
Apply
to floor, mop and rinse for a bright floor.
|
A
clean bright floor, without toxic residue.
|
|
09
|
½ cup of baking soda
|
To wash clothes
|
Add to your laundry
|
A fresher and brighter laundry
in a green way
|
|
10
|
Baking
soda
|
To
freshen
cutting
board
|
Sprinkle
on cutting board, scrub and rinse
|
A
freshen cutting board
|
A CLEANING
AGENT
In this context a cleaning agent
means that which cleans without a trail of toxin that will pollute or create an
imbalance in the natural environment to compromise it to the disadvantage of
future generations. To know why baking soda is such an amazing agent we must
understand its chemistry. I have already indicated that the real chemical name of
baking soda is sodium hydrogen bicarbonate. Baking soda can react both as an acid
and as a base. In chemistry the technical term is amphoterism, which means a
molecule or iron that can react both as an acid and a base. pH is the scale
used in determining the acidity or basicity of a solution in which water is the
solvent. Acid is a molecule or ion capable of donating proton or hydrogen iron.
In a solution in which water is the solvent, a base is a substance that is
slippery, reacts with acid to form salt, and accepts protons from proton donors,
among others. Any base that dissolves in
water is alkaline.
In action baking soda keeps a tab
on pH of a substance ensuring that it is neither too acidic nor too alkaline.
In other words baking soda neutralizes the acidity or alkalinity of substances
when it reacts with them. Also it keeps the acidity or alkalinity of substances
stable. It is these abilities of baking soda that makes it such an amazing
chemical compound, more so when in reacting with substances it does not emit
toxins into the natural environment to compromise it. Using baking soda to
clean your teeth you will be avoiding and saving yourself from the poisonous
chemical triclosan.
PARTING SHOT
Baking soda, an amazing chemical compound,
technically called sodium hydrogen bicarbonate, is used in many ways such as
disinfectant, deodorant, detergent booster and as a medicine for insect bite.
And certainly it is used as cleaning agent in many ways. An example is that it
is used in cleaning microwave oven. The green importance of baking soda is that
it does not emit toxins into the natural environment as many cleaning agents
do.
Once again this is another post to draw
your attention to green products, processes and practices with a view to
charting a path that would hopefully lead earthlings to sustainable lifestyles,
and consequently, preservation of the natural environment.
Reference:
Comments
Post a Comment