Questions tagged [cleaning]
For questions about cleaning agents and methods used to remove dirt, stains, residues, and bad smells, including proper waste disposal. For particular questions about surfactants, use the [surfactants] tag.
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Vinegar and baking soda: Cleaning agent or neutralized sludge?
I've seen it suggested countless times that combining vinegar and baking soda is a great home cleaning solution, but this always seemed like nonsense to me.
I recognize that baking soda, a base, can ...
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How can I safely handle a concentrated (fuming) nitric acid spill?
I will shortly be using $90~\%$ or higher concentration nitric acid in a home environment for the purpose of decapping ICs. I understand the corrosive dangers of nitric acid, and most of the important ...
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What causes the smell in rotten meat-grease and how can I get rid of it thoroughly?
We've just spilled the can of used meat-grease we collect so that it doesn't go down the drain and it turns out it was rotten. Now the granite counter-top and the wood-laminate floor of the kitchen ...
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How many times can we recycle one sheet of paper?
Its really interesting to see the process of recycling of paper (as shown in picture below) but at the same time I was thinking like for how many times can one sheet of paper can be recycled ?
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Cleaning with vinegar and sodium bicarbonate
Mixing sodium bicarbonate with vinegar (and sometimes adding dishwasher detergent) is quite a common tip on the internet. But I have never understood the reason.
I saw there was a question about using ...
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Ammonia for cleaning - what is the interaction between ammonia and oils?
Household ammonia is recognized as being an excellent cleaner for grease and oil. My question is, how does this work? Does ammonia merely put the oils into a suspension, like a detergent does? Or is ...
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Soap and rain water, why does it not rinse off?
I am in Papua New Guinea at the moment, where rain water harvesting is the most common way of getting water.
When washing hands, the soap feels hard to rinse off, and my skin feels "greasy".
I read ...
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Strange Sticky Substance on Digital Camera [closed]
I purchased a used Canon Powershot A1100 IS camera online. When I received it in the mail it had a very strange sticky substance that looked like a thin film.
It resisted attempts at cleaning. Water, ...
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What are the best chemical liquids to clean metallic surfaces?
I'm just a simple man curious about things. I've no big understanding of chemistry. I had this question today in mind. What chemicals could I use to achieve the cleanest metallic surface?
For example,...
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Why are acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate mixed to unblock a drain?
I have always wondered about the rationale behind combining white vinegar and sodium bicarbonate to perform household cleaning jobs, and to unblock drains. I would have expected white vinegar to act ...
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Will using vinegar harm car paint?
After having parked my car in a newly constructed airport parking garage, I came back to find something had dripped through a crack in the ceiling of the structure and left considerably thick film on ...
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How do we get rid of dangerous explosive acetone peroxide and nitroglycerine?
Imagine the police (or army or whoever's job is that) found out that some maniac placed a lot of primary explosives under a building. They have evacuated the building and deactivated the trigger.
...
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DIY hand sanitiser solution forms spongy substance
I am trying to make my own hand sanitiser since it’s sold out everywhere. The formula I use is 1 part aloe vera gel in 2 parts 100% isopropyl alcohol. The problem is when mixing the two, the solution ...
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Does the main washing effect of soap come from foam?
I am curious if the main cleaning effect of soap comes from its foam (or, maybe, it is just a by-product).
Here are some points, that might clarify what I mean:
Does foam sort of "carry" dirt and ...
user77247
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Distilled water to clean greasy stains: Why does that work?
I noticed that distilled water works well to clean away fingerprints on touchscreens or oil stains on a ceramic field after frying an egg.
But water and oil/fat are not supposed to mix, so why does ...
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