The Science of Cleaning Products Ever wondered if those cleaning products on infomercials really work? email to friend
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The OxiClean® science demonstration presented by Steve Spangler on television (9News) was a version that Steve originally created for the product manufacturers in 1997 as part of a program called the Science of Clean. In Steve's version, the two colorless liquids were mixed together and after a few seconds, the colorless liquid turned jet black! Steve accomplished this by using the classic Landolt Clock Reaction to produce an iodine solution. Iodine was selected as the stain since it shows up well on television and produces a very visual stain on the washcloth.

It's important to remember that this science demonstration was developed specifically to show the amazing oxidation power of OxiClean® (the active ingredient in OxiClean is sodium percarbonate). Sodium percarbonate (C₂H₆Na₄O₁₂) is a great detergent and bleaching agent based on the chemistry of hydrogen peroxide bound with sodium carbonate molecules. Hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidizing substance which will "bleach" the stains away.

Sodium percarbonate is excellent for cleaning and removing organic stains such as coffee, tea, wine, fruit juices, foods, sauces, grass and blood from fabrics and common surfaces made out of porcelain, ceramics, wood and many more. As a cleaning product, OxiClean® is favorable because it's environmentally safe, biodegradable, and leaves no harmful bi-products.

OxiClean Science Fair Project Ideas

• Stain ten white washcloths with common materials found around the house such as coffee, tea, soy sauce, grape juice, cranberry juice, soda, wine... you name it... and test the bleaching power of OxiClean on each cloth.
• Isolate a particular stain such as coffee and test the clean power of several different products that all claim to use the bleaching power of oxygen!
• Select a stain such as cranberry juice to stain five different carpet samples (found at your local carpet store). Test the stain removing action of OxiClean (or any other product) on those five carpet samples. Is there a type of carpet where the stain is permanent?
• Select one stain such as grape juice and test to see if the temperature of the water affects the cleaning action of a selected product.
• Set-up a science experiment to test the manufacturer's claims. Does a TIDE® cleaning stick really do a good job of removing ink stains? Does OxiClean® remove red wine stains from a carpet?

The key in any good science project is to select one variable to test and to make certain that everything else stays the same. Changing the type of stain and the temperature of the water may produce false results since two variables were changed at the same time.

OxiClean® is a registered trademark of OrangeGlo International.