Baking soda is a well-known substance that is constantly used in the household. It can be found in any apartment or private house. However, people mostly use only regular food. In addition to it, there are several other varieties, for example the caustic and calcined version. This variety has a strong alkaline reaction, so it is used mainly in sectors of the national economy. But the calcined one is actively used at home. Several decades ago, this substance was used during the washing process to remove various dirt (and it also fights old stains).
Soda ash is called sodium carbonate. In other words, it is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. But Na2CO3 is its chemical formula. The substance is presented in the form of grains white shade. They can be both large and small. This substance very easily absorbs moisture from the external environment, so it is highly not recommended to store it in places where there is high humidity air.
In nature itself, this substance is present in large quantities. Very often it is found in the form of ground brines, as minerals in the seas and even lakes and other bodies of water. Various methods of extraction from certain chemical compounds have now been developed.
This kind of soda is significantly different from the food variety that is familiar to every person. The most important distinguishing feature is that here the presence of an alkaline reaction is much more powerful. The acidity level is 11 units. But regular food has an acidity level of 8, so the alkaline reaction will be weaker. In addition, there is also external differences. For example, calcined one is more friable.
Baking soda is a natural deodorizer and cleanser. If you add baking soda while washing clothes, you can carefully and permanently get rid of stubborn stains and unpleasant odors. In most cases, they are difficult to remove using standard methods. And using baking soda while washing clothes can make you happy. After all, the result is a fabric that is soft and pleasant to the touch. And white things will be really white.
Using baking soda as a washing machine cleaner is a practical solution as it will help keep the machine drum clean and hygienic. And it will make it possible to maintain cleanliness in the future.
Baking soda as a laundry deodorizer
If desired, you can use baking soda as a laundry deodorizer. For this purpose excellent option will leave the necessary clothes in the soda solution overnight, until the morning. There will be enough time for the soda solution to be absorbed into old stains and remove strong unpleasant odors from the laundry.
The proportion of soda to the proportion of water is 1 glass per 4-5 liters of water. Then you can begin the washing process by removing the laundry from the soda solution. Let's break down the process point by point:
- We begin loading dirty clothes and soaked linen into the washing machine, adding washing powder;
- for large volumes of laundry to be washed, you can add half a glass of soda (a greater effect can be achieved by adding a glass of white vinegar to the wash;
- You need to wash things as usual. Brightly colored laundry should be washed in cold water using baking soda;
- After finishing the washing process with baking soda, you can remove all items from the washing machine. Linen with musty and other unpleasant smell It is recommended to dry in the fresh air (even in winter time of the year).
Soda ash and baking soda. Similarities and differences.
Soda ash is used in washing machine for washing dirty laundry. It has a number of differences from food grade, as it is a strong universal cleaning agent. With its help, washing using soda ash is carried out both by machine and manually. It is recommended to add soda when boiling linen with old stains or a musty smell, and you can also soak linen fabrics.
It is practical to use soda ash in water with high level rigidity.
Very popular among gardeners and gardeners soda ash, the use of which in the garden plays a significant role in pest control, powdery mildew and other phenomena dangerous to plants. Soda is a complex of sodium salts of carbonic acid. Soda ash is anhydrous sodium carbonate, which is obtained by calcination (calcination).
On sale you can find special powder components produced by the chemical industry, which are often used by summer residents to prepare solutions necessary for protecting the garden. One of these is an all-purpose sodium carbonate solution.
Properties of soda ash
Its correct name is the sodium salt of carbonic acid (Na2CO3): these are crystals white, extracted from mineral deposits and soda lakes. Soda ash, unlike baking soda, has a more pronounced alkaline reaction and a looser structure. The product is produced in two varieties (A and B) in accordance with GOST 5100 85, approved in the USSR.
These crystals are fire and explosion-proof, but included in the 3rd hazard class, due to their chemical activity. The substance quickly absorbs moisture, and in combination with water turns into an aggressive solution. In rooms where there is excess moisture, soda must be handled very carefully.
Differences and similarities between baking soda and soda ash
By physical properties sodium carbonate and bicarbonate are indistinguishable, and are a white powdery substance, may be in the form of granules.
What is the difference between soda ash and baking soda? Firstly, they differ in chemical structure. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate or bicarbonate, and soda ash is Na carbonate. Based on the difference in structure, the difference in their strength as alkalis also follows. Sodium bicarbonate is a weaker alkali and its pH=7.5−8, sodium carbonate is a strong alkali with pH=11.
Secondly, these two sodas have different points of application: Na bicarbonate is used mainly in cooking and medicine, and carbonate is used only as a technical agent.
Thirdly, the difference between these substances is their safety. Baking soda is absolutely safe to use, rarely causes allergic reactions, while calcined soda causes severe poisoning when taken orally and skin manifestations of an allergic reaction are possible.
Use in gardening against powdery mildew
Starting in the lower part, the infection gradually spreads to the entire plant, causing yellowing and falling of foliage, cracking and rotting of fruits, and even leads to the complete death of the garden crop. You can fight powdery mildew with a solution of 50 grams of soda ash diluted in a bucket of water. You should also rub 40 grams of laundry soap here. Once a week in cloudy weather, this composition requires spraying damaged plants. As a preventative measure, treatment against powdery rose is recommended to be carried out 1-2 times during the summer season, starting from the moment buds set.
Saving viburnum with soda ash
Soda ash, the use of which in the garden shows successful results, can help in the fight against the viburnum leaf beetle, a beetle that feeds and develops exclusively on viburnum. Enormous damage to the plant is caused by dirty gray larvae that have overwintered in the bark of young shoots: the pests simply riddled the leaves and are able to completely gnaw the bush, depriving it of green mass. To protect the viburnum bush, it is recommended to treat the leaves on the underside with a solution consisting of 10 liters of water, a bar of green soap and a tablespoon of soda. Apply once a week until the pest disappears completely.
Killing weeds with baking soda
A common problem on suburban area become weeds that appear along garden paths, between the tiles and the beds. You can clear a certain area of harmful plants if you treat it completely with a high concentration soda solution. To do this, add 5 tablespoons of soda to a bucket of water. The weeds are thoroughly sprayed with the resulting product. Due to the sharp increase in alkali levels, the harmful grass will die after just 2-3 days. If you pour baking soda on the weed on a hot day, it will burn even faster. It’s just important to make sure that baking soda doesn’t get on cultivated plants. Otherwise they will burn too.
Soda ash protects garden crops
Caterpillars and other pests on cabbage leaves are a big threat to the future harvest.
Recipe for aphids and other vegetable pests:
- mix soda ash with flour, ash or pollen vegetable crop in a 1:1 ratio and sprinkle generously on the affected plants.
An absolute contraindication to carrying out the pollination or spraying procedure is hot weather, because... You can cause even more damage to delicate leaves.
Gardeners have empirically come to the conclusion that if you feed tomatoes with soda solution during the flowering and growing season, their taste significantly improves.
- To prevent yellowing of cucumber foliage, the root part of the crop is shed with the following soda solution:
in 10 l. water dissolve 1 tbsp. l. soda.Burgundy liquid (Medex) - preparation (general recipe)
It is an aqueous solution of copper sulfate with soda ash in a 1:1 ratio. The dry mixture can be prepared in advance and stored.
Preparation of the mixture: mix 1 kg of copper sulfate powder thoroughly with 1 kg of soda ash powder. The day before spraying, weigh out 100-150 g of the mixture and dissolve in 10 liters of water. The solution does not need to be filtered.
To avoid possible separation of the liquid, the following procedure for preparing it is recommended. To prepare 10 liters of Burgundy liquid solution, weigh out 100 grams of copper sulfate and 100 grams of soda ash. Copper sulfate and soda are dissolved in separate vessels.
Then in a small amount hot water needs to be dissolved copper sulfate. The next step is to add the solution cold water up to 5 l. In another vessel, dissolve soda in 5 liters of water. Before use, both solutions are mixed together. For spraying, use only freshly prepared liquid. Even with short-term storage (8-10 hours), the solution of Burgundy liquid loses its fungicidal properties and becomes unsuitable for spraying.
Soda ash type is very useful substance chemical nature, which has been used by people for quite some time. Despite its increased chemical activity and lack of complete safety (unlike baking soda), sodium carbonate will not pose a threat if all safety rules are followed. In this case, such soda will not be more dangerous than boiling water or vinegar, which can also cause harm if you do not follow the rules for handling them.
Soda ash can be obtained various methods, but the most common option is mining. Almost no one thinks about the fact that many cleaning products that are constantly advertised are actually just slightly modified soda ash.
Sodium carbonate is soda ash, a universal cleaning agent available in the arsenal of almost any housewife. At a time when there was not such an abundance of cleaning products as now, it was she who came to the rescue. Washing tiles, plumbing fixtures and dishes, washing clothes and cleaning gas stove could not do without the use of soda. Although the situation has changed now, due to the many varieties of special cleaning products, sodium carbonate has clearly not lost its relevance.
Soda ash has several names:
- Sodium carbonate
- Sodium carbonic acid
- Sodium carbonate
- Baking soda
Chemical formula soda ash - Na2CO3 or Na2CO3·10H2O (sodium carbonate decahydrate, contains 62.5% water of crystallization) - crystalline soda. Its composition different from food and caustic soda. All these substances are alkalis, but they have different strengths and properties.
Baking soda is used for cooking and various household needs. This is the same ingredient that is present in many culinary recipes. Eating it is absolutely safe.
Crystalline or soda ash has a less alkaline reaction, compared with caustic soda. Externally, it is a white powdery substance. Its use in cooking is not allowed. Its scope of application is cleaning surfaces, washing dishes and washing clothes, and other industrial or domestic needs.
The substance, being an alkali, can cause minor chemical burns in case of incorrect and long-term contact. Among other things, the composition of soda ash can cause dehydration, which leads to dry skin on the hands. That is why, during prolonged contact with the substance, it is necessary to use protective gloves.
Soda ash should not be used for cooking and should be stored in places where excluding contact with products. The humidity in the room where the substance is stored should not exceed permissible limits. Otherwise, the soda will lose some of its properties and may shrink into pieces. Therefore, when storing in the bathroom, it must be kept in a sealed bag.
Of course, extremely contact of the substance with children's skin is undesirable. It is necessary to exclude the possibility of children gaining access to the powder package. The powder is very light and can easily get not only onto the skin, but also into the eyes if handled carelessly. If this happens, rinse your eyes immediately running water. If the child manages to swallow the powder, give him a glass of drinking water and take him to the doctor immediately.
Soda ash dissolved in cold water is safer than a hot solution. This feature should be taken into account if you use the washing solution manually. However, cold solutions create flakes that can interfere with washing.
Use of sodium carbonate in everyday life
Soda ash powder or solution can help solve a number of everyday problems, here are just a few of them:
- Boiling and washing clothes
- Removing scale from dishes
- Washing and cleaning dishes from stagnant grease, cleaning stoves and pans
- Cleaning indoor floors
- Disinfection
- Pest and weed control for summer residents and gardeners
Instructions for use when washing clothes
For correct use soda ash at home, you must follow some precautionary measures, this will protect you from minor problems associated with dryness and damage to the skin, powder getting into your eyes and other troubles. Manufacturers write information about the basic rules of use and warnings on the packaging. Below are instructions for using sodium carbonate in specific cases.
How to soak laundry
This method is suitable for whitening at home white linen. Dial a basin warm water and add laundry soda to it. The ratio of sodium carbonate to water is calculated based on three tablespoons per bucket. Rub the laundry that needs to be soaked laundry soap or place it in a basin along with soap shavings. You can add “Antipyatin” or any other suitable analogue. Leave the bowl of laundry overnight.
In the morning appearance the laundry will remain the same, but as soon as you rinse it and wash it in the washing machine as usual, the laundry will become snow-white.
As for soaking colored laundry, using soda ash for this purpose is acceptable, but not more than 3 - 4 tablespoons per 10 liters of water. The water temperature should not exceed 40 degrees. Boiling such laundry with added sodium carbonate is not recommended.
Soda Ash is great assistant for washing work clothes which has been damaged by stains of paraffin, gasoline, machine oil or fuel oil. Great savings come from the use of sodium carbonate for catering workers. Instead of buying expensive modern stain removers, you can get by with inexpensive laundry soda and with the same success clean your robe from grease stains or any other food contaminants.
The use of soda ash for washing cotton or linen clothes It is quite safe, and it is this kind of laundry that is most often exposed to contamination during cooking and household work related to everyday life.
Woolen or silk items cannot be washed in an alkaline environment, as this may lead to loss of their original appearance. They can become rough and tough. You should avoid soaking and washing using items made of any synthetics.
Modern washing powders They already contain soda ash in certain proportions. To enhance the effect of washing, it is quite reasonable to add sodium carbonate. For cheap powders, this procedure is almost mandatory.
Add 3 tablespoons of laundry soda to the usual amount of washing powder. If the water is hard and things are heavily soiled, then the amount can be increased to five spoons. Temperature need to be set between 50 and 100 degrees. The higher the temperature, the more active the alkali will be in removing stains.
Boiling is used to disinfect linen, remove old stains and whiten in difficult cases. Chemical formula Baking soda allows you to cope with even hopeless stains when boiling.
It is best to use large enamel dishes or galvanized steel pots for these purposes. Copper and aluminum containers are not used for boiling; the laundry in them may become covered with stains and smudges.
Standard boiling solution consists of 10 liters of water and 500 grams of soda ash. For better effect, add 500 grams of “Whiteness” or another similar bleach, which contains chlorine. You need to boil the laundry for at least 40-60 minutes. Frequent evaporation of things should be avoided. Chlorine leads to their intense wear and loss of their original appearance.
It is worth noting the fact that this whitening technology is not suitable for people who are allergic to the components of the solution. When boiling indoors, chlorine vapors will be released, and bleached laundry will smell of chlorine. For allergy sufferers, you can use another solution consisting of 250 grams of sodium carbonate and 250 grams of soap shavings. In this case, the boiling time should be increased to two hours.
Do not attempt to boil colored underwear. This could render it permanently unusable. Things from artificial fabric and silk, regardless of color, cannot be boiled, especially with chlorine.
Pros of soda ash
The main positive feature of sodium carbonate is its low price, compared to many chemical analogs available commercially. Modern detergents They are not always able to efficiently clean deep, old stains, and are more expensive. Availability and the ability to get the maximum cleansing effect tip the scales in favor of choosing soda ash for household needs.
Attention, TODAY only!
The modern market is simply overflowing with various detergents and cleaning products. But sometimes it's good forgotten remedy for maintaining cleanliness in the house surpasses even the most ordinary ones. One of these is soda ash. This product is so versatile in its use that it is not only capable of perfectly removing powerful stains, but can even improve the quality of washing. In addition, the product has affordable price and certainly affordable for any housewife.
How is soda ash produced?
The production of caustic soda is considered a rather labor-intensive process.
It can be obtained using:
- ammonia method;
- by processing from natural raw materials or nephelines;
- by carbonation of sodium hydroxide.
The most common method is the first method. It is used because of the relatively low cost of the resulting product, its high quality and the availability of the finished product.
Preparation of caustic corbanate from natural raw materials began to be used in the mid-20th century. And now this method is slowly replacing the ammonia method, as it is highly environmentally friendly and resource-efficient.
Product production by splitting nephelines is also widely used in practice. This method allows manufacturers to significantly save their capital investments, and consumers to use a fairly cheap product.
The sodium hydroxide carbonization method was used at the end of the 20th century, but now it has ceased to exist in practice due to its labor intensity.
How is soda ash used in everyday life?
Soda ash should not be confused with its regular baking soda friend. Calcined contains a significant amount of alkali, which allows it to fight pollution more effectively.
With this substance you can:
- clean the surfaces of absolutely any plumbing fixtures;
- wash tiles;
- wash the dishes;
- soften water when washing;
- remove limescale;
- remove stains and all kinds of dirt from clothes;
- remove accumulated scale from surfaces.
Many housewives use soda ash for washing at home. The calcined substance is suitable for all its types. A using soda in washing machines It also allows you to protect equipment from plaque and rust.
To remove difficult stains and dirt from the surface of clothing, you just need to immerse the item in water with soda ash for a while. You will need 3-4 tbsp per bucket of water. spoons of soda. It is enough to keep things in this solution for 2 hours, and then simply wash them by hand. When washing in washing machine soda ash is simply mixed with the powder. This approach not only improves the quality of washing, but also softens the water.
To remove dirt from surfaces, it is enough to dilute 3 tbsp in 1 liter of water. spoons of calcined product. This solution will remove dirt from the bathroom sink, toilet and other surfaces. This solution can also be used to wash dishes and floors.
Soda ash can also be safely used to clean the bathtub from limescale and stubborn stains of dirt. It just needs to be mixed in equal proportions with baking soda. The resulting mixture apply with a napkin to the bath itself and leave it like that for up to half an hour. After the time has passed, you just need to wipe the surface of the bathroom with vinegar. And after another 30 minutes, rinse everything thoroughly with a stream of running water.
It is also recommended to use soda ash to remove blockages in pipes. Preparing the following solution will help to cope with this problem: dilute 2 tbsp in a glass of hot water. spoons of soda. The resulting mixture immediately merges into sewer drain . You just need to do this gradually. After 10–15 minutes, the pipe should be rinsed with a stream of hot water. This remedy has been tried by many housewives and is widely used.
How to properly store and use soda ash
Soda ash is a hygroscopic product. Therefore, it is capable of absorbing moisture and carbon dioxide. After which in it acid salt NaHCO3 may be formed. Which is why it is not recommended to store it in open form. It must be hermetically sealed.
When storing at home, it is important to remove its contents away from food and children's company. People prone to allergic reactions should avoid contact of the substance with the surface. skin. In this case It is better to limit contact with this product. And you will have to use soda ash only with rubber gloves. If the substance accidentally gets into the eyes or mucous membranes, simply rinse it with water.
It is important to remember that dissolving a calcined product in water leads to the formation of a highly alkaline reaction, so improper handling can be harmful to the health of others. It is recommended to use only products from well-known sales representatives.
It is worth considering that the properties of soda ash are so unique that its use at home has become widespread among most ordinary people. In addition, what is also surprising is the abundance of recipes for using it in everyday life, which are constantly being improved from time to time.
