/oss/taxonomy/term/1377/all en /oss/article/history-general-science/worlds-first-commercially-available-laundry-powder <p>It was a scientific breakthrough. Persil, introduced by the German company Henkel in 1907 was the world’s first laundry powder. The name derives from perborate and silicate, two key components in the product. Persil was introduced as an improvement over the action of soap, the traditional cleaning agent first formulated around 1500 BC. Just heat some sort of fat with ashes from a wood fire and you get soap. The ashes supply the alkaline chemicals needed to break down the molecules of fat and convert them into salts of fatty acids which we know as soap.</p> Wed, 27 Jul 2022 19:55:26 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9191 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/why-do-we-use-hot-water-wash-clothes <p>Temperature is just a measure of how quickly, molecules are moving. When a substance dissolves in water, its components, be they ions or molecules, form stronger attractions to water molecules than to each other and therefore can be pulled apart from each other and become surrounded by water molecules. In other words, the water molecules have to wedge themselves in between the units of the solute to bring it into solution The faster the water molecules are moving, the greater their kinetic energy and the greater the chance that they can blast themselves into the solute.</p> Thu, 25 Oct 2018 18:49:44 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7416 at /oss /oss/article/can-aspirin-help-remove-stains-and-keep-your-whites-white <p><span>The internet is </span><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/remove-sweat-stains_n_1452258">full of</a><span> suggestions that Aspirin can be used to </span><a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Get-White-Clothes-White-Again">remove stains</a><span> and get </span><a href="https://www.rd.com/home/cleaning-organizing/6-secret-laundry-ingredients/">whiter whites</a><span>. These sites don’t offer any mechanism of this bleaching of course, so I had to try it myself.</span></p> Thu, 14 Jun 2018 17:00:00 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7134 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/why-are-people-popping-laundry-pods <p>Dousing oneself with a bucket full of ice water isn’t much fun, but at least that craze was cool. It had a point: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Bucket_Challenge">raise money for ALS research</a>. Biting into a laundry pod has no point, other than to demonstrate the mental shortcomings of the biter. For some bizarre reason people have been posting videos of their grimacing faces as they chomp down on a laundry pod. If they get away with just a grimace, they are lucky. They could just as well end up in hospital with chemical burns to their mouth.</p> Thu, 25 Jan 2018 16:42:45 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 6904 at /oss /oss/article/general-science/dirt-laundry-balls <p>As you can imagine, the ad caught my eye.  “Earth Smart Laundry CD works on the principles of quantum physics, not chemistry.” I had to have it. So I sent in my sixty dollars and waited. A couple of weeks later a translucent plastic disk full of a blue liquid appeared. It was also full of promises. Never again would I have to use detergents!  All I had to do was drop the disk into the washing machine, and through the miracle of “Structured Water Technology,” it would “activate the laundry water to mimic the cleaning effect of detergent.” There was no mention of what this technology was, or </p> Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:00:11 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2419 at /oss /oss/article/household-products-you-asked/you-asked-why-sodium-sulphite-added-laundry-and-dish-washing-detergents <p>Sodium sulphite is not added for cleaning purposes, at least not as far as the laundry is concerned.</p> Fri, 03 Jan 2014 19:55:30 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2056 at /oss