Which Bleach works better on tough stains?

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to determine which brand of bleach, Southern Home or Ultra Clorox works better on tough stains.

Our hypothesis is that Clorox is going to work better than Southern Home because we learned that when you buy an expensive brand you pay for what you get.

Introduction

Sunlight was the chief bleaching agent up to the discovery of chlorine in 1774 by the Swedish chemist K.W.Schecle and the director of its bleaching properties in 1785 by the Frenchmen chemist Claude Berthollet.  Bleaching Powder, a solid combination of chemicals such as chlorine and slaked lime, introduced in 1799 by the Scottish scientist and chemist Charles Tennant, was thereafter produced in enormous quantity to bleach clothing and paper.

It had the same effect as chlorine chemical and could be more easily handled and shipped, but it was unstable and contained a large proportion of inert material. It remained the standard bleaching agent until the 1920s, but then it was gradually replaced by liquefied chlorine and solution of sodium hypochlorite.  

Bleach is a solid or liquid chemical used to whiten or remove the natural color of fibers, yarns, paper, and textile finishing.  The bleaching process is used to produce white cloth, to prepare fabrics for other finishes, or to remove coloration that has occurred in other processes.  Chlorine, sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide are mainly used as bleaches.  Bleach is used for cleaning laundry that has a stain on it.  Bleach also disinfects around homes.  Bleach is one of the most fast-acting, most effective and economical disinfectants world wide.

            The two brands of bleach that were used in this experiment are Clorox and Southern Home (a Foodmax brand product).

            Clorox been making liquid bleach since it’s inception in Oakland, California since May of 1913 sold at a $100.00 a piece.  It is estimated that 8 out of 10 homes us Clorox.  It is America’s leading brand of liquid bleach.

The bleach cycle:

1.                  The bleach cycle starts with salt water, which is broken down by electric current into sodium hydroxide, hydrogen, and chlorine.

2.                  The sodium hydroxide is mixed with water.  Next, chlorine is added to form sodium hypochlrorite, the active ingredient in liquid bleach.  The bleach is bottle and shipped to retailers.

3.                  Consumers use bleach in washing machines or household surfaces.  As bleach reacts with stains and soils, it begins to break down.  The cleaning process turns nearly all of the bleach back into soft water.

4.                  Any remaining bleach or in a septic system through biodegradation.  The object of washing clothes is to remove soil, stains, bacteria and odors from the fabrics.  When bleach comes into contact with large, chain-like soil molecules, it them down into smaller units.  These units have a harder time sticking to clothes.

 

Take three 1000mL beakers and labeled them as followed:

  1. Clorox
  2. Southern Home
  3. Water

In each of the three beakers add 400 mL of water.  In the beaker labeled Clorox,  add 100mL of Clorox liquid bleach.  In the beaker labeled Southern Home, add 100mL of  Southern Home liquid bleach. In the beaker labeled water, add an additional 100mL of water so that each beaker has been filled with 500mL of liquid.

Materials

Procedure

Take three cotton socks of the same brand and style.  To each sock add 3mL of Juicy Juice grape juice.  Allow the juice to soak into the sock and dry.  After the socks have dried, place each sock in one of the labeled beakers and allow them to soak for 5 minutes.  Make sure that each sock is allowed to sit for the same amount of time.  After 5 minutes, remove the socks from the beakers and lay them out to dry.  After they have dried inspect the socks for remaining stains to see which brand of bleach removes stains the best.