The fizz of baking soda and vinegar does not clean
#0035 Home & daily life
Fact rank
C
The claim that it cleans has weak support; a chemist's explanation calls the fizz essentially visual
Wow rank
S
A popular hack that is mostly for show
Usefulness
A
Tells you which effort you can skip
Verification: Possibly a myth
AI verification reports the evidence it found; it does not guarantee that a claim is true.
Baking soda and vinegar fizz in a drain, but the bubbles are carbon dioxide, and the fizz itself has no power to remove dirt.
Why
Baking soda (an alkali) and vinegar (an acid) react to form water, sodium acetate (a salt) and carbon dioxide. Only the smaller quantity is used up; most of the larger one is left as it was.Evidence
Secondary A chemist (lecturer at the University of Tasmania), republished from The Conversation, 2024: the reaction forms water, sodium acetate and carbon dioxide; the fizz is essentially visual; in the example over 99% of the baking soda remains afterwards; the bubbling can have a mechanical effect, such as in a blocked drain link
Notes and limits
Some chemists suggest the bubbles can physically push at a blockage, but no source measuring the size of that effect was found. It is also said that the two "cancel out each other's cleaning power", but whatever does not react remains, and leftover baking soda (a weak alkali) or vinegar (a weak acid) still does its own job. Pouring vinegar into a drain that still holds chlorine cleaner can release toxic chlorine gas.
Derivations
Derived from: 汚れと洗剤は相性で選ぶ
Derived facts: —