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ProfessorGAC

(77,182 posts)
15. Vinegar?
Sun Apr 5, 2026, 01:42 PM
Apr 5

From my chemist's point of view, I'd suggest the vinegar did nothing. There is calcium & sodium carbonate in Ajax. The vinegar reacts with that to for calcium or sodium acetate. So, there wouldn't be any vinegar by the time you used it.
That's what caused the frothing. The carbonate is the other product of the reaction with the acetic acid in the vinegar.
So, you released a bunch of gas and the heat of reaction helped push that CO2 out of the liquid.
Peroxide would normally be a good choice. It sterilizes (bacteria & viruses don't play well with peroxide), and doesn't negatively affect the surfactants in your cleaning agents. Except, peroxide breaks down to water & oxygen as pH rises and sodium carbonate has a pH of 9. Peroxide is more suitable at pH 6 & lower.
I would have used a heavier duty cleaning agent lije laundry soap. Dish soap uses less aggressive active ingredients to reduce drying of oils in the skin of our hands. The formulations don't worry about that with laundry liquids since one has very infrequent skin contact with laundry detergents.
You could make it again, leaving out the vinegar. It's useless anyway.
And, you might consider a splash of laundry bleach instead of peroxide. It is stable at higher pH and even more effective on pathogens.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

How fun. 😦😦 good thing you didn't breathe it in. Srkdqltr Apr 5 #1
Yeah there were some fumes when I opened it up on the floor underpants Apr 5 #5
You forgot dweller Apr 5 #2
No rubber band either underpants Apr 5 #8
You wear the rubber band dweller Apr 5 #12
😃😃😃 underpants Apr 5 #16
Whatever you do, don't add bleach. The fumes will kill you. Lochloosa Apr 5 #3
Yes luckily I left that out. And baking soda (which I had in the counter/lab) underpants Apr 5 #7
I edited my post with a PDF. Bleach should never be mixed. Lochloosa Apr 5 #9
I saw that. Thanks. underpants Apr 5 #10
I think Ajax contains bleach. Mixing bleach and peroxide is outright dangerous. Wicked Blue Apr 5 #4
My daughter, so you were making a bomb? underpants Apr 5 #6
Wow! Sounds amazing! Faux pas Apr 5 #11
With a paper towel. The peroxide I think was the key. underpants Apr 5 #13
Yeah peroxide is my most Faux pas Apr 5 #22
Rule of thumb: don't mix common cleaning liquids. They often make bad things when combined. RockRaven Apr 5 #14
Too Dilute ProfessorGAC Apr 5 #17
Thank you for the correction. RockRaven Apr 5 #18
43 Years As A Chemist Forned Hard Habits To Beeak. ProfessorGAC Apr 5 #19
Vinegar? ProfessorGAC Apr 5 #15
I repeat " my complete lack of scientific knowledge " underpants Apr 5 #20
Ok ProfessorGAC Apr 5 #24
totally agree Kali Apr 5 #28
Looks like it would taste nasty Shellback Squid Apr 5 #21
Try borax next time. On something like a floor, apply a little paste of borax and hot water, then let stand. eppur_se_muova Apr 5 #23
Ooh underpants Apr 5 #27
LOL! 2naSalit Apr 5 #25
MacGyver OC375 Apr 5 #26
for blood, always start with plain old cold water Kali Apr 5 #29
Home brewed chemistry lab, Sounds like fun! OAITW r.2.0 Apr 5 #30
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