Household bleaches Essay Example

how the performance and effectiveness of solid oxygen bleaches, like Sodium percarbonate, can be influenced by factors such as water temperature. The goal of the conducted experiment was to understand if the temperature of water used during the cleaning process affects the effectiveness of solid oxygen bleach in removing stains from fabrics.The experiment yielded the following results:

Data Table 1: Analysis of Results

Graph 1: A graph of hydrogen peroxide bleach against temperature.

The function of oxygen bleach

The graph analysis demonstrates that the speed of hydrogen peroxide and oxygen decomposition rises as the water temperature increases, until it reaches a certain threshold (approximately 50oC) when decomposition is nearly finished. The correlation between temperature change and decomposition is a result of the increase in kinetic energy that promotes decomposition. This decomposition leads to the release of the active ingredient from the solid oxygen bleach, resulting in the elimination of colored stains on fabric.

However, it is important to note that beyond 50oC, stain removal becomes ineffective even with higher temperatures, as it surpasses the optimal bleaching point and no further decomposition occurs, as shown by the graph. Controlling the duration of the experiment was crucial, as extending the decomposition time and release of the active component in the bleach would have impacted the effectiveness of stain removal.

Increasing the exposure time of the fabric to oxygen atoms would have resulted in the removal of more stains. To ensure accurate results, fabric materials of the same type were used in this experiment as using different materials would have impacted the outcomes. This is because the fabric material affects how well the bleaching agent molecules are absorbed and how effectively they react with and remove stains when combined with water during the cleaning process.

Study on the effectiveness of household bleaches

The findings of this research demonstrate that enhancing the temperature of the water to an optimum temperature of 50oC leads to an enhancement in the efficiency of solid oxygen bleaches when it comes to bleaching power.

The effectiveness of solid oxygen bleaches decreases beyond the optimum temperature. Furthermore, the experiment demonstrates that both hydrogen peroxide and oxygen serve as effective bleaching elements. They achieve this by oxidizing stain atoms and loosening their bonds on the fabric's surface, enabling water molecules to dislodge them. The ionic reactions below illustrate how oxygen and hydrogen peroxide reduce as they oxidize stain molecules on the fabric:
H2O2 + 2H+ + 2e- ; 2H2O
O2 + 4H+ + 4e- ; 2H2O
The soda ash included in solid oxygen bleaches helps create an alkaline environment that facilitates optimal

bleach performance.

It is evident that the decomposition of oxygen and hydrogen peroxide leads to the formation of water, which in turn reduces oxygen molecules in an alkaline medium to form hydroxide ions. This reaction is represented as: O2 + 2H2O + 4e- > 4OH-. The presence of hydroxide ions maintains an alkaline pH, enabling bleach to perform optimally. Unlike chlorine bleaches, oxygen-based fabric bleaches do not result in fading when oxygen atoms are used to oxidize stains on fabrics, giving them an advantage.

References

1. Ebbing, D., ; Gammon, S. D. (2016). General chemistry. Cengage Learning.