The ingredients in your cleaning products fall into several different categories, added to provide different characteristics and cleaning functions. Each product formula is a careful balance of various ingredients that will work best for what you are trying to clean. Learn more!
What is soap and how does it work?
The sudsy stuff we use every day of our lives is a mystery to most of us. But behind our cleaning products is an array of scientific data and information. This science and chemistry helps to ensure our products work and are safe for you and your family to use. The resources below will walk through what it means to be clean and how the cleaning process works. For more information and activities, we encourage you to check out ExplorationClean.…
Q How Does Cleaning Affect Your Health? A. Personal hygiene and regular housecleaning are essential to good health and cleaning products can help. Frequent handwashing is key to preventing the spread of microorganisms (also known as microbes or germs) that cause many common illnesses. And regular cleaning of surfaces in the home removes dirt and food particles on which germs can grow.In addition, cleaning and disinfecting products that contain an active antibacterial or antimicrobial…
"Grandma's recipes" for home cleaning have been a part of household lore for years. Lately, these recipes have been promoted as a "safer" alternative to commercially formulated cleaning products. While we may feel comfortable using these ingredients in cleaning applications, perhaps because some are edible, there are important facts about these recipes to consider. Ignoring these considerations may mean missing some safety assurances,…
Q. I’m motivated this year to do a massive spring cleaning but with little kids running around my home, I'm concerned about cleaning product safety. How should I be planning to clean safely?
A. We encourage parents to do spring cleaning in the absence of young children so that you can give it your full attention without distractions. Here are some additional safety tips —
Children are usually curious and explore all the new things…
Understand the language of soaps and detergents.
ALCOHOL: A class of organic compounds containing one or more hydroxyl groups. The alcohols used in light duty and liquid laundry detergents are isopropanol or ethanol (ethyl alcohol). These alcohols are used at low levels in liquid detergent formulations to control viscosity, to act as a solvent for other ingredients, and to provide resistance to low and freezing temperatures encountered in shipping,…
Dishwashing is necessary to keep a kitchen clean and plates and silverware safe to use. While some pans and platters need to be washed by hand, the automatic dishwasher has made it much easier to complete this task. Whether it’s time to wash a sink full of dishes or just a few items, our fact sheet and expert advice will help you get the job done.
You will want to use a dishwashing detergent with effective cleaning performance regardless of the brand that you choose…
Regular cleaning and disinfecting can do a good job of removing allergens and germs, helping to prevent illnesses and promote wellness.
Cleaning for Health
Personal hygiene and regular housecleaning are essential to good health.
FAQ
Disinfecting
Handwashing…
Cleaning products play an essential role in daily life. They can remove dirt and stains from our clothes, dried on food from our dishes, and even germs from our hands! Let’s learn more about the chemistry that makes this happen.
What Is Cleaning?
Cleaning is the process of taking something dirty—like your kitchen counter—and removing dirt, grease, and grime found on it. When we clean, we leave things better than they were when we found them. Cleaning helps…
No matter the type of product you are using (soap or detergent), good cleaning takes a lot of energy. Three different kinds to be exact:
Chemical energy, provided by the soap or detergent
Mechanical energy, provided by a machine or by hand
Thermal energy, provided by heating water Let’s look at how all these elements work together.
Assume we have a great, big, oily, greasy stain on one of our favorite shirts. Water alone is not enough to remove the stain and get our…
Experts agree that frequent handwashing is one of the first lines of defense against many illnesses. But no matter how many times you wash your hands, there are always some sneaky little germs lurking around to hitch a ride on your skin. They loiter on shopping cart handles, linger on light switches, lurk about the phone and even hang around on the remote controls. That's why disinfectants and disinfecting cleaners can be a helpful option…
