OxiClean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
OxiClean is a cleaning product marketed through infomercials (most featuring Billy Mays) as a "miracle cleanser," ostensibly a miracle "oxygen" chemical. In reality, it is sodium percarbonate (C2H8Na4O12), a detergent and bleaching agent which produces hydrogen peroxide when dissolved in water.
OxiClean works through Hydrogen Peroxide molecules bound within a Sodium Carbonate structure. Hydrogen Peroxide is a strong oxidizing substance which will "bleach" the stains away.
A stain is generally chemical compounds which absorb a given wavelength of light to make it a certain color. OxiClean changes the molecules structure so that it no longer absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of light. Essentially the color is bleached out of the stain, rendering the stain unable to reflect visible wavelengths of light, which has the effect of making the stain effectively invisible. It reacts like water to light. While not technically "miraculous", this can have the effect of making the stain appear to vanish.
Like many cleaning products, OxiClean has been highly reviewed by some consumer reporting agencies, and fairly reviewed by others.
