"arlen michael holder" wrote in message
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On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 19:01:13 -0700, rbowman wrote:

It is a deodorizer.

http://bestcarpetcleanerreview.net/h...t-really-work/

There are Glade makes some carpet powders with a fragrance but I find
the fragrance cloying so straight baking soda is better. The Arm &
Hammer 1 lb. boxes suggest opening it and putting it in the refrigerator
to deal with food odors.

Long ago I looked up the chemistry for how it "deodorizes".
I don't think it actually deodorizes.

It does actually.

People open the box and stick it in the frig, right?

Guess what.
Opening the door for the fifteen seconds it takes to remove
milk moves more air than could fit in that box, right?

It isnt about the air moving.

a. I don't (yet) see how it can possibly deodorize, and,

It does anyway.

b. Even if it could, the surface area is too small to do anything useful.

Wrong when it absorbs the smells.

It's sort of like saying Listerine kills millions of germs on contact.

Nothing like in fact.

Guess what? Spitting just once gets rid of just as many germs.
And spitting is free. And doesn't change the taste in your mouth.

If anyone can EXPLAIN how sodium bicarbonate
"removes odors", that will be a feat.

Wrong.

Too many people, IMHO, believe stuff, IMHO, without thinking about it.

Some like you don’t have anything viable to think with.

I'm not blaming you as no good deed goes unpunished, so I realize you
hazarded a guess ... but I've never been able to figure out HOW a 2x4 inch
surface area of a carbonate can "deodorize" a 20 cubic foot refrigerator.

Yes, you are that stupid.

How? What's the chemistry?

The smells get chemically destroyed. They are just
organics, albeit smelly ones, which get absorbed
and changed by that alkali.

Try getting something smelly like one of the
smelly cheeses, put it in a container with some
baking soda and see what it does to the smell.

This thread is about chemistry.