What is Sodium Bicarbonate? – Structure, Formula & Uses
Have you experienced heartburn? Do you like cooking and baking? Have you encountered stubborn stains? If you answered yes to any of these, then sodium bicarbonate is your friend. In this lesson, we will discuss sodium bicarbonate and its many uses.
What Is Sodium Bicarbonate?
Sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda, is a staple in the kitchen. It is a must-have ingredient if you love baking cookies and other sweets. It is also very useful in deodorizing your shoes and your refrigerator. You will find this very useful and affordable ingredient in the baking aisle of the grocery store as baking soda. Its chemical formula is NaHCO3. Its formula consists of one sodium (Na) atom, one hydrogen (H) atom, one carbon (C) atom and three oxygen (O) atoms. It is commonly known as baking soda, bread soda, bicarbonate of soda, and cooking soda. Its physical appearance is usually a white, odorless, fine powder and has alkaline or basic properties. It dissolves in water, so it is water-soluble, and it is non-flammable.
Uses of Sodium Bicarbonate – At Home
Sodium bicarbonate has many uses: cooking, medicine, and hygiene, among other things. Sodium bicarbonate is found in the grocery store in the baking aisle as baking soda. Baking soda is a staple in the kitchen. If you like baking cookies, bread, or making pancakes, you should always have this ingredient with you. In baking, sodium bicarbonate acts as a leavening agent. The purpose of a leavening agent is that it releases gas in dough and batter, causing it to rise and expand. You may notice if you leave out this ingredient, your cookies may appear flat and not as soft. Did you ever wonder how restaurants have tender beef? Prior to cooking, baking soda is rubbed on the meat to tenderize it, resulting in tender meat.
Baking soda is also a very effective deodorizer. It can deodorize garbage disposals, carpets, closets, vacuum cleaners, and more. It is commonly used to deodorize the refrigerator. We normally put an open box of baking soda in the refrigerator to help deodorize the refrigerator and keep it smelling fresh. It’s also very effective in cleaning: if you spill something in your refrigerator (or for more persistent odor), you can empty the contents of your refrigerator, sprinkle baking soda inside, and rub scrub it with a damp sponge.
Baking soda is a very effective cleaning agent on floors, stains, furniture, ovens, and more. For stubborn stains on your stainless steel kitchen appliances, coffee and tea stains in cups, as well as tarnish on your precious silver, it is highly effective at ridding all of these problems. It’s also very effective in removing rust. When you want to deodorize clothes in your washing machine and soften them at the same time, you can also use baking soda as an alternative for fabric softener.
Uses of Sodium Bicarbonate – In Medicine
Have you ever had too much spicy food or too much coffee? These substances are normally acidic and can cause indigestion or heartburn. To treat this, we take antacids, which contain sodium bicarbonate. Antacids, because sodium bicarbonate is alkaline or basic, neutralize excess stomach acids.
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