• Question: What is Oxi-action (vanish washing clothes washing powder)?

    Asked by anawesomepersonlol to Claire, Sam on 28 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 28 Jun 2013:

      Oxi-action is a chemical-based bleach. It’s a product name, not a scientific term – it’s one type of the cleaning product Vanish, which is made by a company called Reckitt Benckiser. Normally, bleach is used to remove stains. The basic idea is that it breaks down the “chromophores” that are chemicals that can make colour. Hydrogen peroxide, a common bleach chemical, doesn’t work very well below 40 degrees Celcius, whereas room temperature is more like 20 degrees Celcius. To help the bleach work, oxi-action has a booster chemical called “tetraacetylethylenediamine”.

      Check out this guide by the Royal Society of Chemistry for a more detailed explanation of how bleach works:
      http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resources/chemistry-in-your-cupboard/vanish/1

    • Photo: Claire Lee

      Claire Lee answered on 28 Jun 2013:

      Cool – I often use vanish on my stuff (having a 3 year old who likes chocolate and getting dirty does that!). Now I know what I’m doing to them!

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