So our bathroom sink has been clogged for weeks now with no hope of unclogging on it’s own. I’ve been wanting to get something to unclog it but haven’t made my way to the grocery store. Today I decided to try baking soda and vinegar to see if the water would go down the drain better. This is chemistry doing its job to the most practical degree possible.
The goal was to unclog the drain using the acid base reaction to move the funk around in the pipes. But let’s explain exactly how the reaction works. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate and vinegar is acetic acid and water which is by name an acid. When you combine the two substances, molecules are exchanged creating carbon dioxide and water which should hopefully wiggle the looser gunk and allow it to move down the drain.
Our normal water systems are pressurized but most of the time our drains are gravity powered so it is important to pour boiling hot water after the reaction to continue the movement of nasty stuff!
I did smaller quantities of baking soda since the sink is pretty small but it took three tries and it worked!! I’m really glad I took this route first before trying something from a grocery store.
A lot of people think chemistry isn’t really applicable to daily life but that’s actually the opposite. Everything we do is chemistry based. Our bodies undergo chemical reactions all day everyday. Never take chemistry for granted.
Hope this helps for anyone with clogged plumbing!!
Xoxo, Z
