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What is Monkeypox?
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), monkeypox is a viral disease in the same family of viruses as the one that causes smallpox, although milder. It can be spread through close contact with a person with monkeypox or touching objects, fabrics, and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox. There is currently an outbreak that has reached several countries and most U.S. states, which is being closely…
Surfactants (yellow) cause water to lose surface tension, which is what keeps water separate from other materials
Have you ever seen a bead of water sitting on a surface? This is because water has a property called surface tension. This tension causes water to form a bead on the surface of things like glass or fabric. You can see surface tension at work by placing a drop of water onto a counter top. The drop will hold its shape and will not spread.
In order to clean the dirt on our clothes,…
The ingredients in your cleaning products fall into several different categories, added to provide different characteristics and cleaning functions. Each product formula is a careful balance of various ingredients that will work best for what you are trying to clean.For more information about the specific ingredients in a cleaning product, visit the manufacturer's website or look for the product in SmartLabel…
Did you know that there are different levels of cleaning? Not just routine cleaning versus the less frequent deep cleaning that often gets done in the spring, but different levels within routine cleaning that you may choose depending on the needs of your family and friends or if someone in the home is sick. Learn the Levels of Clean and use them, along with the Levels of Laundry, to make the best cleaning choices for the health and well-being of you and your loved ones.Always remember to read…
No matter the type of product you are using (soap or detergent), good cleaning takes a lot of energy. Three different kinds to be exact:
Chemical energy, provided by the soap or detergent
Mechanical energy, provided by a machine or by hand
Thermal energy, provided by heating water Let’s look at how all these elements work together.
Assume we have a great, big, oily, greasy stain on one of our favorite shirts. Water alone is not enough to remove the stain and get our shirt clean. That…
Ingredient labels contain a lot of information. They have a list of ingredients, but they also need room for directions and important safety messages. Smart consumers can get additional information from company websites to find out more about those ingredients, including where they are sourced and the role they play in making that product effective. Learn more about the formulations in your favorite soaps and home cleaning products with these resources from the companies that make them…
Understand the language of soaps and detergents.
ALCOHOL: A class of organic compounds containing one or more hydroxyl groups. The alcohols used in light duty and liquid laundry detergents are isopropanol or ethanol (ethyl alcohol). These alcohols are used at low levels in liquid detergent formulations to control viscosity, to act as a solvent for other ingredients, and to provide resistance to low and freezing temperatures encountered in shipping, warehousing, and use. &…
Cleaning products play an essential role in daily life. They can remove dirt and stains from our clothes, dried on food from our dishes, and even germs from our hands! Let’s learn more about the chemistry that makes this happen.
What Is Cleaning?
Cleaning is the process of taking something dirty—like your kitchen counter—and removing dirt, grease, and grime found on it. When we clean, we leave things better than they were when we found them. Cleaning helps remove dirt,…
What is Norovirus?According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), norovirus is a highly contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. It is easily spread through direct contact with an infected person, consuming contaminated food or water, or touching contaminated surfaces and the virus can survive on those surfaces for days or weeks. Norovirus outbreaks are common and can affect people of all ages. Public health experts closely monitor norovirus infections,…
What do cleaning ingredients do?
The industry is committed to helping you understand what ingredients are in your cleaning products and why they are there so that you can make informed buying decisions. These ingredient function definitions have been developed through validated consumer research to provide standardized industry language that helps demystify the ingredient list and empower consumer understanding.table {
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