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if you have no baking powder, then the main consituent of baking powder...bicarbonate of soda (or to us chemists sodium bicarbonate). The reason why is it is alkaine, where tea and coffee are acidic, an they then neutralise each other.

It's also bloody good at cleaning those tea stains on the "stainless" sink around the plug hole.

Second action is that it's a good scourer as a powder.

It is disolved in water and is much less toxic than bleach...it's also what is in those teeth whitening tooth pastes, for all the above reasons, so save yer sel a fortune an dip yer brush in!.

cheezy... you are a chemist?!

I use bicarb - or bickerbonnet of soda as it's called thanks to my dd who pronounced it that way a few years back :D

I can buy it for £1.75 per kg which isn't too bad... but that's on a bulk order and there is carriage to add, but that's per order.. so could work out reasonably cheap.

Well when I say chemist, I have a bit of paper which claims I once got a degree in Chemistry and Polymer Science Technology.

How is still a wonder to me and several of my contemperies.

And when people I encounter talk "real molecular chemistry" I'm afraid I can remember bugger all.

What I remember is the stuff that interested me (very little), which is usually all the practicle stuff. I'm amazed at people who remember the structure of this or that some 30 years after they graduated, when I can't remember it from 15 years ago.

Me too Cheezy, I used to be a chemist 15 years ago, a lot slowly slips away in 15 years.....................

Nev

Nev,

case in point a customer has just phoned to ask if you can get CaCO4?

I said I didn't think so cos the valency of Ca is +2, hence you get CACO3 but I wasn't sure!!!. (had to look that up to check )

I have't been asked a chemistry question in years , and here I am talking about it, and some one phones up!.