Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => Organic Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: jobinson on January 16, 2020, 01:17:28 PM
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I would like your help to come up with an answer from a mix I did years ago. when I was between 6 and 8 years old I loved to mix things and see what was going on but one day I decided to mix bleach, mild detergent and fabric softener and as I remember the result was a very strong smelling white liquid. I know one of the byproducts created was possibly chlorine gas, but I would like your help to understand which other compounds were created in this mixture.
P.S. I know how reckless and stupid this mix was but at the time I was very small and didn't know it.
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You mixed several mixtures - but most likely the only ingredient capable of really reacting with other things was the hypochlorite from the bleach. It could oxidize some more complicated molecules present (like aromatic additives from the fabric softener). Depending on pH of the detergent and the softener (most likely neutral or a bit acidic) some of the bleach could decompose, producing chlorine (as you have correctly guessed). Other than that I wouldn't expect any really interesting chemistry.
It is a bit like throwing together Lego bricks, Duplo bricks and Matchbox models - you get a more complicated mixture, but nothing particularly interesting happens.