2. How Is Baking Soda Made?
Sodium bicarbonate is the common name for baking soda; a chemical ingredient found about 4 million years before salt lakes evaporate and form trona sediments. The trona rocks continue to be processed into soda ash, i.e., sodium bicarbonate. Wyoming has the largest trona deposit in the world.
The combination of acid, carbonic forms baking soda or sodium bicarbonate, and a sodium hydroxide base reacts with other chemicals that act as a mild alkali. Baking soda breaks down into sodium carbonate, carbon dioxide, and water. The natural physical and chemical properties of baking soda make it ideal for a wide range of cleaning, buffering, deodorizing, and fire fighting applications.
