Sam: So let's say you're out and about, you get a stain on your t-shirt and there's
no washing machine in sight. What do you do? Probably pull out your phone and
Google some quick stain removal tips. But are any of those tips actually any good?
So today on reactions we are going to test a few different types of stains:
bacon grease, red wine, and animal blood. So yeah, that is animal blood but it is
food grade so we got it from a local market here in DC. George: We did not get this
from an intern or in fact any other human, and we are decked out in the
proper safety gear, and we do not recommend, in fact please don't try this
particular demo at home. Sam: For today we will be using a 100% cotton t-shirt, so
keep that in mind because whatever you get a stain on might not be 100% cotton
so these will not necessarily behave in the same way. George: Also they might destroy
your shirt, you don't want that. Well let's dive right in. Sam: So, red
wine. So, George if you could open that up, then I'm gonna run through a few of
the things that Google has told us will help remove it. So first we've got white
wine, next we've got isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide,
both of which you'll probably find in your medicine cabinet.
Then we've got some table salt, boiling hot water, and our control, cold water. So
George if you could turn on that hot water, and let's stain this shirt.
George: Let's do it.
All right and now we wait five minutes for the stain to set.
Five Minutes Later.
George: Okay so should we start with the cold water?
Sam: Yeah, let's do it.
George: Alright so we put three drops of stain on six spots of
this shirt, and we are now gonna put 10 drops of cold water and see what happens.
George: Working? Sam: It's not looking good for you.
George: Okay well cold water, as you would expect,
doesn't seem to do much of anything. Alright, what do you want to try next?
Sam: Let's try this white wine. So 10 drops of white wine, let's
see what happens. It's also not great George: Also does not seem
to be doing very much. Should we try rubbing alcohol next?
Sam: Let's try it. So we've got the isopropyl alcohol, better known as rubbing alcohol.
Let's see what this does.
George: I have to say it looks slightly better
than our control, Sam: Just slightly.
George: But not a lot. Sam: Not a lot George: Not a lot
Let's try hydrogen peroxide. Sam: Let's try it.
10 drops of that
George: Alright. Oh, you know what,
again slightly better than our control. Sam: Looks like isopropyl alcohol is the best
so far. George: Okay let's keep going.
Sam: Alright so we've got some salt.
George: Just dump some out there Sam: So they say to really cover it on Google tips,
and then to just use your finger to rub it in. George: More salt captain!
Seriously, could we have some more salt?
Sam: Oh, I'm captain, okay got it, got it.
I'll just put a little bit of water.
Now let's see, Is there difference?
No. That's... worse. George: Yeah, that is really worse.
What's our last one?
Sam: Boiling water. George: That had time to cool so we'll just
let it come up to the boil again.
Two Minutes Later
Okay our water is boiling so let's give this guy a test
here. I'm going to cover a pipette with paper towels so I don't burn myself.
George: Uhh... Sam: Hmm
George: So I think what I'd like to do before we draw any conclusions from this, is maybe hit
it with some more of our best performer.
Sam: Alright so we are gonna go all in on
the isopropyl alcohol.
Or that.
I'm pretty impressed. George: The stain is definitely
still there, it's not disappeared, this isn't magic.
Sam: But it's like a very, very light pink.
George: Yeah that's better than it was before.
should we try the same with boiling water? Sam: Yeah let's do it.
One Minute Later
Sam: I wish the American Chemical Society had elevator music in their elevators.
George: That's true we don't have elevator music in the elevators. Sam: There's nothing in the elevators.
George: It's just dead silence. What are we supposed to do in there?
A Few Seconds Later
We're at a boil. Here we go.
Sam: Whoa... George: Hey it's already kind of working.
Sam: So definitely don't have your shirt on
while you do this because it is boiling water.
George: Yes. Let's keep going.
George: I think actually, Sam: That might have just handled it.
George: That might have taken care of it.
Now, we didn't douse everything else in the other stuff, so there's that.
Sam: That's true. We did put quite a bit of isopropyl alcohol there.
George: Yeah, we put a lot of rubbing alcohol. Alright so this was the wine stain that we added boiling water to,
this guy was rubbing alcohol, and it looks like boiling water is the clear winner.
Sam: Large amounts of boiling water dissolved that wine stain really well,
better than cold water, likely because hot water has more energy, meaning its
water molecules are moving more quickly which could help break up the stain. And
warmer water also increases the solubility of substances, so that might
help you pick up more wine with boiling water compared to cold.
George: Yeah all right so blood.
So the things we're gonna test to try and get blood out of our white
cotton t-shirt, include meat tenderizer, contact lens solution, hydrogen peroxide,
lemon juice, and soap dish soap. So let's try it and see.
Sam: Alright and so just like with the wine, let's go ahead and drop three drops.
Oh, this is far more viscous okay so now we
George: Okay so now we wait for five minutes to let the stain set.
Five Minutes Later
Sam: There are pretty intense. George: Yeah, these look hard to get out.
Sam: Yes. So we'll start with the cold water control.
Sam: Wow. George: Oh, hey, that's a little unexpected. It's kind of wicking away the blood.
Sam: Oh, weird. George: It's coming out.
Sam: Yeah, I mean, I'm actually really surprised I
thought there was no way that it was gonna get almost any out.
George: Yeah. And show the napkin I mean that's clearly coming out.
Well let's move on to the next thing. What would you like to try?
Sam: I want to try the lemon juice. I'm very curious about that.
George: That looks darker. Sam: Definitely darker. Yeah this looks so dark.
George: That looks really different. Well let's get after it with some paper towels and see what happens.
Yeah that looks, uh, mud brown I guess you would say? Probably not something you want
to do to your shirt. Sam: No, I'd avoid that.
George: Alright. Next up? Sam: Let's try that contact solution.
I mean, it's definitely got out some blood but the water still seems a bit better. Well, similar.
George: I would say roughly the same. Sam: The lemon is really bad.
George: The lemon is bad. Let's see I'm gonna
start with the bubbles. Do hydrogen peroxide.
Sam: Whoa. Look at that fizz!
George: That is decomposing the hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water.
Alright, let's see. Sam: Okay so it still looks kind of gross, but it seems promising.
George: Yeah. That is maybe the best one so far? Sam: Yeah
George: Alright so let's do soap. Now, ten drops
of dish soap seems like it would be excessive given that you need one drop
to wash an entire cast iron skillet.
Now—you would never wash cast iron with dish soap that's a terrible idea.
Don't do that. Sam: Watch our how to wash a cast iron skillet.
George: We do have a video about cast iron. Sam: Yeah, I know!
Right so we'll rub it in and then I think the idea is to then also add some water.
George: Because without water, not much is happening here, except smearing
the blood around a little bit. So let's add some water and see what
happens. Go for it.
Sam: Ahh. Alright. So definitely dish soap and hydrogen
peroxide are in the lead, by far. George: Yeah, absolutely. all right
Alright, let's finish off with meat tenderizer. Would you hit me with a few drops?
Sam: That looks really bad. George: Yep. This is not good. This is not good.
Alright, should we revisit our two best performers?
Sam: Hydrogen peroxide. Even better.
George: Yeah, look at that. Sam: Wow! That's really good.
George: I have to say I'm I'm somewhat surprised. I didn't expect it to get rid of so much of the color.
Shall we revisit the dish soap? Sam: Yeah let's do it.
George: Okay let's add some more of that. Sam: Also not bad.
George: So I think we can call this one I would say, what,
tie between the hydrogen peroxide, slight edge to hydrogen peroxide over dish soap?
Sam: Yeah, yeah. George: Alright let's call it.
Sam: Hydrogen peroxide. George: We just called it. Sam: We did.
Sam: So when we poured hydrogen peroxide on that blood stain it was broken down
by catalase, an enzyme found in our blood. So catalase is actually super important
in our bodies because it keeps dangerous reactive oxygen species, created by
oxidizers like hydrogen peroxide, from forming. Catalase converts hydrogen
peroxide into water and oxygen, and that release of oxygen creates the fizzing
you see on the shirt. That reactive oxygen species, though, was probably
responsible for oxidizing the pigments in the blood stain, which changed them
from red, to less red.
George: So we've got our bacon grease, and for this one we are testing, what would you
call this a grab bag of Internet lore? Sam: Yeah, I think that's an accurate
description. So the ones I'm most intrigued to see
how they work are hairspray and cola, but then we also have baking soda, we've got
some baby powder, and of course dish soap, which i think is most likely to work.
George: Yeah, I think the dish soap is gonna be the clear winner here, but there is only one way to find out.
We're gonna get our bacon grease on the shirt here, and now we wait.
One Awkward Silence Later
Sam: Do you sing like with a group?
George: No, no, just alone in the shower.
I wonder what color this is. Sam: I mean I put it on my head right before this.
George: Oh, so is it clear? Sam: Yeah. What do you think hair spray—do you think it's a color?
[Sprays hair spray] George: [Coughing] That was a mistake.
Sam: It's holding.
George: That's was also a mistake. Okay, five minutes are up. Control first?
Sam: Yeah, control first, always. All right so we're gonna let this dry a bit, because at
first glance it looks like it could be out, but we'll see. I'm so excited to
try this one. George: I guess 10 drops wouldn't be as brown as—oh, no that's exactly as
brown as you think it'll be. Sam: All right, well we'll see what it looks like when
it dries. Let's do some baking soda. George: Okay so now you're doing baking soda.
Sam: This is baking soda. George: That's pretty good actually.
Sam: This is not bad. I mean yeah we'll see. Moving on.
George: All right well let's try baby powder.
Sam: Oh it's like coating it, like a thick layer.
George: There's a cakieness to it.
Sam: I feel like you could just, with your nail just peel it.
George: Oh, yeah look at that, it's kind of coming off. So we'll do dish soap next.
Sam: A little dish soap, we'll rub it in, and then a bit of water.
Sam: Oh that's good. George: That one is good. We might have an outright winner here.
Sam: Hey George, don't discount the hair spray. George: Sorry, sorry, you're right you're right.
Haven't even tested the hair spray yet.
Okay, the PS de resistance.
Sam: That might not actually too bad. We gotta let it dry a little.
George: So, we are gonna let this sit for about ten minutes, and come back and see what happens.
A Dry T-Shirt Later
All right so we took a space heater to this shirt for about ten
minutes. Our control we have got a classic grease stain. It looks
honestly it looks just like a water spot, but it's dry, and that is grease.
Cola, exactly what you would expect. Sam: Not only do we still have a grease stain, but there's also
a dark ring around it, so don't do that. George: Yeah not sure why Google suggested that.
Sam: Nope George: This guy is baking soda, right?
Sam: Yes. It's not quite as bad as if you just used water, but it's still not great.
George: Yeah you can still see that that's noticeable. Same deal for the
baby powder. That's still a grease stain. Sam: It's about the same.
George: Here we've got dish soap and water, and I think, yeah that's
the winner so far, and I think, what, second place? Sam: Second place actually goes
to hair spray, except this shirt is incredibly um crunchy.
So I would say absolutely dish soap and water. George: Dish soap and water.
Sam: Clear winner. George: Clear winner.
Sam: Dish soap is a surfactant. Surfactants have a water soluble head and an oil
soluble tail. That allows them to form a spherical structure around droplets of
oil or grease, removing it from a surface like our white cotton t-shirt.
George: But let's review what we found. So we'll start with blood, what was the best there?
Sam: For blood, we found that the hydrogen peroxide treatment, and then also the dish soap
and water seemed to be by far the best option. And for those, again, we really
added as much as we possibly could. George: Right, the 10 drops was not going to do it
in that case. Lemon juice was terrible for blood that was not good. Sam: Don't use that.
George: All right, wine. Sam: So for wine, I
was shocked to see, actually, that the boiling water was what did it. So as we
were pouring it you could just see the wine I don't know if dissipating is the right word.
George: Disappear. Sam: Disappear. But again, not while you have the shirt
on do not pour scalding hot water on yourself.
George: Right. All right what about bacon?
Grease. Bacon grease, not just a big slab of bacon on your shirt.
Sam: The best was dish soap and water.
George: Yep. Sam: But surprisingly the hair spray actually
did pretty well. George: Yeah, it came in second. Again, not a close second, I would say, but
still second. Sam: Yeah still second, but it did give you a bit of a
crunchy shirt, so that's the downside.
We only had so much time to go over Google's stain
removal tips, so if there are other ones that you think are great, let us know in the comments
and we'll George: see
Sam: you George: next Sam: week.
One Freeze Frame Later
Narrator: Please do not be weird in the comments.