Why is baking soda a good deodorizer? What chemical reactions are taking place?

It freshens my fridge, closet, and car. Why?

Why is baking soda a good deodorizer? What chemical reactions are taking place?
Sodium bicarbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Because it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many other names including sodium hydrogen carbonate and %26quot;sodium bicarb,%26quot; as well as baking soda, bread soda, saleratus, or bicarbonate of soda. It is soluble in water.





%26quot;In reality, Baking soda does not eliminate odors very


well at all. As a wash solution, it is mildly alkaline and can serve to cut grease when dumped down a drain.





However, crystal Drano is much more effective -- and far


more dangerous to use. The popular %26quot;open box of Arm %26amp; Hammer® in the refrigerator%26quot; simply provides an adsorbent material that can soak up odors --but not very effectively. For example, if some of the odoriferous materials floating around in the refrigerator are acidic, the alkaline baking soda can


absorb and neutralize the acid. Even in that regard, it is not all that effective because, as the powder in the box contacts water vapor, it tends to crust over an lose a great deal of its already limited surface activity.





It all sounds quite nice, but it does not work very well. Far better would be a canister of activated charcoal because it can indeed absorb vapors that contact the charcoal.%26quot;



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