OxiClean

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OxiClean is a sodium percarbonate (C₂H₆Na₄O₁₂) detergent and bleaching agent which produces hydrogen peroxide when dissolved in water. It is marketed through infomercials (most featuring Billy Mays) as a "miracle cleanser," ostensibly a miracle "oxygen" chemical. It is made by Church & Dwight, the same company that makes the Arm and Hammer brand.^[1] Church and Dwight acquired the OxiClean brand through its acquisition of Orange Glo International in 2006.

OxiClean works through hydrogen peroxide molecules bound within a sodium carbonate structure. Hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidizing substance which will "bleach" the stains away.^[2]

A stain is generally composed of chemical compounds which absorb certain wavelengths of light to make it a certain color. OxiClean changes the structure of molecules in a stain so that they no longer absorb different wavelengths of light. Essentially the color is bleached out of the stain, rendering the stain unable to absorb visible light, making the stain effectively invisible, i.e., becoming transparent like water to light. While not actually "miraculous", this can have the effect of making the stain appear to vanish.^{[citation needed]}