cleaning keyboards in the dishwasher

On Jan 6 2006, 16:20, Bj??rn Vermo wrote: wrote: some will dishwashing Some of you seem to have slightly odd ideas about detergents :-) I know of no dishwasher detergent that contains chlorine (which is a gas) nor large amounts of chlorine-based bleaches. (Mild) Bleaches and brightners are common in *clothes* detergents where there are good for stain removal, but they're *not* good in dishwashers, where the bleach would tend to fade patterns on crockery. Therefore dishwasher detergent manufacturers use only very small amounts, if any, and they're usually oxygen-based. More to the point though, they don't contain silicon dioxide, at least not any I've come across (btw it's silicon, not silicone). They might feel gritty, but that's not sand, it's solid detergent. If you dissolve dishwasher detergent (loose powder or a tablet) in a jug of water, it will eventually dissolve completely, leaving no sand behind. Do you think manufacturers would put sand, one of the few common substances that will scour glass, into a substance used for cleaning glassware? If you're worried about the powder, it's perfectly possible to get liquid dishwater detergent. Crystal soda is not a detergent. It's sodium carbonate, Na2CO3. It *is* caustic, it's a mild alkali. That's why it works -- it saponifies oils, in the same way caustic soda or caustic potash do. That is to say, it chemically reacts with oil and similar things to turn them into something water-miscible. Detergent, on the other hand, does not react with oils, it works like soap to mix with free oily substances and water. Ammonia is worse and not good for some plasics. Don't put those in your dishwasher. Finally, detergent won't damage copper, aluminium, steel, or other metal. Water will. Detergents can remove oils and other thin-film coating that might protect metal, so it is wise to dry things carefully after getting them wet because water and air can cause corrosion, but it's not the detergent that does that, it's the water. Well, actually it's the air, but water permits various electrolytic reactions that hasten the process. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York