Expert: Robert Lamb - 12/13/2006

Question
Hi,

I heard that if you warm up lemon juice and water in the microwave it may work, and I did and it worked. My question to you is, would it harm anything if afterward I had to warm more up a second time to clean the remainder of the inside.

if you could help me that would be great.

Answer
Christine,

I'm a little confused about your question. I believe you want to clean your microwave oven, is that correct? I also believe you want to warm lemon juice in a microwave oven because in the past, this helped you to clean your microwave oven. Am I right so far?

If I'm following you correctly, warming lemon juice in a microwave oven should not harm anything. Lemon juice is mostly citric acid and water. The citric acid in the lemon juice may dissolve whatever it is you are trying to clean (probably a natural stain called Tannin). If you find the stain is being removed by the juice when warm, it would also probably remove the stain even before you warmed it. There is a chemical law that states, 'chemical action is increased by the introduction of heat.' Heat works as a catalyst, in other words, it increases the action of what ever chemical it is introduced to. My point being, if in fact the acid in the juice is removing the stain, heated acidic acid should in fact help this process along.

You might also take a little baking soda and mix it with a little acidic acid and put this mixture on a dish cloth to make your own 'soft scrub'. When you mix the acidic acid and baking soda you may see a little bubbling, but this is natural and won't harm anything either.

Let me know how it works out for you.