2 hours ago, Shel_B said:Yet here Clorox says (certainly strongly suggests) that the product contains sodium chloride. I'm no chemist, but it seems to me that all of the chlorine is not converted to sodium hypochlorite ...
You are correct, the chemical reaction between chlorine and sodium hydroxide produces sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride and water: Cl2 + 2 NaOH → NaCl + NaClO + H2O
Is the presence of NaCl in household bleach a concern for you?
2 hours ago, Shel_B said:From my past personal experience dealing with the Clorox company in business, I am skeptical of their candor and honesty
From a scientific perspective, I think it's sloppily written. For example, the paragraph that you quoted from has the header, "There is no free chlorine in household bleach." Writing as a scientist, I would never write, "there is no X in Y," when all I really know is that the level of X in Y is below the detection limits of whatever method was used to measure it.
That said, I wouldn't automatically conclude dishonesty either. They chose simple language that illustrated their main point that household bleach is not actually "chlorine" bleach - the active ingredient is sodium hypochlorite and while chlorine is used in the manufacturing process, it's not present in the final product.
I suppose they could have been more complete by saying, "During this process, all of the chlorine is converted to a sodium hypochlorite solution that also includes water and sodium chloride but it's still going to be a simplification of a single step in the manufacturing process.
