Bleach Loses Strength Over Time

Your bleach is getting weaker every single day you own it. It’s not a scam; it’s just chemistry.

The active ingredient, hypochlorite, is super unstable. It naturally breaks down into plain

old salt and oxygen, especially when it's exposed to light and heat. That’s why bleach

bottles are always opaque. In the lab, we can actually measure this strength

loss with a process called a redox titration, using a color-changing reaction to see how much power is

left. So if you're using that ancient bottle from the back of the cupboard,

it might just be salty water.