# What exactly is Baking Soda?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 23, 2000, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287 "2000-05-23T16:07:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2000, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287/1 "2000-05-23T16:07:39Z")
Seriously, are there baking soda mines in New Mexico? Is it some weird chemical combination? Does it have a place on the periodic table?
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287/2 "2000-05-23T16:26:41Z")
[Arm and Hammer](http://www.ahperformance.com/products/socamo.html)
It’s a compound, not an element, so it’s on the periodic chart in serveral places, Sodium, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Carbon.
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### Author:  [@Shaky\_Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaky_Jake)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2000, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287/3 "2000-05-23T16:38:48Z")
Actually, Inky posted the link to sodium carbonate monohydrate, which is different. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate
Same Web Site, Different page
[http://www.ahperformance.com/products/sobi.html](http://www.ahperformance.com/products/sobi.html)
Jake
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287/4 "2000-05-23T16:46:24Z")
Don’t blame Inky for my bad post.
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### Author:  [@Shaky\_Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaky_Jake)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287/5 "2000-05-23T16:46:26Z")
Oops, make that “Padeye posted the link to…”
And I now realize that the site doesn’t answer your “where does it come from?” question, so try here for some very brief info:
[http://www.solvay.com/products/prodalk2.htm](http://www.solvay.com/products/prodalk2.htm)
Jake
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287/6 "2000-05-23T17:01:27Z")
Slightly tangential, but still…
[What’s the difference between baking soda and baking powder?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbakingsoda.html)
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2000, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-baking-soda/20287/7 "2000-05-24T09:30:18Z")
**Shaky Jake** ’s link isn’t all that clear to me. Let me elucidate. Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO[sub]3[/sub])is made by passing carbon dioxide (CO[sub]2[/sub]) through a solution of soda ash (sodium carbonate, Na[sub]2[/sub]CO[sub]3[/sub]). Most soda ash is now made using the Solvay process. As the link says, “It is made using common salt, ammonia, carbon dioxide and lime.” There _are_ natural deposits of soda ash, especially in California and Wyoming, but they are no longer commercially very important. As far as I know there are no natural deposits of sodium bicarbonate itself.