Homemade Silver Tarnish Remover

I've always been interested in the sciences, especially the scientific process of the experiment that had to occur to create the results.

At home, my family has some silverware, made out of silver. They have become tarnished over the years.

My mother normally uses store bought silver cleaner, the right spoon in the picture above was cleaned with the store bought silver tarnish cleaner; the one on the left has not been cleaned. In my independent  book, Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda, there is a recipe of sorts to create a homemade silver polish. The ingredients are: 

2 quarts Hot Water

1 cup Baking Soda
Aluminum Foil

You might be wondering why there would be aluminum foil, it goes into the hot water/baking soda mixture, supposedly the tarnish when it lifts off of the silver is going to attach itself to the aluminum foil (Zukowski 164).  I put the hot water in a container, mixed in the baking soda, and then placed the strip of aluminum and silverware into the mixture of baking soda and hot water.

I noticed after about twenty minutes nothing had happened yet, but waited another ten minutes following the directions in the book, "...let everything soak for 30 minutes" (Zukowski 165) After thirty minutes were up there was not much of a difference in how much tarnish was on the silverware. 

I have proven that this homemade silver tarnish remover does not actually work very well. The spoon on top is cleaned by the store bought silver tarnish cleaner the spoon on bottom was cleaned by the homemade silver tarnish cleaner.

Has your family tried out a homemade or a store bought product and it doesn't accomplish what it is supposed to?

Zukowski, Shea. Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda: Hundreds of Earth-friendly Houshold Projects, Solutions, and Formulas. New York: Metro, 2009. Print.