why is NaClO 'liquid chlorine'?
Short answer:
No. No. Yes. Yes. No.
Next time, try searching before posting.
Longer answer:
It is just a sale trick. Chemistry community has no direct influence on used trademarks of commercial products. Some may call whiskey &quot;liquid gold&quot;, but nobody expects there is any gold there.
The product is called &quot;liquid chlorine&quot; just because it shares some of characteristics of chlorine dissolved in water/water based solutions. As in both cases , there are some equilibrium concentrations of hypochlorous acid, free chlorine and atomic oxygen.
The &quot;liquid chlorine&quot; is basically a solution of sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride and sodium hydroxide. There is the answer directly on the photo: &quot;130 g/L available chlorine(Cl) present as sodium hypochlorite&quot;. I.e. chlorine is not present in its free form, but in chemically alternative form of hypochlorite, that can release chlorine at different than storing conditions.
Sodium hypochlorite is produced by dissolution of chlorine in solution of sodium hydroxide:
$\ce{Cl2(g) + 2 NaOH(aq) -&gt; H2O + NaCl(aq) + NaClO(aq)}\tag{1}$
If acidified, e.g. by sulphuric acid, the reaction (1) is reversed:
$\ce{H2SO4(aq) + NaCl(aq) + NaClO(aq) -&gt; Na2SO4(aq) + Cl2(g) + H2O}\tag{2}$
If dissolved by about neutral solutions, reaction (2) happens in lower extent, as there occurs also
$$\ce{ClO-(aq) + H2O &lt;=&gt; OH-(aq) + HClO(aq)\tag{3a}}$$
$$\ce{HClO(aq) -&gt; H+(aq) + Cl-(aq) + O(aq)\tag{3b}}$$
The atomic oxygen is reportedly the true desinfecting agens, rather then chlorine itself.