cleaning tip

Today I burnt the crap out of a pan trying to cook tuna. I was pretty sure that I ruined the pan because I couldn't scrape off the gross burnt parts no matter how hard I tried. I called my mom and she told me to boil water and baking soda in the pan for 15 minutes. so I did, and when I dumped out the water, the pan was completely clean! like a magic trick, kinda. did you guys know about this?!