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How Stain Removers Work
There are different chemical detergents for different soils, it just depends on what is soiled and it's penetration. Laundry detergent for example, is used to make the water wetter and to break it's tension. Sounds funny, but in order to get soil removed from fabrics, the water has to get in between the fibers and push the dirt molecules out.
Read on for more information from WikiAnswers contributors:
- Detergents surround grease droplets and make them water soluble, so the stain can wash right off. Stains made of hydrocarbons are removed by hydrocarbon solvents. Surfactants allow water to wet fabrics better and they surround the stain molecules and carry them into solution. Oxidizing agents attack the links that hold the molecules in stains together. The fragments left are water soluble and wash away. Some detergents contain whiteners that whiten the fabric and don't clean the stain at all. They contain materials that absorb ultraviolet light and re-emit it as visible light. Pick a solvent that is similar to your stain and you can wash the stain right out.
- Ordinarily stain molecules are removed in one (or a combination) of three ways: 1) Dissolved and carried away in a water/detergent mixture, 2) Cut into smaller fragments by the stain remover and then carried away or 3) Strongly bonded stain molecules may require a non-aqueous (non-water based) strong solvent such as dry cleaning fluid. A more detailed explanation is at the following source: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00229.htm
- Most modern detergents and stain removers use enzymes to remove organic stains and bleaching chemicals to remove non-organic stains. Enzymes basically break down the stains, so that they are either eaten up or removed through the water. They exsist in extremely large quantities in modern detergents, so as to make it as fast as possible. Bleach is basically a chemical cleaner, though it might spoil the other parts of the clothing, modern detergents use less of the kind that whiten the clothing of other cloths. Thinner is also a stain remover that breaks up the stains to allow them to be removed easily.
First answer by Tim. Last edit by VaderDarth. Contributor trust: 288 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 225 [recommend question]
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