Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: neilep on 18/07/2008 20:34:44

Title: When Colours Fade...where does the colour go ?
Post by: neilep on 18/07/2008 20:34:44: Dear Colouring-In-Crayonologists !

"We fade to grey"....sang Visage on November 10th 1980 !!

How did they know back then......that so many years later ,I would be asking this question about faded colours ? !! (USA Translation service: "Colours" = "Colors"......sheesh !!!...ewe really have to spell it for them don't cha ?)

See these Jeans ?

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Nice eh ?....the persons who wear them are being delivered next Tuesday !

But where has the colour gone ?....I'd like to be able to blind them with my science knowledge before they arrive !

I know it's faded....but where exactly has the colour gone ?....I can't find it anywhere !!

Help me know the nature of the mysterious disappearance of colours that have faded !

Hugs ewe !!

Neil
Not Colour Co-ordinated

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Title: When Colours Fade...where does the colour go ?
Post by: Make it Lady on 18/07/2008 21:23:28: If you wash something repeatedly some of the colour will disslove into the hot water. If you have a detergent it has a positive and a negative end. This will be very attractive to things containing hydrogen bonds. This will help to soften the water and make it better at dissolving stuff such as dirt and pigment chemicals.
I hope someone else will blind you with science more than me but I only do very simplified science as I am a simple scientist.
Title: When Colours Fade...where does the colour go ?
Post by: neilep on 18/07/2008 21:40:34: Thank ewe very much ~~naked~~Make It Lady

Your simplicity is subtle and readily digestible in suitably bite size portions for which this sheep is grateful.

But what about faded by the sunlight ?...do ewe know where the colour goes then ?...does the sunlight have detergent in it ?
Title: When Colours Fade...where does the colour go ?
Post by: conniemarie on 03/08/2008 01:26:43: simply, the dye is a molecule bonded to fabric, paper, etc. the energy (light) absorbed by the dye (the other colors you don't see) eventually break down the molecules bond, and you see this in the fading of the color (the light energy that the molecule reflects)
Title: When Colours Fade...where does the colour go ?
Post by: chris on 03/08/2008 11:58:53: Thanks CM; of course the material can also fade because it has been washed multiple times and in this instance the fading can also be due to dye breakdown secondary to the stringent conditions in the washing machine, as pointed out above.

Chris