[neilep (OP)]

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 ?

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

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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[Make it Lady]

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. 

[neilep (OP)]

Thank ewe very much nakedMake 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 ?

[conniemarie]

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)

[chris]

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