How Does Bleach Bleach? What Removes the Color?
When doing the laundry, we ask, what temperature should the water be, how much detergent should I use, will I need fabric softener, will I need bleach? If I use bleach, should I use chlorine bleach or should I use oxygen bleach? Kinds of Bleach There are two kinds of bleach, based on needed strength and fabric sensitivity. Chlorine bleach, historically the older and stronger variety, is based on sodium or calcium hypochlorite, NaOCl or CaOCl. One name brand of laundry bleach is Clorox®. It contains 5.25% NaOCl. How does chlorine bleach remove color? In order to understand that, we need first to ask, what is the chemistry behind the colors used in fabrics? Color in Fabrics When we think of colors applied to fabrics, the chemist usually thinks of…