Saturday, April 9, 2022
This experiment was performed at Cos Cob Library on 04.14.2022
Background
When you wash clothes of different colors, fabric dyes may leach out and stain lighter clothing, especially white clothes.
Color catching sheets were invented so you can safely mix colors and whites together in your laundry without whites being stained. The key idea is: fabric dyes are acidic, they become negatively charged compounds in water.
In contrast, the color catching sheets contain positively charged chemicals. Due to the charge difference, the sheets attract the dyes from colored clothes.
Once they are in contact, the sheet and dye form a strong chemical bond. This bond prevents the dyes from leaching out to the water and onto other clothes.
