Cold weather clothes washing
Discussion
The recent US cold weather has made a question come into my mind:
Say you are somewhere where the temperature is permanently around -40C.
If you were to wash your clothes in butane or something similar which is liquid at -40C, would your clothes get clean? If you put detergent in the liquid butane, would it do what detergent normally does?
If you are were worried about the butane blowing up, but less worried about ozone depletion, what would happen if you washed your clothes in one of the CFCs (such as Freon-12) which are liquid at -40C
Say you are somewhere where the temperature is permanently around -40C.
If you were to wash your clothes in butane or something similar which is liquid at -40C, would your clothes get clean? If you put detergent in the liquid butane, would it do what detergent normally does?
If you are were worried about the butane blowing up, but less worried about ozone depletion, what would happen if you washed your clothes in one of the CFCs (such as Freon-12) which are liquid at -40C
That's pretty much what dry cleaning is. Although commonly used dry cleaning fluids like Tetrachloroethylene (Perc) aren't any good below about -20c either.
E.g. Stuff they used to use, like Trichloroethylene (AKA Tippex thinner
), is still a liquid above -86c. They also used it to clean kerosene (RP-1) rocket engines too, like the big F-1 engines on the Saturn V.
E.g. Stuff they used to use, like Trichloroethylene (AKA Tippex thinner
), is still a liquid above -86c. They also used it to clean kerosene (RP-1) rocket engines too, like the big F-1 engines on the Saturn V.creampuff said:
The recent US cold weather has made a question come into my mind:
Say you are somewhere where the temperature is permanently around -40C.
If you were to wash your clothes in butane or something similar which is liquid at -40C, would your clothes get clean? If you put detergent in the liquid butane, would it do what detergent normally does?
If you are were worried about the butane blowing up, but less worried about ozone depletion, what would happen if you washed your clothes in one of the CFCs (such as Freon-12) which are liquid at -40C
Just wait until spring....Say you are somewhere where the temperature is permanently around -40C.
If you were to wash your clothes in butane or something similar which is liquid at -40C, would your clothes get clean? If you put detergent in the liquid butane, would it do what detergent normally does?
If you are were worried about the butane blowing up, but less worried about ozone depletion, what would happen if you washed your clothes in one of the CFCs (such as Freon-12) which are liquid at -40C
Monty Python said:
Dry (or solvent) cleaning will remove oil-soluble stains, but won't shift particulates such as soil. Adding detergents won't help as they require water in order to form micelles that clean.
You could use a different solvent like acetone which can dissolve polar substances like detergents, it's liquid down to -95C. As a bonus it's also really good at dissolving oils so will strip oil stains at the same time.Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff