Cationic surfactants are one of the different types of surfactants that are contained in a detergent. The types of surfactants are defined according to the charges of their heads – as a surfactant, when closely examined at the molecular and atomic level looks similar to a tadpole, with a head that holds a charge, and a tail without a charge.
First off though, you need to understand the general definition of surfactants. Surfactants, through a process call adsorption, create a film of molecules and atoms on the surface of the a liquid – which is, in the case of detergent use, water – which lowers its surface tension. Try looking at water mixed with detergent, and you can see this thin, smooth translucent film with the naked eye. This in effect makes the water become “wetter” in a fashion and allows to loosen and be used with stains, which usually have some oily qualities. This lowered surface tension allows the water to interact better with stains and let them dissolve in the water + detergent solution, and gradually wash away in the rinsing process. Cationic surfactants and other types of surfactants all have these characteristics.

The types of surfactants include anionic, which are negatively charged surfactants. Effective in grease and oil stripping, the biggest downside of this kind of surfactant is the fact that it is easily degraded by hard water – that is, water with calcium and magnesium in it. So the stronger / larger the calcium and magnesium content, the bigger the degradation.

On the other hand, non-ionic surfactants are neutrally charged, meaning they are neither positive nor negative. They are mixed in to counter the effects of hard water. Amphoteric, or zwitterionic surfactants are opposite non-ionic, as they hold both positive and negative charges in the head.

Lastly, cationic surfactants are different from the rest because of the positive charge that they hold, which specifically make them suited for fabric softening purposes

When cleaning, you don’t simply get hold of a cleaning product without knowing anything about it. When you choose to use detergents in cleaning and washing, you ought to know its pH level or pH scale. Information regarding detergents and pH scale is useful because you will determine whether the detergent is alkaline or neutral.

What is pH scale? A pH scale is a logarithmic measure of hydrogen ion concentration in a solution. By determining the pH scale of a cleaning solution, one will be aware of certain precautions to take and what cleaning ability does a cleaning solution has. This scaling information is important to prevent unacceptable or detrimental contact with any detergent-containing solution. As to what you may have known, cleaning is not a simple household activity; it involves more than washing or rinsing off dirt.

Why the need for such information? Before you purchase a bottle or a pack of detergent, you must know first whether the detergent is alkaline or neutral. Mild detergents which are measured neutral and usually in liquid form are ideal in hand dish washing. To make mild solution of detergents, use hot water and mix with the detergent. You can clean washable surfaces, floors and other appliances using the solution.

Laundry detergents are examples of moderately strong detergents. Very alkaline solutions can cause damaged surfaces and skin irritation. Thus, see to it that there will be no prolonged contact with the extra strong detergent solution. If you see on the label that only mild detergent is needed, follow.

Information about detergents and pH scale shouldn’t be ignored. If there will be misunderstanding or you are clueless about the pH scale of a specific detergent product, you may end up hurting yourself and cleaning nothing at all.

Before discussing the different type of surfactants, you first need to understand what a surfactant is. Surfactants are basically substances that lower a liquid’s surface tension. In the context of using a detergent, the liquid that suffers from the lowered surface tension is of course the water. This in turn allows the water and the other cleaning agents in the detergent to do their job and interact better with whatever dirt or stain you want removed from your clothes. Through scrubbing or even just through soaking (for significant amounts of time), the surfactants enable the dirt and stains to be dissolved in water, allowing it to be washed away, along with the detergent, through rinsing.

There are different type of surfactants, and again in the context of detergents, are used – singularly or in combination with each other – in detergent and other cleaning products depending on the formula and goal of the manufacturer.

Anionic surfactants

The most common surfactants are anionic surfactants, which is present in most dishwashing and laundry detergents, and even in some shampoos. This kind of surfactant is most effective with oil or clay stains. It’s weak point though, is its decreased strength when used with hard water (water with a lot of calcium and magnesium). The ‘harder’ the water is, the less effective anionic surfactants are.

Cationic surfactants

Another of the different type of surfactants is the cationic surfactants, which are basically the kind contained in detergents with built-in fabric softener or as fabric softeners used with rinse water. This kind of surfactant is also very effective with grease / greasy stains.

Non-ionic surfactants

Non-ionic surfactants are usually coupled with anionic surfactants, which help offset the deactivation hard water (or calcium and magnesium content) causes anionic surfactants. Greasy stains are no match for non-ionic surfactants – which can also be found (besides in detergents) in dishwashing liquids and other household liquid cleaning aids.

Amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactants

Of the different type of surfactants so far mentioned, amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactants are the mildest and can be considered to be more of a subclass of the anionic, cationic, non-ionic, as they can possess properties of any of these types of surfactants.

Most people use detergents to clean various different objects from clothes to garage doors and workbenches. That is why knowing more about health and safety when using detergents is important.

Detergents are great for removing persistent stains and dirt. This only means that detergents have strong ingredients. It’s best that you wear protective gear especially on your hands and on the face too. This is also a reason for you to be careful in the use of detergents. If you don’t choose appropriate detergents, you could ruin the items you are cleaning and you could even hurt yourself too.

If you are concern about your health and safety when using detergents, it’s imperative that you always read the labels. This will help you make sure that you are buying the right products. You will also be able to avoid certain ingredients you or your family is sensitive to. For instance, someone in the house might be sensitive to fumes because of a respiratory disease. Even simple allergies could be triggered by fumes and other ingredients as well. Again, labels should closely be checked and inspected.

The label would also indicate how much detergent is required when cleaning or washing certain objects. It’s important that you follow instructions to get the best results. Again, this will ensure your health and safety, and the safety of your things as well.

Proper storage is also important when it comes to detergents. You would not want it to accidentally be mixed with things that are eaten or taken in internally. It should be out of reach from children to avoid any kind of poisoning. Even adults can make the same mistake by accident so it’s best that you have a designated place for them in the house. So, again as a precaution for your health and safety when using detergents, they should never be placed near food and food preparation areas.

Knowing how dirt is suspended in water will not only make you more knowledgeable about some complicated Chemistry stuffs. This will also help you decide whether a certain detergent powder is better than the other. So, how do dirt become suspended in water using a detergent powder?

Detergent’s Secret Weapon

You see, detergent powders are composed of different chemicals that help together in fighting dirt, grime, oil, yellowness, and other stains. Among these are the surfactants.

Surfactants help the water’s ability to wet things more. Observe this, when you wet you hands with pure water, you see some droplets of water grouping together, making your hand not uniformly wet. But when you use soap, you see the water spread over your hand and you are able to clean your hands more effectively.

That’s exactly the answer on how dirt is suspended in water. Once the water has a detergent, the surfactant it has makes the water “wetter,” allowing other chemicals to sip through clothes and suspend dirt.

What’s more interesting is that these surfactants have two ends in their molecules. One end attracts dirt while the other end attracts water. Therefore, the surfactants help water get more hold of the dirt to break it up so you can wash the dirt away using the water and the surfactant.

More than Surfactants

Aside from the surfactant, detergents also use other chemicals for other cleansing needs like optical brighteners, which keep your clothes brighter.

Bleach is added as well to get rid of the yellowness. Your clothes may also get rid of the foul smell with perfumes added to the detergent formula. Some detergents also have fabric softener that helps keep you clothes soft and easy to iron.

With the power of detergent, not only dirt is suspended in water. It can do more than just that like making clothes softer, more fragrant, and brighter. Now that you know how dirt is suspended in water, you surely can tell now if a certain detergent brand is helpful or not.

The very first things of many detergents is to allow you clothes  especially the light colour ones  a brightness and whiteness that makes it look brand new. Television commercials of detergents are usually replete with references to this whiteness or brightness, which makes it a huge selling point among consumers and buyers. How does a detergent then, do this – as clothes naturally suffer from wear and tear eventually? The answer lies in optical brighteners and how optical brighteners work.

Optical brighteners are chemicals that serve to make a piece of fabric appear or look to be cleaner (or whiter in the case of white fabrics). They also have characteristics that help lessen the natural yellowing of fabric over time. These whitening agents, also called fluorescent bleaches, brightening agents, and optical whiteners are descendants of a sort from the olden day “bluing agents” which served to remove the yellow tinge in washed clothes, thereby making a white cloth appear to be visibly whiter.

How optical brighteners work is based on a different principle. Optical brighteners are essentially like an ultraviolet dye you apply on clothes. Clothes treated with detergents with optical brighteners absorb ultraviolet light that hits it, and projects it back to your eyes as blue light, which makes the fabric look brighter or whiter to you. The key word here is “look”, because while your clothes indeed appear to be visibly whiter, they are no less clean or in no way cleaner than detergents without optical brighteners.

There are no concrete studies that show optical brighteners having any bad effects on humans, except on those with sensitive skin. Often the itchiness, rashes, and irritation that some individuals with sensitive skin suffer are from how optical brighteners work, but are limited to the irritation, and have no proven lasting health hazards.

Detergent is one of the most common household items. Unless you’re a nudist, and favor living without clothes or don’t mind walking around in dirty, solid clothes that smell awful, a detergent is a real need. But how does a detergent work, really? To understand how a detergent works, then you will also need to know how surfactants work.

Why surfactants? Detergents are made up of several components, surfactants being one of them. Detergents are different from soap, as soaps do not contain surfactants. There’s a reason why bathroom soap you use for washing yourself will not be able to fully clean a cloth in the same way a detergent does. The chemistry behind how surfactants work is also the chemistry behind how a detergent does its job, which is to clean your clothes.

Surfactants basically work through significantly lowering the surface tension of a liquid, and in the case of detergents, water. Water, by itself, cannot clean stains, especially organic stains, which have oil in them. Water’s surface tension does not allow the oil and the water to interact, thus the saying “water and oil do not mix.” With the said surface tension lowered through the addition of the detergent / surfactant into the mix, the water becomes, in a sense, “wetter”, because it spreads itself more an is much looser than it was in it’s normal state.

To understand how surfactants work, you also need to understand a process called adsorption (which is not a typo, and is different from absorption), where the atoms and molecules collect on top of the water. The whole process is catalysed by surfactants. The collected atoms and molecules manifest itself on the surface of the water as a film of sorts, which is visible to the naked eye – something you’ll notice in water mixed with detergent. It is through adsorption that the surface tension is lessened and the detergent can do its job to clean your clothes.

Hydrogen peroxide and cleaning go well together. In fact, many people actually use hydrogen peroxide in cleaning their homes from their bathrooms to their walls and windows.

It Really Cleans!

The primary reason why hydrogen peroxide is used for cleaning is it really cleans to the essence of the word. It’s anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. It’s also anti-mildew and anti-mold. With these benefits, no one can dispute that hydrogen peroxide really cleans.

It’s Non-Toxic

While hydrogen peroxide is effective in cleaning, it has none of the toxic materials that many cleaning solutions have. It’s non-toxic to humans and even to plants and animals as well. It’s actually environment friendly. When you use hydrogen peroxide, you will not contribute to the pollution that passes through the sewage system. And so, by using hydrogen peroxide you actually help preserve our planet.

It’s Inexpensive

Hydrogen peroxide and cleaning truly agrees with each other and even with your pockets. You can easily buy hydrogen peroxide in bulk and in concentrated form so it’s much cheaper than other products. It’s even cheaper for cleaning since most ordinary cleaning only requires 3% hydrogen peroxide only. The concentration needed for simple cleaning is low that a gallon of highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide would last long with you.

Keeps Mops and Scrubs Clean Always

Since hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant, scrubs and mops actually become cleaner as you use them. This means that you become even more effective in disinfecting your house too.

Cleans Everything

Again, the beauty of using hydrogen peroxide is its versatility. You can use it in cleaning almost any surface at home. This saves you the hassle of buying a different kind of cleaning solution for each. Of course, it depends on the concentration of hydrogen peroxide you use. Nevertheless, because of this hydrogen peroxide and cleaning indeed makes your life more convenient and even cleaner.

Nonionic surfactants belong to the different types of surfactants that are used in detergents. They, along with other surfactant, play a big role in how a detergent works to clean and dissolve dust, stains, and dirt from our clothing and fabrics.

Before understanding what nonionic surfactants are, you first of course need to understand the basics of surfactants in general first. Basically, a surfactant is a substance that acts to lessen the surface tension of a liquid when it’s mixed in with that particular liquid. In the case of detergents, the liquid is obviously water. You see, water, by itself, is woefully inadequate as a washing and cleaning agent that can remove dirt and tough stains. This is why detergents are needed. The surfactants in the detergent –these ingredients differentiate a detergent from regular soap – act to lower the surface tension of the water, which makes it “wetter”, allowing it so soak and interact with the dust, stains and dirt embedded in the fabric.

Surfactants work through adsorption, which is a process where a film of atoms and molecules is built up on the surface of the liquid – you’ll see this thin film covering water mixed with detergent – which is the one responsible for reducing the water’s surface tension.

Surfactant types are differentiated by the charge they carry. The negatively charged surfactants are called anionic surfactants, which, while effective against dirt and oily stains, suffer from reduced effectivity in hard water. Hard water is water with calcium and magnesium content – the more of these there are, the less effective the surfactant will be. Cationic surfactants also remove stains, but are primarily used in fabric softeners or detergents with built in fabric softeners. Surfactants with combined positive and negative charges are called Amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactants. Nonionic surfactants, on the other hand, are neutral, meaning they have no charge. They are mixed in with detergents to minimize the effects of hard water and keep the detergent as effective at cleaning as possible.