Dictionary:
de·ter·gent (dĭ-tûr'jənt) ![]() |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: detergent |
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| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Detergent |
A substance used to enhance the cleansing action of water. A detergent is an emulsifier, which penetrates and breaks up the oil film that binds dirt particles, and a wetting agent, which helps them to float off. Emulsifier molecules have an oillike nonpolar portion which is drawn into the oil, and a polar group that is water-soluble; by bridging the oilwater interface, they break the oil into dispersible droplets (emulsion). As a surfactant, a detergent decreases the surface tension of water and helps it penetrate soil.
Soap, the sodium salt of long-chain acids, was the principal detergent until superseded in 1954 by synthetic detergents (syndets) which, unlike soap, do not form insoluble products with the calcium in hard water. Most syndets are of the anionic type, that is, sodium salts of alkyl sulfates or sulfonates. Alkyl benzene sulfonates (ABS) with branched carbon chains were found to persist in wastewater and have been replaced by linear alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS), which are biodegradable by bacterial action. Anionic detergents are best for water-absorbing fibers such as cotton, wool, and silk. Nonionic detergents are polyethers made by combining ethylene oxide with a 12-carbon lauryl alcohol. They are used for water-repelling “permanent press” fabrics, and their low-foaming property is desirable for automatic washers. Cationic syndets are quarternary base compounds. They are more expensive, but some are germicidal; some are used as fabric softeners and as good metal cleaners.
Detergents must contain alkaline “builders” to bind dissolved metal ions and support emulsification. Sodium pyrophosphate or polyphosphate were preferred because of low cost and high cleansing effectiveness. However, when discharged with laundry wastewater, these compounds supply nutrient to phosphate-deficient lakes and streams and thus lead to eutrophication, and their use is now banned by law. Less harmful, but less effective, builders such as sodium carbonate are now widely used in detergents. See also Eutrophication.
Many additives are used in detergents to provide scent, brightening (usually through fluorescent action), or bleaching action. Biodegradability is essential for detergents; it ensures that components of detergents will be broken down by bacterial action before undesirable aftereffects can occur. Nonbiodegradable detergents can prevent effective bacterial action in septic tanks and sewage treatment plants, and can cause undesirable persistent foaming in rivers. See also
| Dental Dictionary: detergent |
A cleanser Also applied in a more specific sense to chemicals that possess surfaceactive properties in water and whose solutions are therefore able to wet surfaces that are normally water repellent, thereby assisting in the mechanical dispersion and emulsifica-tion of fatty or oily material and other substances that soil the surface.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: detergent |
| Veterinary Dictionary: detergent |
1. purifying, cleansing.
2. an agent that purifies or cleanses.
| Wikipedia: Detergent |
A detergent (as a noun) is a material intended to assist cleaning. The term is sometimes used to differentiate between soap and other surfactants used for cleaning. As an adjective pertaining to a substance, it (or "detersive") means "cleaning" or "having cleaning properties"; "detergency" indicates presence or degree of cleaning property.
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Detergents, especially those made for use with water, often include different components such as:
Sometimes materials more complicated than mere mixtures of compounds are said to be detergent. For instance, certain foods such as celery are said to be detergent or detersive to teeth.
There are several factors that dictate what compositions of detergent should be used, including the material to be cleaned, the apparatus to be used, and tolerance for and type of dirt. For instance, all of the following are used to clean glass. The sheer range of different detergents that can be used demonstrates the importance of context in the selection of an appropriate glass-cleaning agent:
Sometimes the word detergent is used to distinguish a cleaning agent from soap. During the early development of non-soap surfactants as commercial cleaning products, the term syndet, short for synthetic detergent was promoted to indicate the distinction. The term never became popular and is incorrect, because most soap is itself synthesized (from glycerides). The term soapless soap refers to a soap free liquid cleanser with a slightly acidic pH.[1] Today, soapless soaps are used in an array of products.[1] There is no universally accepted term for detergents not made of soap other than soapless detergent, non-soap detergent or soap-free cleanser.
The term detergent by itself is sometimes used to refer specifically to clothing detergent, as opposed to hand soap or other types of cleaning agents.
Plain water, if used for cleaning, is a detergent. Probably the most widely-used detergents other than water are soaps or mixtures composed chiefly of soaps. However, not all soaps have significant detergency and, although the words "detergent" and "soap" are sometimes used interchangeably, not every detergent is a soap.
The term detergent is sometimes used to refer to any surfactant, even when it is not used for cleaning. This terminology should be avoided as long as the term surfactant itself is available.
The earliest detergent substance was undoubtedly water; after that, oils, abrasives such as wet sand, and wet clay. The oldest known detergent for wool-washing is stale (putrescent) urine.[2] For the history of soap, see the entry thereon. Other detergent surfactants came from saponins and ox bile.
The detergent effects of certain synthetic surfactants were noted in 1913 by A. Reychler, a Belgian chemist. The first commercially available detergent taking advantage of those observations was Nekal,[3] sold in Germany in 1917, to alleviate World War I soap shortages. Detergents were mainly used in industry until World War II. By then new developments and the later conversion of USA aviation fuel plants to produce tetrapropylene, used in household detergents, caused a fast growth of household use, in the late 1940s.[4] In the late 1960s biological detergents, containing enzymes, better suited to dissolve protein stains, such as egg stains, were introduced in the USA by Procter & Gamble.[5]
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| Translations: Detergent |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - rensemiddel, sulfo
adj. - rense-, vaske-
Français (French)
n. - détergent
adj. - détergent, détersif
Deutsch (German)
n. - Waschmittel, Spülmittel, Reinigungsmittel
adj. - reinigend
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - απορρυπαντικό, σκόνη μπουγάδας
Português (Portuguese)
n. - detergente (m)
Русский (Russian)
стиральный порошок
Español (Spanish)
n. - detergente
adj. - detergente
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tvättmedel, rengöringsmedel
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
清洁剂, 去垢的, 使洁净的
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 清潔劑
adj. - 去垢的, 使潔淨的
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 합성 세제
adj. - 깨끗이 세정하는
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 洗浄性の
n. - 洗浄剤, 洗剤, 清浄剤
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) مادة منظفه, مادة مطهرة
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - תכשיר ניקוי, דטרגנט
adj. - מטהר
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
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![]() | Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more | |
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