| RESEARCH REPORT
Introduction to Detergents and Plants
Detergents have only been around for about 85 years, even
though soaps have been around for about 3,000 years. Detergents were first produces in Germany about the beginning of World War I. Plants are one of four families in scientific classification. They differ from animals in that they have chlorophyll and cell walls in their cells.
Detergents
Detergent is defined as "a cleansing substance that acts similarly to soap but is made from chemical compounds rather than fats and lye." by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Modern detergents contain a chemical called a surfactant, which, defined by WordNet 1.6 is "A substance capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved." This allows the detergent to spread further, penetrate better and clean much more efficiently. With the addition of "builders," which make the surfactants work much better. Detergents are used mainly for four different things: personal cleansing, laundry, dish washing and house cleaning.
Detergent Popularity
Detergents are far from being as old as soap, but today they
are the best selling method of washing clothes and dishes. Detergent popularity has grown exponentially since around 1950. In between 1940 and 1972 the sales of detergents went from about 4,500 tons per year to around 4,448,000 tons per year. At the same time, soap sales went from 1,410,000 tons a year to 587,000 tons per years, decreasing almost 30%, although sales in soap rose 4,000 tons per year from 1960 to 1972. Detergent sales surpassed the sales of soaps in 1953.
Detergent history
Detergents, as was stated, were first seen around the beginning of W.W.I. The exact year is 1916. They were first used Because of the war related shortage of fats. It were sold under the general name Nekal. The discovery of detergents was in part because the people where looking for a cleaning substance, that, unlike soaps, would not mix with the minerals in water to make a wax like residue called "soap curd." They were not as high quality detergents as we have now, and were used mostly as wetting agents in textile work. The quality didn't change much in the 20's and 30's, with only minor enhancements. The sales for detergents really skyrocketed around the beginning of W.W.II, with a shortage of fats and oils needed to produce soap. The military badly needed a cleaning agent that wouldn't mix with the mineral rich waters to make soap curd. The breakthrough came at the end of the war in 1946. Up to then detergents were used for hand dish washing and washing sensitive clothing. The first all-purpose laundry detergent had surfactants and builders. The builders greatly improved the efficiency of the surfactants. By the end of 1950, soaps had almost been forgotten as a way to wash clothes and dishes, but were still used at the same time as detergents. Through the years, detergents have changed a lot. In the 50’s detergents were used in dishwashers and for the laundry. They were adapted to be bleaches. Fabric softeners were also developed. In the 70’s they manufactured liquid hand soap. In the 80’s they made liquid dishwasher detergent, detergents for colder water washing and concentrated detergents. In the 90’s they manufactured super-concentrated detergents and dishwasher gels.
Wisconsin Fast Plants
Wisconsin Fast Plant's scientific name is Brassica rapa, and is commonly referred to as a Rapid Cycling Brassica rapa, or RCBr for short. There are six other plants in the Brassicaea family, and are in the same family as cabbage, mustard and turnips. All plants go from seed to seed and RCBr go from seed to seed in less than 40 days and are in premium growing conditions in twenty-four hour cool fluorescent light. This is why they are often called the perfect classroom plant. Seeds can be planted in a 2 cm pot and can grow to a height of 15 cm. The seed is supposed to break the surface after 3 days. They are very easy to manage and do not require much water per day. The current RCBr grow about five times faster than its ancestors, but thanks to efforts by Dr. Paul H. Williams they now grow much faster. Dr. Williams teaches as a professor of plant pathology at the University of Wisconsin, hence the name Wisconsin Fast Plants. Wisconsin Fast plants started when Dr. Williams was trying to improve disease resistance in the Brassicaea family. He spent almost 20 years breeding Brassica rapa until it had developed into a small, fast growing plant. His result greatly improve methods of cellular reasearch. He had many goals for the plants. They had to grow quickly and start growing immidiatly. They had to be small and have a high seed crop in high denstity. They also had to grow well in potting soil.
Summary
Detergent are a relatively recent innovation that greatly improved almost all kinds of cleaning. Wisconsin Fast Plants are a fast growing plant that are very useful in classroom experiments.
Bibliography
DeMichele, William D. "Plants" World Book Encyclopedia, 1991.
Carter, Joseph L. Life Science: A Problem Solving Approach, 1971
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996
Hershey, David R. Plant Biology Science Projects, 1995
http://www.ask.com/main/askJeeves.asp?ask=detergents&origin=&qSource=0&site_name=Jeeves&metasearch=yes
Reed, Catherine. Environment, 1992
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, 1996
WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997
www.dictionary.com
http://fastplants.cals.wisc.edu/
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