Washing clothes accounts for the most amount of water used in your home. Actually it’s not washing clothes, but rinsing them soap-free requires more water. Scientists are now working on smart soap whose bubbles collapse once the clothes are clean and could thus reduce the water needed in the process.
Normal soaps and detergents contain surfactant molecules, which are made oil-friendly so that they can capture dirt and water-friendly so that they can pull the dirt once rinsed with water. These detergents tend to form bubbles when it comes in contact with water, which requires that extra water to rinse.
Researchers at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, have developed a ‘pepfactant’, which only forms bubbles under mildly alkaline conditions. During the rinse cycle, water lowers the pH, thus breaking the bubbles apart so that less water is required to push the soap out of the clothes.
Via: New Scientist Tech
