Outline of Detergency

A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at the basic features of detergency using animated diagrams and live action photography.

Unilever had an hand in this informative but very dry documentary about detergents. They are designed to clean in case you were wondering. Water? Well that's not so good at that - indeed, it isn't even very good at getting us wet! Yep - examples are provided to illustrate just how dry we are when we are soaked. Water molecules attract each other sideways and downwards. When it meets another substance then we get inter-facial tension - very useful for insects that lie atop the water waiting for their lunch. It's the detergent that allows these molecules to spread more readily - soaking a fabric and allowing greasy dirt, particle dirt (dust) and soluble dirt to be cleaned thoroughly by the cleaning agent. Again, all illustrated clearly. How? Well now we head into the realms of the detergent's own molecule structure and investigate it's globular destructive power - very important when cleaning fibrous materials like cloth etc. What's clear is these chemicals - especially when agitated - make quite a difference and help keep all of us, our clothing and our dishes cleaner whilst also having a fatal effect on dangerous bacteria too. This is the kind of film you might have been shown at school to illustrate a chemistry lesson. Some effort has gone into providing a jolly, xylophone style score and though it's hardly a film you'll watch by choice, it's quite interesting.