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Hypercolor T-Shirt
Name: Unknown
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Before 1993
Question:
A student of mine is conducting an experiment on Hypercolor T-
shirt. He is investigating the parameters under which the t-shirt will not
change the colors. He is also trying to investigate the optimum conditions
under which it works. Any help in obtaining research materials and ideas will
be appreciated about hypercolor or the dye.
Replies:
Can you define the problem to me a little more clearly so that I
can understand the question? First off, what is a "Hypercolor T-shirt?" My
wife, who has a chemistry background, dyes fabrics as a hobby and is pretty
familiar with dye chemistry. She might be able to help; however, neither of
us understand what you mean by "Hypercolor."
Topper
"Hypercolor" T-shirts are a current clothing fad. They are
clothes that are dyed with a chemical that when touched by heat, turn a
different color. They can be found at most major department stores.
Basically, you might have an orange T-shirt, and when touched with a warm
hand, a purple hand print would be seen on the shirt. This is "Hypercolor".
Unknown
Ah, I see. This is probably similar to the many toys on the
market now which change color when submerged in hot or cold water, or to the
drinking mugs which change color when hot or cold liquid is poured into them.
Is this the general idea? Well, unfortunately, although I have seen these
toys and so forth, I must confess that I do not know exactly how they work.
One guess is that there is some sort of chelated transition-metal complex, or
some other compound, which can be readily (and reversibly) oxidized and
reduced. For example,under relatively mild conditions one can move Vanadium
from the -1 up to the +5 oxidation state! And there are color changes
associated with each change in oxidation state....perhaps thermalized
electrons are excited by warming the shirt, and these raise the color-changing
compound to a higher-energy oxidation state, which relaxes over some long time
scale as the system cools down....but this is all UTTER GUESSWORK! What is
needed is some worthy student to do some experiments and find out what is
REALLY going on...also, you might consider writing a letter to the
manufacturer of the t-shirt. Good luck! I will write more later if I find out
anything.
Topper
Hyper color shirts are discussed in "chem matters" October 1992
issue. There are actually two dyes in hypercolor shirts. A basal color dye
that is always present, and another that is colorlesswhen cold and blue gray
when warm. Each hyper color capsule is 15 to 35 microns and contains several
extractable dyes if you want more the articles explanation is extensive but
written for high school chem students.
Gerald Bokowy
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Update: April 2012
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