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Question

Why bleaching action of Chlorine is permanent while that of sulfur dioxide is temporary?


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Solution

Bleaching:

  • Bleaching is the process of removing ingested or naturally occurring coloring agents from raw textile material to decolorize it.

Effect of Chlorine in bleaching:

  • Chemical reaction followed by bleaching using chlorine is as follows,

Cl2(l)Chlorine+H2O(l)WaterHCl(l)HydrochloricAcid+HClO(l)HypochlorousAcid

  • Due to the process of oxidation, the bleaching action of chlorine is permanent.
  • Water and chlorine combine to create nascent oxygen.
  • After then, the oxygen reacts with the colored substance to turn it colorless. It has a strong oxidizing effect.
  • After the formation of hydrochloric acid and hypochlorous acid, the hypochlorous acid dissociates and forms nascent oxygen because of its instability.
  • The following reaction illustrates the entire procedure,

HClO(l)HypochlorousAcidHCl(l)HydrochloricAcid+[O](g)NascentOxygen

Effect of Sulfur Dioxide in bleaching:

  • Chemical reaction followed by bleaching using Sulfur Dioxide is as follows,

SO2(g)SulfurDioxide+2H2O(l)WaterH2SO4(l)SulphuricAcid+2[H](g)NascentHydrogen

  • Due to the process of reduction, the bleaching action of chlorine is temporary.
  • Sulfur dioxide renders the colored material colorless by removing oxygen.
  • The substance regains its color when atmospheric oxygen gradually replaces the lost oxygen.

Hence the bleaching action of Chlorine is permanent while that of Sulfur Dioxide is temporary


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