--- title: Dyes, inks and colouring — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Dyes, inks and colouring», a lesson of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Squash a blueberry on your T-shirt and the purple mark refuses to wash out. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/) / Dyes, inks and colouring # Dyes, inks and colouring Lesson 27 of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/0/) — Squash a blueberry on your T-shirt and the purple mark refuses to wash out. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/1/) — The berry's colour molecules have stuck to the threads of the cloth: that is exactly what a dye does. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/2/) — Dyes dissolve and soak into things like cloth, paper or hair. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/3/) — Pigments are coloured powders that do not dissolve; they are mixed with a sort of glue and sit on top, as paint does on a wall. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/5/) — Today most dyes are made in factories, and that began with a lucky accident in 1856. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/6/) — Dyes can also leave: they wash out, rub off and fade in sunlight. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/7/) — That is why jeans go pale and why one red sock can turn a whole wash pink. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/8/) — A dye is a coloured substance whose molecules stick to fibres; berry stains are dyes from the fruit. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/9/) — Fresh stains come out more easily than old ones, because the colour has had less time to hold on to the fibres. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/10/) — Felt-tip pens hold dyes dissolved in a liquid; the liquid soaks into the paper and dries, leaving the dye; black felt-tips often contain several colours mixed. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/11/) — Tyrian purple came from thousands of sea snails for a small amount of dye, so it was so dear that it became the colour of emperors and kings. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/12/) — In 1856 William Perkin, aged 18, was trying to make a medicine and made the first cheap factory-made purple dye by accident. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/14/) — Paint is made of pigments, coloured powders that do not dissolve, mixed with a binder that glues them to the surface; cave painters used coloured earth and charcoal. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/15/) — Jeans are dyed with indigo, which sits mostly on the outside of the threads, so each wash rubs a little off and the jeans fade. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/16/) — Indigo was once made from plants; now it is usually made in factories. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/17/) — Some hair dyes open the outer layer of the hair so the colour can get inside and react there; because some people are allergic, a skin test is done first. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/18/) — Food colourings are tested to be safe in small amounts; they add looks, not taste, and some come from plants such as beetroot. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/19/) — Sunlight's ultraviolet rays break dye molecules apart, so curtains and posters fade near a window and museums keep the lights low. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/27-dyes-inks-colouring/20/) — A red sock can leak loose dye into the wash water, and the dye then sticks to other clothes; colour-catcher sheets soak up loose dye. - ← previous: [Colours of fire: fireworks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/26-colours-of-fire-fireworks/) - next →: [Leaves, fruit and colour in nature](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/28-colour-in-nature/) - ↑ back to [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/)