Dye like rhodamine...

[Externet]

Hello.

As a kid in the sixties I read on a chemistry and physics experimenter's book written for young readers, a simple process to home make something like what is now named rhodamine, capable of dying a whole pool water red with a few drops. Cannot find it now...

Does anyone know how to make such a highly concentrated dye/ink/colorant with simple compounds ? Sort of remembering borax as one ingredient, but not sure after 45 years.

Oh, those days with no television, no internet... and plenty of good books to discover !

Thanks,

Miguel

[budullewraagh]

eh, what are the safety guidelines you want?

[Externet]

Hello, thanks for responding.

 

Good question; I did not consider this dye to be too dangerous as was to be prepared by young experimenters with common sense in that book from the fifties/sixties; but realize the world has changed a lot since and it has to be taken in account.

If there is a choice, would like to avoid caustic, poisonous and restricted access chemicals, maybe the regular compounds those complete hobby experimenter's chemical sets used to have many years ago, could be good, not the lean kits available of today.

 

Cannot really answer the question properly, any suggestions or options would be fine.

It may be something similar to fluoresceine, used to trace underground aquifers and their surfacing points; and believe fish and plants are not harmed from it.

From the little I remember, it was a liquid as a result of some simple process of mixing a few chemicals.

 

Miguel

[YT2095]

go to food store that specialised in Asian cooking (specificly Indian or pakistani).

they sell food colorant in powder form (often used in that multi-colored pillau rice and sheekh kebabs).

 

the red is Soooo powerful that an almost invisible spec when wetted will make your hands look like you`ve cut your wrists!

 

they do a green and an orange color too

 

 

and it`s perfectly safe, just a devil to remove!