[BigBrando]

So last night I decided to clean some newly-acquired casino chips. They were pretty disgusting, to say the least. I read through all the chip cleaning posts and decided to try diluted laundry detergent. I did 1 oz. Tide HE (high efficiency) to 6 oz. tap water. The chips soaked for 15 minutes, I used an old toothbrush to scrub them, and then dried them.

I was floored with the results. They came out looking fantastic. I wish I would have taken before-and-after shots - but I'm really impressed with the results. I know, "this thread is worthless without pics" But that's not the point of this post.

Anyway, my question is this:

Laundry detergent fluoresces under black light. A number of my newly-cleaned casino chips have the Paulson UV security feature that, also, flouresces under Fluorescent black lights. So, will the 1:6 laundry detergent cleaner I used on my chips now appear on the chip under black light - perhaps even obscuring Paulson's security feature?

If I had a black light this would be an easy question to answer. Unfortunately, I don't - and I was hoping someone with more chemistry knowledge could weigh in.

Regardless, I hope I didn't damage the chips (they seem fine to the naked eye) - but they are remarkably clean.

I thought that others might benefit from answers to this question, so I posted it. Looking forward to any responses!

[JM]

I doubt it as long as you rinsed them well.

[JoseRijo]

Originally Posted by BigBrando

blah blah blah newly-acquired casino chips blah blah blah

Did you say something, BB? Could you repeat that, please?

Actually, you may be onto something. If the phosphors are left on your t-shirt, they'll probably be left over on the chips. Somebody needs to test this out. Where are the 1980's when you need them?

[poislb]

Im interested to see some pictures of this. I gave away all my UV lights otherwise I would be the guinne pig

[jmc]

I don't think it would make a huge difference. Laundry detergent leaves a very faint blue hue on objects under UV light (if you don't rinse it). If your rinsed the chips good, I can't imagine there being a problem.

[BigBrando]

With the weekend coming up, I thought about simply throwing a few in my pocket and ducking into a night club to test them out. But, honestly, that sounds pretty sketchy - even by night club standards.

However, if no one chimes in with a UV bulb, I actually might give this a go. ChipTalk Club Night '06, anyone?

Originally Posted by poislb

Im interested to see some pictures of this. I gave away all my UV lights otherwise I would be the guinne pig

[luckychick]

The UV fluorescent substance in laundry detergent is called calcafluor. It binds to cellulose. Cotton is 100% cellulose. In addition to making your clothes glow under UV light, it makes them look a little whiter under visible light.

I doubt there is any cellulose in chips, so the calcafluor shouldn't bind them and glow, as long as you rinse them well. I'm speaking from a theoretical standpoint though, I don't have emperical evidence.

In case you're wondering, a work on cellulose in my Ph.D. We use calcafluor to look at it under the microscope.

[JoseRijo]

Originally Posted by luckychick

In case you're wondering, a work on cellulose in my Ph.D. We use calcafluor to look at it under the microscope.

Wow. Please show this thread to your parents, so you can prove to them that your education can be applied to something truly important.

Seriously, I am absolutely BLOWN AWAY that we were able to get an actual expert opinion on this two hours after the question was posted.
God bless the Internets, and thank you luckychick for the most impressive response I've ever read on chiptalk!

[BigBrando]

Thank you for the fantastic response, luckychick.

If you have a moment, would you mind answering something for me?

Is calcafluor the only phospher in laundry detergent - or, for lack of the appropriate term, the "active ingredient"? I ask because I can remember a number of college parties where hosts "painted" designs with laundry detergent on their painted walls (cinder block) and have the artwork be visible under black light. How did the laundry detergent bind to the paint on the walls?

Perhaps there was a specific set of conditions present in the basement paint that allowed the phospher to fluoresce - something absent from clay poker chips. Using your answer below, the only guess I have is that there is cellulose in the paint that acts as a thickening agent - and it is this cellulose material that laundry detergent binds to. Chips, apparently, do not have such a material.

In any event, I was using this wall paint experience as the basis for my post. If there is no cellulose in clay poker chips, and there are no other phosphers in laundry detergent, and I rinsed the chips off well - then everything should be fine!

Originally Posted by luckychick

The UV fluorescent substance in laundry detergent is called calcafluor. It binds to cellulose. Cotton is 100% cellulose. In addition to making your clothes glow under UV light, it makes them look a little whiter under visible light.

I doubt there is any cellulose in chips, so the calcafluor shouldn't bind them and glow, as long as you rinse them well. I'm speaking from a theoretical standpoint though, I don't have emperical evidence.

In case you're wondering, a work on cellulose in my Ph.D. We use calcafluor to look at it under the microscope.

[luckychick]

I don't really know if there are other fluors. As far as I know, calcafluor is the only one, but I'm an expert in cellulose, not detergent!

Note that the detergent would probably stick to the wall without the calcafluor directly binding to anything though. If it was a painted wall, the detergent (and hence the calcafluor in the detergent) would probably stick as a paste, but wash off the next day. Something like a cinderblock is pretty porous and stuff would get stuck in there, and take some pretty persistant washing (pressure washer) to get off, but I doubt the walls would still fluoresce if washed well. The persistant glow is because cinder blocks are hard to rinse, not because calcafluor is bound. Note that this is not the same with calcafluor and your clothes. Once you wash them in Tide, you can rinse them all you want, but that stuff ain't coming off. You've got perma-glow. I'm just theorizing here though. I feel that an experiment is in order. We've got lots of UV boxes around here, maybe I'll dip a couple chips in detergent tonight, rinse one well, and check them out tomorrow.

Now that I think about this, you might want to be careful washing clay chips, just because they might be hard to rinse off, since they are a bit porous. I don't know.

Originally Posted by BigBrando

Thank you for the fantastic response, luckychick.

If you have a moment, would you mind answering something for me?

Is calcafluor the only phospher in laundry detergent - or, for lack of the appropriate term, the "active ingredient"? I ask because I can remember a number of college parties where hosts "painted" designs with laundry detergent on their painted walls (cinder block) and have the artwork be visible under black light. How did the laundry detergent bind to the paint on the walls?

Perhaps there was a specific set of conditions present in the basement paint that allowed the phospher to fluoresce - something absent from clay poker chips. Using your answer below, the only guess I have is that there is cellulose in the paint that acts as a thickening agent - and it is this cellulose material that laundry detergent binds to. Chips, apparently, do not have such a material.

In any event, I was using this wall paint experience as the basis for my post. If there is no cellulose in clay poker chips, and there are no other phosphers in laundry detergent, and I rinsed the chips off well - then everything should be fine!