I would like to create water that is colored bright orange (or a similar bright color.) the trick is that it can’t leave behind any colored residue when it evaporates. So if I poured it on a white flloe, there should be no residue left when it dries.
Does anyone know of a currently available product that will do this?
Well, my first response is, of course, “food coloring”, available in the baking supplies aisle at any grocery store (by the sugar and flour). However, the last part of your post is puzzling. What exactly do you mean by “pour[ing] it on a white flloe”? What is a “flloe”? And why should there be no residue when it dries? AFAIK, the two drops of food coloring (one red, one yellow) required to turn, say, a cup of water orange would leave very little residue.
I think enough beta kerotine will turn kidney juice a bright orange, but it does leave a residue. If you’d settle for dark blue I can probably find a formula for ‘disappearing’ ink that won’t leave a residue.
Just to clarify, you are looking for a chemical that is:
[ul]
Water soluble
Colorless when dry
Orange when dissolved in water
[/ul]
Is this correct? I can’t see how you can have something that leaves no residue at all, unless it is at least as volatile as water. In that case, I hope it is also non-toxic :). If these requirements are correct, I’ll try asking my brother-in-law the organic chemist if he knows of anything.
Rick
just as a point of observation: yellow food coloring ALONE will produce a Brilliant orange colored liquid. As in Orange Crush. This was heartbreaking news to the female convict client who was attempting to create a “pee-colored” substance for her big urine test.
Don’t know about the evaporation bit, tho’ sorry. but hell, it’s cheap to try?
FFLOE? What the hell was I thinking. I meant “FLOOR.”
The deal is that the water has got to be colored so that you can see it on the floor. When it evaporates, it must leave no residue so that it doesn’t stain.
Mr.Zambezi, I am not sure exactly what you’re trying to pull off here but I have to warn you those guys at the FBI labs are pretty good and will probably catch up with you.
Ummm, this might seem a little odd, but the folks in GWAR might be able to help you out. Long ago, in my even less-respectable past, I was told by one of GWAR’s “slaves” that it had taken them years to perfect a mass-producable fake blood that would look thoroughly disgusting on stage and yet not turn the kids’ next laundry load pink.
They have a forum, and who knows? Oderus Urungus might be able to help a fellow scientist/alien/rock star/inventor-of-music out.
This has GOT to be the first time GWAR has been suggested as a solution to a problem here. Now I’ve seen everything.
I am an inventor, sailor, not a criminal. I am trying to come up with a new safety product. IT requires water that can be easily seen but evaporates without a trace?
What were you thinking?
Does it have to leave absolutely no trace, or can it just be very easy to clean up? try taking apart the orange marker out of the washable crayola marker box and using it to dye some water. then pour it on an inconspicuous part of your sample floor or ffloe and see what happens. my guess is that it won’t leave any less mess than food coloring and they’ll be equally easy to remove, depending on the floor.
Dystops: It has to evaporate without a trace. I am thinking that any dye (as opposed to a pigment) that is volitile enough to evaporate at room temperature would work.
But it has to evaporate without a trace. Without going into details, if you have to clean up the residue with un-colored water, it destroys the purpose of having the colored water in the first place.
I think RickG hit on it. you might try calling up the local chemistry department of several universities and asking them if they know if it can be done.
Mr. Z., if we help you with your invention, will you share the rights to it? 
I know how to do this. However, before I can trust you with such dangerous information, I’ll need to know how you intend to use it, and rights to a cut of the profits.
YOu are cynical!
Check your yahoo mail.
If it has to dry without leaving a residue, the dye or pigment must evaporate, right? So what you’re asking for is not something that colors water, but a pure orange liquid (not a suspension or solution) that evaporates at room temperature. If you can find that, mix a bit of it in water and it will have that effect.
But I don’t think I have ever seen a pure liquid which is colored - i.e. not completely opaque or completely clear, but transmits certain wavelengths. Are there any? If not, any reason why it’s impossible?
Right. It can’t be a suspension or emulsion. This is why it can’t be a pigment. a Chemist I know said that some form of dye can work, but he can’t be more specific.
I will add one more detail: it must be able to disolve soap as water does.
Ideally, I want a non-toxic colored substance that evaporates at room temp, can be mixed in water and is compatible with a detergent.
BTW, Cynical wsa just pulling my leg. He doesn’t know how to make this.
Well, I just did a search for colored water, and guess what i got: an easter egg dye company that makes dye for colored water. The problem is that it will stain a white floor. So I still need to find my holygrail, but in the mean time, they are sending me packets of easter egg dye, of all things.
Free easter eggs on me!
May I suggest that you contact a maker or seller of dyes, pigments, and colors. For example,
Pylam Products Company, Inc.
2175 East Cedar St.
Tempe, AZ 85281-7431
USA
Phone: (800) 645-6096
Fax: (602) 929-0078
As far as I can tell they have no web presence. A book I have says “They make and sell certified food, drug, and cosmetic colors, as well as alcohol, water, wax, and solvent-soluable dyes for coloring candles, soaps, detergents and all sorts of consumer products.”