Frequently Asked Questions
It depends upon what we want to clean! With the Covid-19 pandemic, we have all learnt that in order to keep our hands clean, we need to wash them thoroughly with soap and water or use alcohol gels. However, when we want to clean our streets, it is probably good enough when they look visibly clean.
The science of cleaning is very interdisciplinary as a cleaning agent interacts with different soiling materials, surfaces and organisms, under various chemical and physical conditions. Timescales can vary from seconds to days, whilst length scales span from the molecular scale to the largest dimensions of the system to clean. This brings together many different fields of science: mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and engineering.
This website has a dedicated page with all the material such as talks, posters and short videos presented at the 2021 Workshop on the “Modelling of Cleaning and Decontamination”. You can also use our Knowledge Base to find important scientific resources on this topic. The website is also a platform for researchers and practitioners to connect and be aware of events organised on this topic. You can also learn more about cleaning and decontamination through this FAQ!
ModCad is an acronym for Modelling of Cleaning and Decontamination; a rational and mathematical understanding of the science behind cleaning and decontamination problems.
Cleaning is the removal of unwanted material from a surface, an object or a fluid.
Decontamination involves removal down to the organism or molecular level and represents a rigorous and intensive level of cleaning.
This website is about the science behind cleaning and decontamination.
Everyone! The aim of this website is to provide resources and material for everyone to understand more about the science behind cleaning, whether you are a researcher on this topic, a practitioner, or simply curious to know more about the science behind cleaning.
In general, we need to clean for the following reasons:
- Maintenance and restoration: to allow the material or unit with the affected surface to be used again and perform its original intended function.
- Hygiene: to ensure that a surface used, for instance to prepare food, or a tool used in a hospital are safe.
- Adaptation and transformation: to prepare a surface for a different use, for instance to avoid cross-contamination with allergens at product change-over in the food or pharmaceutical industry.
- Aesthetic: sometimes we just want to clean so that our environment, some objects, or ourselves look nice!