Tattoo Ink Research Paper

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Stephanie Mejia Chemistry Sister Genevieve 21 December 2015 Tattoo Ink: Chemistry A tattoo is a mark, on a person, with an unforgotten design by inserting pigments into punctures in the skin. Many people get tattoos because they enjoy designs that mean something to them, but don’t know what type of chemicals or products they put in their skin. Also many people don’t understand how a tattoo can last forever. Pigments and carriers are in tattoo inks. Tattoo ink is made up of pigments and carrier molecules. Ink is formed of water, alcohol, and glycerin. The pigments that are in the tattoo ink are mineral pigment, organic pigment, vegetable-based pigment, and plastic-based pigment. The pigments contain organic and metallic elemental composition. The plastic-based pigments are very intense colors. There are also pigments that glow in the dark. The reason they have …show more content…

The materials of black tattoo pigments are Iron Oxide (Fe3O4), Iron Oxide (FeO), Carbon, and logwood. The black pigment is made from magnetite crystals, powdered jet, wustite, bone black and amorphous carbon from combustion. Logwood is a heartwood extract found in Central America. Many people have tattoos and never actually understood how tattoos last. Tattoos are permanent. A needle goes into the skin at rate of hundreds of vibrations a minute. The needle goes through the top layer of the skin, which is called the epidermis, and goes deeper into the skin to the dermis. The ink particles are huge for the white cells to remove. The dermis is balanced so the ink will last forever. Fading in the tattoo may occur as you grow older, but to remove a tattoo, you need to have a chemical peel, dermabrasion, or a laser procedure, which will take years to disappear. Alcohol makes the skin spongier. That means that when alcohol is used in the ink or to disinfect the skin’s surface, it allows more chemicals to cross into the bloodstream than ordinary

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