with surfactant 20 it will be appreciated that a finger or other wiping device could also be used to wipe excess silicone caulking compound 12 the excess silicone that is removed is not sticky or tacky and can be readily transferred without mess to a rag or paper towel for disposal surfactants are present in soaps and detergents often the word detergent is used interchangeably with surfactant surfactants are classified depending upon their charge anionic surfactants carry a negative charge cationic surfactants carry a positive charge nonionic surfactants are neutral without either a positive or negative charge in original formulations cationic surfactants were used with beneficial results it was speculated that the positive charge of the cationic surfactants made them better suited for this particular application the objective of this study was to evaluate anionic cationic and nonionic surfactants at different concentrations for their beneficial effect in this application the silicone caulking material used in this study was a standard white interior grade intended for bathroom applications the product was manufactured by general electric co and was used as received the performance of the various surfactants as an aid in the application of silicon caulking was evaluated on three prepared surfaces the surfaces were prepared by mounting a single row of ceramic tiles u02dc 3 u2033 squares near the edge of a wooden support two wooden supports were then attached so as to form a right angle between the ceramic tiles and to bring the ceramic tiles into close proximity the length of the right angle space between the ceramic tiles was about 75 cm three different surfaces were employed for the evaluation of the materials tiles with a smooth ceramic surface tiles with.