How is soap made and how does it work

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List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph. Chemistry Expert. Helmenstine holds a Ph. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter. Key Takeaways: Soap Soap is a fatty acid of a salt. Soaps are used as cleansers and lubricants. Soap cleans by acting as a surfactant and emulsifier. It can surround oil, making it easier to rinse it away with water. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format.

Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph. What you need: Jam jar or other small container with lid Cooking oil Water Washing up liquid How to: Put some cooking oil and water in the jam jar. Screw the lid on tightly and shake. Let the jar stand for a few minutes. What do you notice? The oil and water should separate into layers. Add a few drops of washing up liquid to the oil and water and screw the lid on tightly again. Shake and leave for a few minutes. What do you see? You should see a cloudy mixture.

The oil and water are no longer in separate layers. It is because the fats and oils soften or melt in hot water, which allows them to attach more readily to the hydrophobic end of the soap molecule.

In turn, that makes it easier to rinse away. Soap is a natural surfactant. A surfactant is any substance that tends to reduce the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved.

Almost all cleansing products are based on surfactants. Surfactants not only reduce the surface tension of the water but the way they are constructed with one hydrophilic end and one hydrophobic end makes them compatible with both water and oils.

This property is what makes them good for cleansing. When surfactants lower the surface tension of water, they basically make the water molecules more slippery, so they are less likely to stick to themselves and more likely to interact with oil and grease. Natural soap needs no synthetic additives to create lather or to clean because natural soap is a natural surfactant. So it not only makes great bubbles and lather, but it also helps clean oily dirt from your skin--naturally!

Hello Great blog and explainations. It looks like a liquid soap with additional surfactant and an emuslifier.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Affiliate Disclosure : I receive a small commission for purchases made via affiliate links. It was one of my favourites too! Pingback: Make Your Own Soap! Part 2: Let's Make Some Soap! Pingback: the science of makeup brush cleaners Cosmetic Composition. It looks like a liquid soap with additional surfactant and an emuslifier Reply.

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