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Soap - The History Of Soap, What Is Soap?, How Is Soap Made?, How Does Soap Work?

cleansing fatty agent

Soap is a cleansing agent created by the chemical reaction of a fatty acid with an alkali metal hydroxide. Chemically speaking, it is a salt composed of an alkalimetal, such as sodium or potassium, and a mixture of "fatty" carboxylic acids. The cleansing action of soap comes from its unique ability to surround oil particles, causing them to be dispersed in water and easily rinsed away. Soap has been used for centuries and continues to be widely used as a cleansing agent, mild antiseptic and ingestible antidote to some forms of poisoning.

Additional Topics

Soap - The History Of Soap

Methods of soapmaking improved when two scientific discoveries were made in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In 1790, the French chemist Nicholas Leblanc (1742-1806) invented a process for creating caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) from common table salt (sodium chloride). His invention made inexpensive soap manufacture possible by enabling chemists to develop a procedure whereby …

Soap - What Is Soap?

Soap - How Is Soap Made?

Before the end of World War II, soap was manufactured by a "full-boiled" process. This process required mixing fats and oils in large, open kettles, with caustic soda (NaOH) in the presence of steam. With the addition of tons of salt, the soap was made to precipitate out and float to the top. Here, it was skimmed off and made into flakes or bars. This process required large amounts o…

Soap - How Does Soap Work?

In a mixture of soap and water, soap molecules are uniformly dispersed. This system is not a true solution, however, because the hydrocarbon portions of the soap's ions are attracted to each other and form spherical aggregates known as micelles. The molecules tails that are incompatible with water are in the interior of these micelles, while the hydrophilic heads remain on the outside to in…

Soap - Characteristics And Uses Of Soap

Soaps are excellent cleansing agents and have good biodegradability. A serious drawback which reduces their general use, is the tendency for the carboxylate ion to react with Ca+ and Mg+ ions in hard water. The result is a water insoluble salt which can be deposited on clothes and other surfaces. These hard water plaques whiten fabric colors and also create rings found in sinks and bath tubs. Anot…

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User Comments

8 months ago

flfkasfja

soap is made from pig fat, how nasty

10 months ago

this is very useful but desturbing at the same time

about 1 year ago

Joshy

I eat soap for breakfeast i burp and poop bubbles

6 months ago

12 months ago

j-ann baelo

wow it is so cool it helps me for my project! thanks!....

12 months ago

i love soap

over 1 year ago

mom101

soap is good for ppl ages 1month-100 years of age it dosen't only clense u it helps u feel better for my kids ive been useing johnson-johnson for about 5 years becase my oldest is five and youngest is 2 months and i use olay.

over 3 years ago

Thank you so much

almost 4 years ago

obviously Vanessa you didn't,...because you dont know how to spell/write...go back to mexico.. :)

about 4 years ago

It help me with my homework and a got an A+.

about 1 year ago