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n chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.

[1] Soaps are mainly used as surfactants for washing, bathing, and cleaning, but they are also used in textile spinning and are important components of lubricants. Soaps for cleansing are obtained by treating vegetable or animal oils and fats with a strongly alkalinesolution. Fats and oils are composed of triglycerides; three molecules of fatty acids are attached to a single molecule of glycerol.[2] The alkaline solution, which is often called lye (although the term "lye soap" refers almost exclusively to soaps made with sodium hydroxide), brings about a chemical reactionknown as saponification. In this reaction, the triglyceride fats are first hydrolyzed into free fatty acids, and then these combine with the alkali to form crude soap, an amalgam of various soap salts, excess fat or alkali, water, and liberated glycerol (glycerin). The glycerin is a useful by-product, which can be left in the soap product as a softening agent, or isolated for other uses.[2] Soaps are key components of most lubricating greases, which are usually emulsions of calcium soap orlithium soaps and mineral oil. These calcium- and lithium-based greases are widely used. Many other metallic soaps are also useful, including those of aluminium, sodium, and mixtures of them. Such soaps are also used as thickeners to increase the viscosity of oils. In ancient times, lubricating greases were made by the addition of lime to olive oil.[3]

Mechanism of cleansing soaps[edit source | editbeta]

Structure of amicelle, a cell-like structure formed by the aggregation of soap subunits (such as sodium stearate): The exterior of the micelle is hydrophilic (attracted to water) and the interior is lipophilic (attracted to oils).

Action of soap[edit source | editbeta]


When used for cleaning, soap allows otherwise insoluble particles to become soluble in water and then be rinsed away. For example: oil/fat is insoluble in water, but when a couple of drops of dish soap are added to the mixture the oil/fat apparently disappears. The insoluble oil/fat molecules become associated inside micelles, tiny spheres formed from soap molecules with polar hydrophilic (water-loving) groups on the outside and encasing a lipophilic (fat-loving) pocket, which shields the oil/fat molecules from the water making it soluble. Anything that is soluble will be washed away with the water. Synthetic detergents operate by similar mechanisms to soap.

Effect of the alkali[edit source | editbeta]


The type of alkali metal used determines the kind of soap product. Sodium soaps, prepared from sodium hydroxide, are firm, whereas potassium soaps, derived from potassium hydroxide, are softer or often liquid. Historically, potassium hydroxide was extracted from the ashes of bracken or other plants. Lithium soaps also tend to be hardthese are used exclusively in greases.

Effects of fats[edit source | editbeta]


See also: Total fatty matter

Soaps are derivatives of fatty acids. Traditionally they have been made from triglycerides (oils and fats).[4] Triglyceride is the chemical name for the triesters of fatty acids and glycerin. Tallow, i.e., rendered beef fat, is the most available triglyceride from animals. Its saponified product is called sodium tallowate. Typical vegetable oils used in soap making are palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil, and laurel oil. Each species offers quite different fatty acid content and, hence, results in soaps of distinct feel. The seed oils give softer but milder soaps. Soap made from pure olive oil is sometimes called Castile soap or Marseille soap, and is reputed for being extra mild. The term "Castile" is also sometimes applied to soaps from a mixture of oils, but a high percentage of olive oil.

A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the regions of gas. An important division of solid foams is into closed-cell foams and open-cell foams. In a closed-cell foam, the gas forms discrete pockets, each completely surrounded by the solid material. In an open-cell foam, the gas pockets connect with each other. A bath sponge is an example of an open-cell foam: water can easily flow through the entire structure, displacing the air. A camping mat is an example of a closed-cell foam: the gas pockets are sealed from each other, and so the mat cannot soak up water. Foams are examples of dispersed media. In general, gas is present in large amount so it will be divided in gas bubbles of many different sizes (the material is polydisperse) separated by liquid regions which may form films, thinner and thinner when the liquid phase is drained out of the system films.[1] When the principal scale is small, i.e. for a very fine foam, this dispersed medium can be considered as a type of colloid. The term foam may also refer to anything that is analogous to such a foam, such as quantum foam, polyurethanefoam (foam rubber), XPS foam, Polystyrene, phenolic, or many other manufactured foams.

Structure of foams[edit source | editbeta]

Cappuccino is topped with a layer of steamed-milk foam.

A foam is in many cases a multiscale system. One scale is the bubble one: real-life foams are typically disordered and have a variety of bubble sizes. At larger sizes, the study of idealized foams is closely linked to the mathematical problems of minimal surfaces and three-dimensionaltessellations, also called honeycombs. The Weaire-Phelan structure is believed to be the best possible (optimal) unit cellof a perfectly ordered foam[citation needed], while Plateau's laws describe how soap-films form structures in foams. At lower scale than the bubble one, is the thickness of the film for dry enough foams, which can be considered as a network of interconnected films called lamellae. Ideally, the lamellae are connected by three and radiate 120 outward from the connection points, known as Plateau borders. An even lower scale is the one of the liquid-air interface at the surface of the film. Most of the time this interface is stabilized by a layer of amphiphilic structure, often made ofsurfactants, particles (Pickering emulsion), or more complex associations.

Foaming and foam stability[edit source | editbeta]


Several conditions are needed to produce foam: there must be mechanical work, surface active components (surfactants) that reduce the surface tension, and the formation of foam faster than its breakdown. To create foam, work (W) is needed to increase the surface area (A):

where is the surface tension. Stabilisation of foam is caused by van der Waals forces between the molecules in the foam, electrical double layers created by dipolar surfactants, and theMarangoni effect, which acts as a restoring force to the lamellas. Several destabilising effects can break foam down. (i) Gravitation causes drainage of liquid to the foam base, (ii)osmotic pressure causes drainage from the lamellas to the Plateau borders due to internal concentration differences in the foam, while (iii)Laplace pressure causes diffusion of gas from small to large bubbles due to pressure difference. Films can break under disjoining pressure, These effects can lead to rearrangement of the foam structure at scales larger than the bubbles, which may be individual (T1 process) or collective (even of the "avalanche" type).

With hard water, soap solutions form a white precipitate (soap scum) instead of producing lather. This effect arises because the 2+ ions destroy the surfactantproperties of the soap by forming a solid precipitate (the soap scum). A major component of such scum is calcium stearate, which arises from sodium stearate, the main component of soap: 2 C17H35COO- + Ca2+ (C17H35COO)2Ca Hardness can thus be defined as the soap-consuming capacity of a water sample, or the capacity of precipitation of soap as a characteristic property of water that prevents the lathering of soap.

Sources of hardness[edit source | editbeta]


Water's hardness is determined by the concentration of multivalent cations in the water. Multivalent cations are cations (positively charged metal complexes) with a charge greater than 1+. Usually, the cations have the charge of 2+. Common cations found in hard water include Ca2+ and Mg2+. These ions enter a water supply by leaching from minerals within an aquifer. Common calcium-containing minerals are calcite and gypsum. A common magnesium mineral is dolomite(which also contains calcium). Rainwater and distilled water are soft, because they also contain few ions.[2] The following equilibrium reaction describes the dissolving/formation of calcium carbonate scales: CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O Ca2+ + 2HCO3 Calcium carbonate scales formed in water-heating systems are called limescale. Calcium and magnesium ions can sometimes be removed by water softeners.[3]

Temporary hardness[edit source | editbeta]


Temporary hardness is a type of water hardness caused by the presence of dissolved bicarbonate minerals (calcium bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate). When dissolved these minerals yield calcium and magnesium cations (Ca2+, Mg2+) and carbonate and bicarbonate anions (CO32-, HCO3-). The presence of the metal cations makes the water hard. However, unlike the permanent hardness caused by sulfate and chloride compounds, this "temporary" hardness can be reduced either by boiling the water, or by the addition of lime (calcium hydroxide) through the softening process of lime softening.[4] Boiling promotes the formation of carbonate from the bicarbonate and precipitates calcium carbonate out of solution, leaving water that is softer upon cooling.

Permanent hardness[edit source | editbeta]


Permanent hardness is hardness (mineral content) that cannot be removed by boiling. When this is the case, it is usually caused by the presence of calcium sulfate and/or magnesium sulfates in the water, which do not precipitate out as the temperature increases. Ions causing permanent hardness of water can be removed using a water softener, or ion exchange column. Total Permanent Hardness = Calcium Hardness + Magnesium Hardness The calcium and magnesium hardness is the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions expressed as equivalent of calcium carbonate. Total permanent water hardness expressed as equivalent of CaCO3 can be calculated with the following formula: Total Permanent Hardness (CaCO3) = 2.5(Ca2+) + 4.1(Mg2+)

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