how does soap exhibit its cleansing property?
832426
Soap is a molecule that consist of long carbon chain ending in -COONa. The latter endchain easily attaches to water and the carbon chain attaches to fats and grease.  Although grease will normally adhere to skin or clothing, the soap molecules can attach to it as a "handle" and make it easier to rinse away.
481942
Soap is the sodium - Na - salt of a fatty acid, that is a salt obtained when a high carboxylic acid like palmitic acid etc. reacts with NaOH(caustic soda)&#92; or sodium hydroxide)\n\nIts chemical formula in its general form is R-COO-Na\nwhere R is an alkyl group of the form C(n)H(2n+1)-\n\nfor eg.- C(17)-H(33)-COO-Na\n\nwhere the H atom of the acid is replaced by the Na atom in a process called Saponification or salting of soap
734706
it dissolves alot of stains. and it has a certain alkali quality to it that it helps cleaning chemically without hurting the test tube.
463201
Used to be used in the manufacture of soap, I believe.
30267
If you're talking about the experiment where you put pepper on water and then touch a bar of soap to the surface, it isn't so much that pepper is running from soap, but rather that soap is pushing pepper away.  The pepper floats, suspended by the surface tension of the water.  When soap is added, it is able to reduce the surface tension.  THis makes the soap rapidly diffuse across the surface, and when it does, the water that was on the surface races to the periphery, carrying the soap with it.  If, after the sopa is added, you sprinkle on some more pepper, much of it will float--not quite as much, because the sopa reduced the surface tension and hence reduced the force which keeps the soap up, but it certainly doesn't race away.
86129
Several, actually. First, surface tension of the soap holds it together. With equal pressure inside, all surface points are equally stressed outward. And the sphere is the smallest surface area available to a certain volume. Same applies to raindrops.
164138
Many soaps are mixtures of sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids which can be derived from oils or fats by reacting them with an alkali (such as sodium or potassium hydroxide) at 80°–100 °C in a process known as saponification. The fats are hydrolyzed by the base, yielding glycerol and crude soap. Historically, the alkali used was potash made from the deliberate burning of vegetation such as bracken, or from wood ashes.\n\nSoap is derived from either oils or fats. Sodium Tallowate, a common ingredient in many soaps, is in fact derived from rendered animal fat. Soap that is made of vegetable oils, such as olive oil, are generally termed castile soap.\n\nSO yes, some soap is, some soap isnt
737110
its a wax:\nWaxes have a fatty acid bonded to a longchain alcohol by the oxygen and is a two part chain with a double bonded o to the fatty acid\n\nFats have a glycerol backbone with three fatty acid chains attached which is clearly not this one\n\nOils are same as fats in that they have glycerol backbone and serves like fat in the sense that fat:animals::oil:plants\n\nSoap... idk whats up with that answer but i know that old time soap was made from some sort of fat and now they are process differently with different material. no matter what, it does not have the right chemical make up
22952
Kevin is correct.  However the lather is colored.  If you ever want to model something like this:\n\nGrab a glass of wine, coffee, juice..etc  Notice the color is really strong with a lot of liquid in the glass but as the glass gets emptier, the amount of light absorbed is less...hence less color.
9158
Classical soap consists of sodium salts of fatty acids.\n\nSoap can be made from any animal or plant fat. Historically, tallow was used for making soap. The fat is boiled in alkaline soda, splitting the ester-bond between the fatty acids and the glycerine, producing badly solubile sodium fatty acid salt flakes which can be fished off the surface.\n\nIf you use potassium salts for the alkaline solution, the glycerine won't remain in the alkaline liquid, creating greasy-feeling soft soap.\n\nAs to formulation, for each molecule of fat you will require three sodium ions, but you will need an excess of alkaline solution during the reaction.
540246
Most hand sanitizers use alcohol as a sterilant, so unless there's something in them to make them more alkaline, the pH should be pretty close to neutral -- 7.  That would mean that soaps have the higher pH.
1034711
if your qouestion is that how is  soap made ?\ni must say that with mixing the an ester such az R-COOR and NaOH we can get soap plus alcohol.\nNaOH+RCOOR------------RCOONa +ROH
1183756
soaps  can act as surfactants , a surface is formed under your finger and it is attached to your finger by surface tension , the shape of the small area of water under your fingertip becomes convex ,slightly rising out of the water like a tiny mound, so the pepper particles spread away.\nwhen you take your finger out and put it back again this will not happen  again because the soap will have spread to all the surface of the water so it wont attach to your finger and no mound is formed and the pepper stays in place.
182581
I don't know where you got the idea that soap and shampoo are acidic. That is not true in very many cases. \n\nSoap is made from a saponified fat by reacting a fat with an alkali. When using soap it reacts with dissolved calcium carbonate in water to form a precipitate called soap scum. If you use it in your hair this insoluble deposit will end up on your hair. Soap will also remove more oil from hair than shampoo will, leaving hair dry and brittle. \n\nShampoo is similar, but often has much more gentle properties than soap. It generally contains an anionic surfactant, but commonly in baby shampoos will have an amphoteric surfactant to reduce irritation. The primary difference is that due to a slightly different molecular structure, shampoo is less likely to remove all oil from your hair than soap, and less likely to leave insoluble deposits behind like soap. \n\nVery little soap or shampoo has a pH of 6. Shampoo often has citric acid added to reduce its pH because naturally it is  basic- not acid, as is most soap. To give you some examples of the pH of soap, Zest has a pH of 10, Ivory has a pH of 9.5, and Dove has a pH of 7. (This is one reason I make my own soap.)\n\nBy the way, all those vitamins would do you more good if you ate them. Hair is dead.
561569
Sure, we used to do it all the time.  The process iss called saponification.  You could google that or wikipedia and learn all you need to know\n\nThe attractive part of making ytour own soap is that you would have good control of what went in it.  It wouldn't be the fat off some diseased cow.  You'd probably use olive oil.  On the downside, you can't make it anywher as cheap as you can buy it.
844525
I have used a clean and clear soap for many years!  It is awesome and I highly recommend it.  I don't remember the exact type of soap, so here's what the bottle looks like, and you can't miss it.  It's an orange soap in a clear bottle with a dark purple pump.  You won't regret this $3.50 purchase, but make sure you are washing your face for a full 30 seconds.  That's why they recommend singing the happy birthday song when you wash your hands and face.  Many people don't wash long enough for washing to be effective.  Best of luck to you!
630835
Its a soap. How many soaps do you know that are real?