Many different legends tell about how the soap happened. Already 6000 years ago, humanity used soap made from animal and plant fats. Over the centuries, the composition of the soap has changed, but its main task - to wash the dirt - has not changed.
Instruction manual
1
The exact date of the creation of soap has not been established. It is known that the prototype of this product was a mixture of ash and fat. When combined, these substances reacted, which was the basis in soap making. This action was called a saponification reaction.
2
Nowadays, natural oils and caustic soda are used to make soaps. The mass obtained by mixing the oil with soda creates many bubbles. Each bubble has a shell that consists of water. Dirt adheres to the bubbles, thereby being easily washed off by a stream of water.
3
The first to describe the chemical composition of the soap was French chemist Michel Eugene Chevrel. It turned out that soap is the sodium salt of higher carboxylic acid.
4
Many believe that soaping their hands, they kill germs. In fact, it is necessary to create a soap foam in order to easily separate the bacteria from the skin. They are more easily washed off with soap and water.
5
Modern production of soap allows you to create detergents not only from natural products. Soap is prepared from products that include surfactants. They are obtained in the processing of petroleum products and coal.
6
Considering the washing process from the physical or chemical side, you can notice that it is quite complicated. Soap is able to dissolve in water, reducing its surface tension. Soap molecules are divided into hydrophobic and hydrophilic particles. Penetrating into the polar molecules of water, hydrophilic soap particles remain in the water. Hydrophobic, in turn, are directed upward to non-polar dirty particles. This greasy suspension is washed off with water.
7
Simply put, dirt, sticking to soap bubbles, is easily washed off with water along with air foam.
