I would like to start today explaining in easy words how soap cleans. We use it everyday. Have you ever thought how this substance works?
How soap cleans?
There are substances that can be dissolved in water (for example salt), and others that cannot (for example oil). Water and oil do not mix together, so if we try to clean an oily stain from a cloth or from the skin, water is not enough. We need soap.
Soap is formed by molecules with a "head" that likes water (hydrophilic) and a long chain which hates it (hydrophobic):
Because of this dualism, soap molecules act like a diplomat, improving the relationship between water and oil. How? When soap is added to the water, the hydrophilic heads of its molecules stay into the water (they like it!), while the long hydrophobic chains join the oil particles and remain inwards (escaping from the water). In that way, they form circular groups named micellas, with the oily material absorbed inside:
An emulsion of oil in water is then formed, this means that the oil particles become suspended and dispersed into the water. Thus, those oil particles are liberated from the cloth or the skin, and the emulsion is taken away with the rinsing.
In summary, soap cleans by acting as an emulsifier. It allows oil and water to mix so that oily grime can be removed during rinsing. There are more things involved in this process, but this is the general idea.
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Comments: 10
never thought of it
love the design too
m
A question - has anyone used cleansing oil Africa's Best Ultimate Herbal Oil (by the HC Industries of Georgia)? It is comprised of several herbs and natural ingredients and makes your skin feel like a million. Some might find it a bit greasy but once you rinse it off your skin will glow!
Gracias por tu comentario si puedo publicaré alguna cosa mas. Pero tengo limitaciones.
Desde la ciudad del genil un abrazo. antonio
Spiritual House Cleaning
Mona, science is really a very interesting subject, but usually at school it's taught in a pretty boring way, so many students escape from it.
Here you can see some simple instructions to make soap at home: http://www.bagelhole.org/?page=222
Marinela, thanks! Yes, there are so many things we use in our daily life without knowing how it works. That's what I like about chemistry, it helps you to understand better the world where we live, and also our own body.
Antonio, gracias por tu comentario. Hay muchas cosas que utilizamos a diario y que están basadas en procesos químicos. Por eso me he decidido a poner aquí artículos como éste y así ayudar a todo el mundo a comprender mejor el mundo en que viven. Entiendo que te cueste lo de moverte por Gather, estaría bien que se pudiera escoger el idioma del sitio web. Abrazos desde Oviedo :-)
Ann, feeling smarter, great! :-) There are soooo many routinary things that can be explained with Chemistry... you'll see in the next weeks.
Luckky, I haven't tried that cleansing oil but probably it's worthy to try it, especially because if my skin will glow then I'll save a lot of electricity at night hehehe. I've had a look to the index of that 'Spiritual House Cleaning' book, it looks an interesting approach to cleaning.