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What is soap?
In this brief page I will try to provide you with a simple and clear explanation about soap: what is it? What's in it? What is saponification?
To begin with, soap is a surfactant. "Ok", you say, "and what in the world is a surfactant???"
In the simplest of chemical lingo, a surfactant is a surface-active agent. Let me see if I can make it simpler still... With the assistance of water, soap works by suspending surface dirt particles, whether on your skin or clothing. The suspended dirt is then effectively eliminated (by you or your washing machine) by rinsing it off with clean, fresh water. Soap and water make a lovely couple. They simply are "meant to be", just like peaches & cream, milk & cookies, etc.
The fats and oils used in the making of soap are usually combined with some type of alkaline substance and allowed to react. The most common alkaline substances are sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH). This reaction process is called "saponification". At this point I could share something I learned in my (much) younger days in gross anatomy class. It deals with the process of saponification in corpses. However, I'm pretty sure most of you would rather skip this part, right? Right! Before we finish, however, just one more bit of useful information. During the saponification process, if we add potassium hydroxide to the mixture, we end up with a soft soap. If we add sodium hydroxide, the resulting soap will be hard.
How many times have you heard, or perhaps even said it yourself, that the ring around the tub is body dirt? Actually the ring is, for the msot part, an indication of lime in your water. Yup, soap scum is the reaction of soap with lime and other stuff in your water. And now just a tiny bit of trivia... I'm sure you're all familiar with Ivory soap, that cute little floating soap. How was it created? It was a mistake that proved to be a success. In 1879, a soap maker at the Procter&Gamble company went to lunch and forgot to shut off the soap mixer. This resulted in a soap that contained too much air. (At the time Ivory soap was called "The White Soap") Rather than confess his blunder, the soap maker packaged the air-filled soap and shipped it to customers all over the country. In no time at all the Procter&Gamble company started receiving requests for more of this floating soap. Now it was time for the soap maker to come clean with the company directors.... I wonder if he got a raise! Well, at least he did not get his head chopped off. Yes, Louis XIV of France gave orders to decapitate three of his soap-makers who - in his opinion - were directly responsible for his skin problems (he had very sensitive skin). The remaining four soap-makers quickly discovered the month-long process of pouring and curing to produce a single bar of soap. Can you imagine the stress they must have endured?!
History of soap
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