Abstract

Soaps are sodium or potassium salts of higher fatty acids such as palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid. Soap produced by reacting sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide with fatty acid. Soaps made from potassium hydroxide are soft soaps, while those made from sodium hydroxide are hard soap. Soaps remove dirt and grease from skin, clothes and other surfaces. All soaps are not equally effective in their cleaning action.

The cleansing action of soaps depends on the solubility of the long alkyl chain in the grease and that of the polar end in water (-COONa or -COOK). Whenever soap is applied on a dirty wet cloth, the non-polar alkyl group dissolves in water. In this manner, an emulsion is formed between grease and water which appears as foam. The washing ability of soap depends on, foaming capacity. As well as the water used in cleaning. The foaming capacity of soap is determine by observing the rate of disappearance of foam, of soap.

The salt of calcium and magnesium disrupt the formation of micelle formation. The presences of such salts make the water hard and the water is called hard water. These salts thus make the soap inefficient in its cleaning action. Sodium carbonate, when added to hard water, it reacts with calcium and magnesium, and precipitates them out. Therefore sodium carbonate is used in the treatment of hard water.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Brief History Of Soap

The discovery of soap dates back to about 600 years ago. Around 2800 BCE the ancient Babylon excavations uncovered cylinders with inscriptions for making soap. In 1500BCE, records from ancient Egypt describe how animal and vegetable oils were combined with alkaline salts to make soap.

According to a roman legend, ”soap got its name from mount sapo”, where animals were sacrificed. Rain washed the fat from the sacrificed along with alkaline wooden ashes from the sacrificial fires into the timber river, where people found the mixture helpful in cleaning clothes.

This procedure for making soap remained unchanged for centuries, with American colonists collecting and cooking down animal tallow (rendered fat) and then mixing it with an alkali potash solution obtained from the accumulated hardwood ashes of their winter fires. Similarly, Europeans made castile soap using olive oil. Since the mid-nineteeth century, the process became commercialized and soap became widely available at the local markets.” To date, most people use similar methods to make home-made soap.

1.2 Main objective

To determine the effect of sodium carbonate on the foaming capacity of soaps.

1.3 Specific objectives

1. To determine the quality of soaps.
2. The effect of hard water on soaps.
3. The effect of sodium carbonate on the foaming capacity of soaps in hard water.

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