cleansing action of soap and detergent
Answers
Explanation:
The cleansing action of both soaps and detergents results from their ability to lower the surface tension of water, to emulsify oil or grease and to hold them in a suspension in water. This ability is due to the structure of soaps and detergents. In water, a sodium soap dissolves to form soap anions and sodium cations.
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CLEANSING ACTION OF SOAPS
Most of the dirt is oily in nature and oil does not dissolve in water. The molecule of soap constitutes sodium or potassium salts of long chain carboxylic acids. In the case of soaps the carbon chain dissolves in oil and the ionic end dissolves in water. Thus the soap molecules form structures called micelles. In micelles one end is towards the oil droplet and the other end which is the ionic faces outside. Therefore, it forms emulsion in water and helps in dissolving the dirt r when we wash our clothes. The soap is a kind of molecule in which both the ends have different properties. The first one is the hydrophilic end which dissolves water and is attracted towards it whereas the second one is the hydrophobic end that is dissolved in hydrocarbons and is water repulsive in nature. If on the surface of water, soap is present then the hydrophobic tail which is not soluble in water will align along the water surface.
In water the soap molecule is uniquely oriented which helps to keep the hydrocarbon part outside the water. When the clusters of molecules are formed then hydrophobic tail comes at the interior of the cluster and the ionic end comes at the surface of the cluster and this formation is called micelle. When the soap is in the form of micelles then it has the ability to clean the oily dirt which gets accumulated at the centre. These micelles remain as a colloid in the solution. Therefore the dirt from the cloth is easily washed away. The soap solution appears cloudy as it forms a colloidal solution which scatters light.
