Chapter 5

Chemicals for Consumers

A. SOAP AND DETERGENT

Definition:
Soap
A sodium or potassium salt of long-chain fatty acid
General formula of soap:
RCOO-Na+ or

RCOO-K+

Detergent
A sodium or potassium salt of alkyl sulphonic
acids or alkylbenzene sulphonic acid

Soap preparation process

Soap is prepared by hydrolyzing fats or oils under
alkaline condition. This reaction is called
SAPONIFICATION

The process involves boiling fats or oils with

concentrated NaOH or concentrated KOH to
produce glycerol and the salts of fatty acids which
are the soap

Oil/Fat

+
Glycerol

Soap

PREPARATION A SOAP IN LAB

Describe how soap can be prepared in laboratory

Procedure:
1. Place 10 g of palm oil in a beaker.
2. Slowly and carefully add 15 cm3 of 6 mol dm-3
concentrated sodium hydroxide solution.
3. Gently heat the mixture, stirring with glass rod until the oil
layer becomes invisible.
4. Add 20 ml of water and 12 g of sodium chloride into the
mixture and stir.
5. Cool the mixture.
6. Filter the mixture.
7. Rinse the solid soap with distrilled water and dry the solid
soap.

Why is sodium chloride added to the mixture?

Sodium chloride, NaCl is added to:
Reduces the solubility of soap in water
To precipitate the soap produced

Detergent preparation process

During the preparation of detergent, a long-chain
hydrocarbon obtained from petroleum fraction is
converted into an organic acid through a series of
steps.
The organic acid is then neutralized with sodium
hydroxide, NaOH solution to produce a detergent.

Structure of soap
Soap consists of sodium/potassium cations and soap
anions
When a sodium/potassium soap dissolve in water, it
will form soap anions and sodium ion, Na+ or
potassium ion, K+

What is soap anions?

Hydrophobic
(water-hating)

Hydrophilic
(water-loving)

Cleaning action of soap & detergent

When soap/detergent is
added to water,
soap/detergent molecule
dissolve in water to form
free moving anions and
cations
Soap reduces surface
tension of water

 The hydrophobic
part dissolve in
grease
The hydrophilic part
attracted to water
molecule

 Mechanical agitation
during scrubbing
helps the hydrophobic
part pull away the
grease from the
surface
The grease is broken
up into small droplet

 The droplet does not

coagulate due to the
repulsion between
negative charges
The droplets are
suspended in water to
form an emulsion
When rinsed, the droplet
will be removed

Explain why detergent is more effective in hard water

Hard water contain calcium ion, Ca2+ and magnesium
ion, Mg2+
Soap anions react with Ca2+ ion and Mg2+ ion to form
scum
Scum is insoluble in water
Detergent does not form scum in hard water
Detergent is more effective than soap in hard water

5.1 Soap and Detergent

Describe a laboratory experiment to prepare a soap by
using a namely oil and alkali.
State how to verify the product formed is soap.

Terangkan suatu experiment makmal untuk menyediakan

sabun dengan menggunakan minyak dan alkali yang
dinamakan.
Nyatakan bagaimana anda mengesahkan hasil yang
terbentuk itu adalah sabun.
[10 marks]