Grade 12 General Biology 1 (STEM)

S.Y 2019 - 2020

Name: Mendoza, Trixie Antonette R. Score:

Grade & Sec.: 12-Rolls Royce Date: 11/21/19

Soap-er Wonderful!
Experiment No. __
Soap making has remained unchanged over the centuries. The ancient Roman tradition
called for mixing rain water, potash and animal tallow (rendered form of beef or mutton fat).
Making soap was a long and arduous process. First, the fat had to be rendered (melted and
filtered). Then, potash solution was added. Since water and oil do not mix, this mixture had to
be continuously stirred and heated sufficiently to keep the fat melted. Slowly, a chemical reaction
called saponification would take place between the fat and the hydroxide which resulted in a
liquid soap. When the fat and water no longer separated, the mixture was allowed to cool. At this
point salt, such as sodium chloride, was added to separate the soap from the excess water. The
soap came to the top, was skimmed off, and placed in wooden molds to cure. It was aged many
months to allow the reaction to run to completion.
I. Objectives
1. Observe the saponification process in oil as partial hydrogenation.
2. Make a sample soap product as business entrepreneur.

II. Materials
Lye (Sodium Hydroxide), distilled water, Liquid food coloring, Fragrance, Capsuled D-Alpha
Tocopherol, Oil, Mold (for shaping), Stearic acid, Beaker (250ml and 100ml), 100 ml grad-
uated cylinder, and stirring rod

III. Procedures
1. Prepare the 250 ml of beaker with 50 ml of distilled water

Compute for your Lye solution (NAOH solution)

(Amount of Fat) × (Saponification Value of the Fat) = (Amount of Lye)
(Amount of Lye) ÷ 0.3 = (Total Weight of Lye Water Solution)
(Total Weight of Lye Water Solution) − (Amount of Lye) = (Amount of Water)
Saponification Value of the Fat of your oil product is to be provided.

2. Add 1-2 drops of desired fragrance, using the pipet or dropper; do not mix fragrances.
3. Add your Lye gently to the beaker with 50ml of oil.
4. Use the plastic stirring rod to mix. You must stir for 20-45 minutes; you may choose to
take turns with your lab partner. The mixture will slowly become smoother and more
opaque; it should thicken to a pudding-like consistency.
5. After approval by your teacher, add 2-3 drops of desired food coloring. Stir.
6. Add a dash (approximately 1/8 teaspoon) of stearic acid. This will serve as a hardener
for the liquid soap. Stir.
7. Pour into chosen mold shape. Wait until harden.
8. Package and label your soap product and submit for checking.
Basically, saponification is the reaction of a fatty acid with sodium hydroxide to make
the salt of the fatty acid.

Fatty acids are simply carboxylic acids with very long chains so a general formula may
be something like this, OPTIONALLY (of course the fatty acid doesn't have to be satu-
rated or could be branched):

CH3(CH2)nCOOH + NaOH --> CH3(CH2)nCOONa + H2O

V. Experimental Observations

Draw how saponification happened (Illustrate the molecular formula)

You may make observations after the soap has dried.

1. Does it smell like any soap that you have used?

In the process of trying the soap, the smell of the it is commonly found in whitening soaps.
It has a similar smell with a kojic soap.
.
2. Wash your hands with your soap. Does it lather like regular soap?
Coconut oil is a commonly used ingredient in soap and produces a relatively hard bar and a
fast creamy lather with large, short-lived bubbles. Therefore, the soap that was made lath-
ers like a regular soap because one of the ingredients that was used was a used coconut oil.

.
 3. Does it clean your hands as well as regular soap? Explain.
The ability of the made soap to cleanse our hands is visible, there is a frothy white mass of
bubbles produced by the soap or a similar cleansing substance when mixed with water. It
does not fully clean our hands, compared to the capability of other regular soaps.

Now rinse your hands thoroughly just in case your soap contains any unreacted sodium hydrox-
ide.

VI. Guide Questions

1. What is the role of adding stearic acid to the mixture?

Stearic acid, also called Octadecanoic Acid, is one of the most common long-chain fatty acids,
found in combined form in natural animal and vegetable fats. Stearic acid is widely used in soap
production, adding stearic acid to soaps allows the amino acid to harden and thicken the other
ingredients of the solid soap bar. In addition to that, stearic acid is said to have many cleansing
properties which make it an essential in the production of soaps. Basically, it will gain hardness
to the soap bar and will add a more stable lather.

2. During lab section, why did the saponification reaction require the long period of stir-
ring?

Making soap was a long and arduous process. Heat quickens saponification, if your soap goes
through gel phase or if you force gel phase by adding heat, your soap finishes saponification
faster, and this can be done by the long period of stirring. Saponification is the chemical reac-
tion that occurs when we mix oils with a lye solution, that is why the long period of mixing is
essentially needed. During saponification, the sodium hydroxide and oils are binding, with the
help of its accurate stirring, and turning into salts of the fatty acids.

3. Why do we need to seek for the proper ratio of water, oil, and lye?

The careful and proper ratio of water, oil and lye that are needed to be used in making soaps is
a must. It should not be in large quantities because any excess or lack of any ingredients may
possibly lead to the unsuccessful product. When fat and lye are combined in proper proportions,
that is when saponification occurs. The end result is soap plus glycerin. Glycerin is often re-
moved from factory produced soaps which is why soap is often drying to the skin.

4. Why do different oils/fats need their saponification value?

To create a good quality soap, your soap formulation will need a selection of different hard and
soft oils with a good percentage of fat (the percentage of oils that will not be turned into soap).
Hard oils contribute hardness, cleansing and lather to your soap. Soft oils can make a soap
milder, but can also leave a soap soft. Each oil is made up of different fatty acid composition,
which determine these qualities in a soap. This is why a combination of both hard and soft oils
are needed. But not only differ the oils in composition, they also differ in the amount of fatty
acids, which is why each oil requires a different amount of caustic soda to turn it into soap.
VI. Conclusion

Soap is a precise combination of chemicals that go through changes when you use it. One of
the organic chemical reactions known was the preparation of soaps through a reaction called
saponification. The cleaning action of soaps results from their ability to emulsify or disperse wa-
ter insoluble materials (dirt, oil, grease, and so on) and hold them in suspension in water. Sa-
ponification is a very important industrial process with respect to soap manufacturing, due to
this chemical process, fatty body that joins with water ends up forming a kind of base paste
that ends up ”giving shape” to soap. In the daily life of the human being as for personal cleanli-
ness, soaps are an indispensable element in bath sessions. This allows to remove the dirt from
the body that is produced when developing activities of daily life and also by different activities
that the body performs such as perspiration, which when accumulated generates bad odor.