CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that DIVYANSH RAJORIYA

Class-XII “A”, roll no.12109 has
satisfactorily completed the project on
FOAMING CAPACITY OF SOAPS under te
guidance of Mr Vinod Patidar (PFT
Chemistry) during the session 2019-2020.

Principal’s signature Teacher’s signature

Investigatory project on FOAMING
CAPACITY OF SOAPS
CLASS XII

Contents
(i) Acknowledgement
(ii) Preface
(iii) Introduction
(iv) Commercial preparation
(v) Introduction to experiment
(vi) Experiment
- Objective and theory
- Procedure
- Observation table
- Result
(vii) Test for hardness
(viii) Bibliography
 ACKNOWLEGEMENT
I’d like to express my greatest gratitude to the
people who have helped and supported me
throughout my project. I’m grated to Mrs Anita
Mitra for her continuous support for the project,
from initial device and encouragement to this day.
Special thanks of mine goes to my colleagues who
helped me in completing the project by giving
interesting ideas, thoughts and made this project
easy ad accurate.
I wish to thanks my parents for their undivided
support and interest who inspired me and
encouraged me to go my own way, without which
I would be unable to complete my project. At least
but one the least I want to thanks my friends who
appreciated me for work and motivated me and
finally to god who made all the things possible…..
PREFACE
Soaps and detergents remove dirt and grease from
skin and clothes. But all soaps are not equally
effective in their cleaning action.
Soaps are the Na and K salt of higher fatty acids
such as Palmitic acid, Stearic acid and Oleic acid.
The cleansing action of soaps depends on the
solubility of the long alkyl chain in grease and that
of the –COONa or the –COOK part in water.

In this manner, an emulsion is formed between

grease and water which appears as foam. The
washing ability of soap depends on the foaming
capacity, as well as the water used in cleaning.
The salts of Ca and Mg disrupt the formation of
micelle formation. The presence of such salts
makes 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
reacts with Ca and Mg and precipitates them out.
Therefore sodium carbonate is used in treatment
of hard water. This project aims at finding the
foaming capacity of various soaps and action of Ca
and Mg salts on their foaming capacity.

INTRODUCTION
Soap is an anionic surfactant used in conjuction
with water for washing and cleaning, which comes
either in solid bars or in the form of a viscous liquid.
Soap consists of sodium or potassium salts of fatty
acids and is obtained by reacting common oils or
fats with a strong alkaline in a process known as
saponification.
The fats are hydrolysed by the base, yielding alkali
salts of fatty acids (crude soap) and glycerol.

The general formula of soap in fatty end water

soluble end
CH3-(CH2) n- COONa
Soaps are useful for cleaning because soap
molecules have both a hydrophilic end, which
dissolves in water, as well as a hydrophobic end,
which is able to dissolve non polar grease
molecules.
Applied to soiled surface, soapy water effectively
holds particles on colloidal suspension so it can be
rinsed off with clean water. The hydrophobic
portion (made up of a long hydrocarbon chain)
dissolves dirt and oils, while the ionic end dissolves
in water.
The resultant forms a round structure called
micelle. Therefore it allows water to remove
normally-insoluble matter by emulsification.
Commercial production of soap The most popular
soap making process today is the cold process
method, where fats such as olive oil reacts with
strong alkaline solution, while some soapers use
historical hot process. Handmade soap differs from
industrial soap in that, usually, an excess of fat
sometimes used to consume the alkali (super
fatting), and in that the glycerine is not removed,
leaving a naturally moisturizing soap and not pure
detergent. Often, emollients such as jojoba oil or
Shea butter are added ‘at trace’ (the point at which
the saponification process is sufficiently advanced
that the soap has begun to thicken), after most of
the oils have saponified, so that they remain
unreacted in the finished soap. Fat in soap is
derived from either vegetable or animal fats.
Sodium Tallowate, a common ingredient in much
soap, is vegetable oils, such as palm oil, and the
product is typically softer.
An array of saponification of oils and fats are used
in the process such as olive, coconut, palm, cocoa
butter to provide different qualities. For example,
olive oil provides mildness in soap; coconut oil
provide lots of lather; while coconut and olive oil
provides hardness.
Sometimes castor oil can also be used as an
ebullient. Smaller amount of unsaponified oils and
fats that do not yield soap are sometimes added
for further benefits.
Preparation of soap in cold process and fats that do
not yield soap are sometimes added further
benefits.
Cold process soap making takes place at a
sufficient temperature to ensure the liquification
of the fat being used. Unlike cold processed soap,
hot processed soap can be used right away
because the alkali and fat saponify more quickly at
the higher temperature used in hot process soap
making.
Hot process soap making was used when the purity
of alkali was unreliable. Cold process soap making
requires exact measurement of alkali and fat
amounts and computing their ratio, using
saponification charts to ensure that the finished
product is mild and skin friendly.
In hot process method, alkali and fat are boiled
together at 80-100 o C until saponification occurs,
which the soap maker can determine by taste or by
eye. After saponification has occurred, the soap is
sometimes precipitated from the solution by
adding salt, and the excess liquid drained off. The
hot, soft soap is then spooned into a mold.
COLD PROCESS
A cold process soap maker first looks up the
saponification value of the fats being used on a
saponification chart, which is then used to
calculate the appropriate amount of alkali.
The alkali is dissolved in water. Then oils are
heated, or melted if they are solid at room
temperature. Once both substance have cooled to
approximately 100-10o F, and are no more than 10o
F apart, they may be combined. This alkali fat
mixture is stirred until “trace”.
There are varying levels of trace. After much
stirring the mixture turns to the consistency of a
thin pudding. “trace” corresponds roughly to
viscosity. Essential and fragrance oils are added at
light trace.
Introduction to the experiment soap samples of
various brands are taken at their foaming capacity
is noticed. Various soap samples are taken
separately and their foaming capacity is observed.
The soap with the maximum foaming capacity is
thus, said to be having the best cleaning capacity.
The test requires to be done with distilled water as
well as tap water. The test of soap on distilled on
gives the actual strength of the soaps cleaning
capacity. The second test with tap water tests the
effect of Ca2+ and Mg2+ salt on their foaming
capacities.
 EXPERIMENT
OBJECTIVE
To compare the foaming capacity of various soaps.
THEORY
The foaming capacity of soaps depend upon the
nature of soap and its concentration. This may be
compared by shaking equal volumes of solutions of
different samples having the same concentration
with same force for the same amount of time. The
solutions are then are allowed to stand when the
foam produced during shaking disappears
gradually. The time taken for the foam to
disappear in each sample is determined. The loner
the time taken for the disappearance for the given
sample of soap, greater is its foaming capacity or
cleansing action.
REQUIREMENTS
Five 100ml conical flasks, five test tubes,
100ml measuring cylinder, test tube stand,
weighing machine, stop watch.
CHEMICAL REQUIREMENTS
Five different soap samples, distilled water, tap
water.
PROCEDURE
1. Take five 100ml conical flasks and number
them 1,2,3,4,5. Put 16ml of water in each
flask and add 8gms of soap.
2. Warm the contents to get a solution.
3. Take five test tubes; add 1ml of soap solution
to 3ml of water. Repeat the process for each
solution in different test tubes.
4. Close the mouth of the test tube and shake
vigorously for a minute. Do the same for all
test tubes and with equal force.
5. Start the timer immediately and notice the
rate of disappearance of 2mm of froth.
OBSERVATION
The following outcomes were noticed at the end
of the experiment
RESULT
The cleansing capacity of the soaps taken is in the
order.
Santoor>Dove>Cinthol>Tetmosol>Lux
From this experiment, we can infer that santoor
has the highestfoaming capacity, in order words,
highest cleansing capacity. Lux, on the other
hand is found to have taken the least amount of
time for the disappearance of foam produced
and thus is said to be having the least foaming
capacity and cleansing capacity.

Test for hardness in water:

Test for Ca2+ and Mg2+ salts in the water supplied
Test for Ca2+ in water
H2O + NH4Cl + NH4OH + (NH4)2CO3 (NO PRECIPITATE)

Test for Mg2+ in water

H2O + NH4CL + NH4OH + (NH4)3PO4 (NO PRECIPITATE)
The test show negative results for the presence
of the salts causing hardness in water. The water
is used does not contain salts of Ca+2 and Mg+2.
The tap water provided is soft and thus, the
experimental results and value hold good for
distilled water and tap water.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The reference of the sources are as follows:

Books: together With lab manual chemistry-

XII

Comprehensive Chemistry – 12

Internet sources
www.wikipidia.org
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com