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INDEX

AIM

APPARATUS AND CHEMICALS
USED

THEORY

PROCEDURE

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

OBSERVATIONS

TEST ANALYSIS

INFERENCE


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a) To analyse which is a better
cleansing agent detergent or soap.
b) To analyse which is a better
moisturizing agent soap or detergent.






Test tubes, test tube
stand, distilled water, dil.
HCL, burner, detergent
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powder, and dove beauty
soap.



Cleansing action of soap and detergents:

Soaps and detergents remove dirt and
grease from skin and clothes. But all soaps
are not equally effective in their cleansing
action. Soaps are the Na and K salts of
higher fatty acids such as Palmitic acid,
Stearic acid and Oleic acid.

The cleansing action of soaps or
detergents depends on the solubility of the
long alkyl chain in grease and that of
COONa or the COOK part in water.

Whenever soap or detergent is applied
on a dirty wet cloth, the non-polar alkyl
group dissolves in grease while the polar
COONa part dissolves in water. In this
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manner, an emulsion is formed between
grease and water which appears as foam.

The washing ability of soap or
detergent depends on foaming capacity, as
well as the water used in cleaning.

the salts of Ca and Mg disrupt the
micelle formation. The presence of such
salts makes the water hard. These salts
thus make the soap inefficient in its
cleaning action.

This problem is solved by detergents
which have high foaming capacity and thus
have very efficient cleaning action.

Thus, higher the foaming capacity,
better the cleansing action.







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Moisturizing action of soap or detergents:

Soap contains alkali matter, which
affects our skin and even skin may crack.

To maintain the oily and moisture
balance on our skin, fatty acid is required in
soap. In general, the fatty matter in soap is
approximately 70% to 80%. Fatty matter
below 70% make our skin dry and rough
whereas higher percentage of fatty matter
i.e., above 80% make the soap sticky and
oily and therefore washing becomes very
difficult using soap. Detergents in turn
contain very less amount of fatty acids and
therefore are more suitable for washing
clothes than soap.




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About 0.3g of each soap and detergent
sample was taken in a clean test tube.
Water was added to both the test tubes
and a solution was formed.
Test tube containing detergent should
be labelled as Test Tube-A and soap
solution as Test Tube-B.
Both the test tubes were shook for 1
minute and therefore foam was formed.
The time for which the foam was
present in the test tube was noted down.
Now dil. HCL was added to both the
test tubes and heated.
The amount of oily matter formed on
the uppermost layer was observed.



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Time taken by foam in Test Tube-
B to disappear = 5 minutes.
Time taken by foam in Test Tube-
A to disappear = 2 minutes.
Amount of oily material formed
was greater in Test Tube-B than in Test
Tube-A.







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The experiment performed proved
that since the foam produced by
detergent solution existed for a longer
period of time and also the fatty
material present in it is in lesser
quantity, detergents are suitable for
cleaning and washing purposes and not
for usage on skin.

The foam produced due to soap
solution existed for a lesser period of
time and contained greater amount of
fatty material and therefore is suitable
for usage on skin and for washing
purposes.


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Difference between soaps and detergents

Soaps Detergents

1) Soap are sodium
salt of long chain
carboxylic acids.



2) Soaps are not
suitable for washing
purpose when water is
hard.


3) Soaps have
relatively weak
cleansing action.

1) Synthetic
detergents are
sodium salts of long
chain benzene
sulphonic acid.

2) Synthetic detergent
can be used for washing
even when water is
hard.


3)Synthetic detergent
have a strong
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cleansing agents








Parts of this project have been
referred from the previous years
projects and have been included in
this investigatory project after
editing.
The references of the sources are as
follows:
Books:
Together with Lab Manual
Chemistry-XII
Comprehension Chemistry-XII