Name: Combustion: Burning of Substances
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 9 min 40 s
Description: You may have seen a bonfire in the cold season, but do you know why the wood in the bonfire starts burning when we heat it? Let's explore.

Question

Explain the cleansing action of soap with neat sketch.

Accepted Answer

In order to understand the cleansing action of soap, we need to analyse how the clothes become dirty. The clothes become oily due to perspiration and organic matter dispersed in the atmosphere. Now, to wash these dirty clothes, they are dipped in water, and soap is applied.

When soap is mixed with water, it dissociates to give carboxylate ions ( ${RCOO}^{-}$ ) or sulphonate ions ( ${RSO}_{3}^{-}$ ) and the cations ${Na}^{+}$

The molecules of soap have a unique direction in the water. They actually aggregate together in a cluster forming a micelle. Now, the hydrocarbon ends of the soap molecule in the micelle attach to the oil or grease particles present on the surface of dirty cloth. Thus, the micelle entraps the oil particles and the ionic ends remain in the water.

In this way, when the dirty cloth is agitated in a soap solution, the oily and greasy particles present on its surface is entrapped by soap micelles and get dispersed in water due to which the soap water becomes dirty, but the cloth gets cleaned. The cloth can then be cleaned thoroughly by rinsing them in clean water.

Formation of soap micelle which entraps the dirt particle.

Explain the cleansing action of soap with neat sketch.

Important Questions on Carbon and its Compounds

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