Soap is the most tiresome weapon against dust, dirt, stains known to man. Found in almost every household, offices and numerous other places where people need basic sanitation, soap imparts cleanliness, bubbles and almost unlimited kinds of fragrances. The health officials persuade people to wash hands with lean water and soap to get rid of germs preventing disease and infection.
A Brief History of Soap Making
It is believed that Babylonians were the first ones to invent soap in around 2800 B.C. Anthropologists and archeologists who have worked on ancient Babylonian sites have found the most ancient forms of soap in the forms of animal fats, ashes, and water has been found carved in clay containers. It is believed that this primitive kind of soap was used to rub clean wool and cotton before they were woven into clothes for wearing.
Ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians independently developed their method of soap making and versions of soap. The Arabs were the first ones to create soap from vegetable products in the seventh century and recorded it. One of the most famous Arab chemists of that Jabar Bin Hyann’s name is associated with coming up with the formula of making soap.
The basic formula and method for soap making have been unchanged for thousands of years. Soap is being made with the combination of fats, oils, and alkalis for a very long time. All Oils are extracted from plats usually olive oil or coconut oil. Animals like beef tallow used to be popular sources of fat. Alkalis come from wood ash.
Modern chemists have discovered new sources to form alkalis for soap such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide (caustic potash). From Chemistry’s point of view, an alkali is a base. It is opposite to acid and forms salt and water upon reacting with it when the two chemicals are mixed. This is a neutralization process of both acid and alkali because they lose their properties.
The Function of the Soap in Cleaning
Soap has two essential functions that are universal in all kinds of soap whether it is laundry soap, body soap, beauty soap or any other kind of it.
- It breaks the surface tension of the water, so the more wetness occurs for what needs to be cleaned by the soap. Contrary to cleaning without soap in which the object usually clothes balls up to the surface.
- The second way the soap cleans is that soap molecules attract and repel on both extreme sides. One side is water-attracting (hydrophilic) and the other side is water-repelling (hydrophobic). This helps to move the water molecules taking dust and dirt particles with them.
Surface tension is a phenomenon described by scientists as a small skin that forms on the water surface that allows a small piece of paper or insects to float on it. Yap! It is because of the surface tension of water. This is what is behind the formation of droplets or beads on surfaces. The phenomenon formation of surface tension works against the cleaning process by slowing it down as indicated by the American Cleaning Institute.
There is a force of attraction between the molecules of water that is called intra-molecular force allowing each water molecule to form a bond with the other molecules resulting in surface tension. It is the same force that keeps all the molecules together forming a water droplet. Soap acts on the surface according to helping to break the surface tension of the water so that water can disperse more freely because the force of attraction of water molecule becomes week and the surface becomes wet speeding up the cleaning process.
Modern soaps a manufactured in a way that makes their molecules long and thin with one end being hydrophilic and the other hydrophobic as mentioned before. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, the hydrophobic extreme of the molecules attract dirt and oil on the subject that is being clean. It can be a human body, a piece of cloth or a carpet. The dirt and oil particles get surrounded by many soap molecules and they get held onto by the hydrophobic ends while the hydrophilic ends attract water molecules sticking outward waiting to be cleaned away by water.
These two essential processes work hand in hand to clean surfaces. Modern-day soaps may also contain a host of another chemical compound which are added to enhance their effectiveness or to adjust their pH (to either control or modify the pH to make it safer and gentler). Some soap contains abrasives to help rub surfaces to better remove stubborn dirt and grime usually on objects like clothes, carpets, and blankets, etc. Water softeners can also be an additive in soaps to transform water into easy cleaning. Some types of soaps that are used in hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities enzymes may be added to help remove biological stains such as blood and other biological fluids digesting proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
Antibacterial soap
Some soap is labeled antibacterial or antimicrobial on their Custom Soap Boxes packaging. These soaps do more than washing away dirt, oil, stains or anything else on your hands, clothes or other objects. There are equipped with a chemical that is deadly for any bacteria or other microbes (such as yeast, fungi, and possibly disease spreading viruses) on your skin, in your laundry, or on your dishes and carpets.
Antibacterial soaps are manufactured just like normal soap is made with the addition of chemicals like triclosan or triclocarban. These chemicals are known to have hydrophobic molecules. They can penetrate through bacterial cell membranes made of fatty substances. After the penetration, the molecules can poison the bacteria and ultimately kill it. The residues or the dead body of the bacteria are held in suspension and are rinsed away with water because of the hydrophobic molecules. It is the reason triclosan and triclocarbon are chemical agents that have antibacterial and antifungal properties. When you read the description custom soap boxes for antibacterial soaps you are sure to find these chemical agents there. But these agents are found not only in soaps they are used is also prevalent in the manufacturing of cosmetics, kinds of toothpaste and some plastics used for kid’s toys and kitchen utensils.
However, in news break, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the manufacturing industry of hygienic products like mentioned above from marketing hand soaps containing triclosan or triclocarban. In the announcement of the ban, the FDA organized a hearing grilling about the antibacterial’ safety for its long-term use of the two agents. Additionally, the FDA claimed that there is no evidence strong enough that these chemicals can depart any usefulness in the form of benefit to people’s health beyond that of regular soap.
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