ABSTRACT

An experiment is conducted to prepare soap and thus, to compare the properties of the
prepared soap and synthetic detergents which are precipitation, emulsification and cleaning
abilities. It can be concluded that soap has the properties of emulsifying oil whereas detergent
has not. The abilities of forming precipitates can be seen clearly in soap solution whereas
detergent forms no precipitates at all. The experiment is completed and successfully
conducted.

INTRODUCTION

Soap is a generic term for the sodium or potassium salts of long-chain organic acids (fatty
acids) made from naturally occurring esters in animal fats and vegetable oils. All Organic
acids contain the RCO2H functional group, where R is a shorthand notation for methyl, CH 3-,
ethyl CH3CH2-, Propyl, CH3CH2CH2-, or more complex hydrocarbon chains called alkyl
groups. Chemists use the R shorthand notation because these groups can be very large and the
hydrocarbon chain has little effect on the compound's chemical reactivity. All esters contain
the RCO2R functional group.

The R groups in soaps are hydrocarbon chains that generally contain 12 to18 carbon atoms.
Sodium fatty acids such as lauric (vegetable oil), palmitic (palm oil), and stearic (animal fat)
acids are just a few examples of soaps.

CH3(CH2)10COONa sodium laurate

CH3(CH2)16COONa sodium stearate

The hydrocarbon chain in soaps may contain saturated (no double bond) or unsaturated
chains (contains double bonds). Sodium salts are usually solid therefore; most bars of soap
are of sodium salts. Potassium salts are the basis of liquid soaps, shaving creams, and greases.
Fats and vegetable oils are triglycerides. Triglycerides in an ester derived from three fatty
acids. A triglyceride made from three lauric acid molecules is shown in Figure 1.

Saponification is the basic hydrolysis of an ester producing a carboxylic acid salt and an
alcohol (Equation 1). A lone pair of electrons on the OH- is attracted to the partially
positively charged C atom in the C=O bond in the ester (Equation 1). The C-OR' bond breaks
generating a carboxylic acid (RCO2H) and an alcohol (R'OH). In the presence of NaOH,
carboxylic are converted to their sodium salts (RCO2-Na+).

When a triglyceride is saponified, three fatty acid salts (soaps) and glycerol are produced as
shown in Equation 2. The R groups in the triglyceride may or may not have the same chain
length (same number of carbons).Thus, different types of soaps may be produced from the
saponification of a particular triglyceride.

Figure 1: A Triglyceride molecule made from lauric acid and glycerol

Equation 1
 Equation 2

In todays progressive world of science and technology, soap is manufactured much like it
was back then, where fats and oils are technically heated with the presence of a strong base
(commonly sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide) to produce fatty acid salts and
glycerol in a process termed as saponification. As a matter of fact, the salt of a fatty acid is
the soap, which is a soft and waxy material that brush up the ability for cleaning purpose of
water. A positive ion, usually Na+ or K+, and a negative ion usually the anions of long-chained
carboxylic acids yielded by hydrolysis of either animals or vegetables fats. The presence of
double bonds (unsaturated) with fatty acids materials, or soap tends to decrease its melting
point and thus, the compounds are in liquid state at room temperature. Technically, vegetable
fats are relatively unsaturated and liquid under the ordinary conditions, whereas animals fats
are relatively more saturated and solid or semi-solid at the same temperature. Double bonds
are said to lower the melting point of a fatty acid chain because its cis-conformation produces
a bent chain which does not easily adhere to a neighboring chain by a Van der Waals
attraction. Hence a lower temperature is required for these materials to form a solid crystal
lattice.

However, during World War 1, the first synthetic detergent has been produced, mainly
because of the urge to find another cleaning agent that would react in hard water. A variety of
detergents can be found today, which generally contain surfactants, a builder, and other
additives such as bleaching agents and enzymes. The surfactants are the parts that are
responsible for the cleaning properties of that particular detergent. Some of them may be
ionic, cationic or even non-ionic. The builders indeed are compounds responsible for
removing the corresponding calcium and magnesium ions in hard water.
However, there are two detergents which may not be as safe as it may concern, mostly that
contains phosphates. Such detergents will end up in wastewater and cause excessive growth
of algae and other aquatic plants. When those die, bacteria that present in the dead matter
consume oxygen which results in the lack of oxygen left for the fish and other aquatic lives.

AIMS

The purposes of conducting this experiment are to prepare soap with using mineral oils and to
study and compare the properties of soap and synthetic detergent.
THEORY

If R-COOH represents a generalised fatty acid (R ishydrocarbon chain of 13, 15 or 17

Carbon) then, the general formulafor a fat is:

A generalized saponification reaction is shown below:

The particular structure of the soap molecule consists of a longnon-polar tail (the
hydrocarbon chain of the fatty acid) and a highlypolar end (the ionic group COO -). The non-
polar site, or also calledas hydrophobic tail is able to dissolve the grease and dirt whereas the
polar or hydrophilic end is attracted to water molecules.
The non-polar portion of the soap is commonly represented with a zigzag line and the polar
head with a circle.

A micelle, a spherical shape is formed resulting from the negatively charged heads of the
soap molecules. They then orient themselves, where the non-polar tails rearrange towards the
center of the micelle and the hydrophilic site facing the water. In the presence of oil or dirt,
the non-polar head interact with them, and gathered it to the center of the micelle. This is how
soap cleans technically. When rinsed with water, the micelle together with the dirt washed
away. Soap is theoretically acting as an emulsifying agent, where emulsion is the dispersion
of a liquid in a second immiscible liquid.

water
In acidic or hard water, the soap molecules would not be able to interact with water, micelles
can hardly be formed and thus, soap can no longer be able to perform its cleaning abilities.
The COO- group is literally protonated and the fatty acid precipitates, being now water
insoluble.

Hard water is water which is highly concentrated with Mg or Ca and these ions react with the
carboxyl and forming insoluble fats or scientifically known as scum, and results in the
inability of the soap to clean.

CH3(CH2)14COO-Na+ + Ca2+ (CH3(CH2)14COO-)2Ca (Insoluble)

CH3(CH2)14COO-Na+ + H+ CH3(CH2)14COOH + Na+

 APPARATUS AND MATERIAL

1. Stock soap solution

2. Distilled water
3. Synthetic detergent
4. Mineral oils
5. CaCl2 solution
6. MgCl2 solution
7. FeCl2 solution
8. 1M HCl
9. Tomato Sauce
10. pH meter
11. Test tubes with racks
12. Beakers
13. Clothstrips.
PROCEDURE

Part A: Soap preparation

1. 25 mL of vegetable oil is placed in a 250mL Erlenmeyer flask. 20mL of ethanol and

25 mL of 6 M sodium hydroxide solution are added to the flask. The mixture is stirred
using a stirring bar to mix the contents of the flask. The alcohol is carefully smelled
by wafting it towards our nose.
2. The 250mL flask is heated in a 600mL boiling water bath.
3. The mixture is stirred continuously during the heating process to prevent the mixture
from foaming. If the mixture should foam to thepoint of nearly overflowing, the flask
is removed from the boiling-water bath until the foaming subsides, then heating is
continued.The mixture is heated for 20-30 minutes or until the alcohol odor is no
longer detectable.
4. The paste-like mixture is removed from the water bath and the flask is cooled in an
ice bath for 10-15 minutes.
5. While the flask is cooling, the vacuum filtration apparatus isassembled as shown in
the figure below. The vacuum flask is secured to a ring stand with a utility clamp to
prevent the apparatusfrom toppling over.

Figure 2: Vacuum Filtration apparatus

6. A piece of filter paper is weighed to the nearest 0.001g and the mass is recorded. The
filter paper is placed inside the Buchner funnel. The paper is moistened with water so
that it fits flush in the bottom of the funnel.
7. Once the flask has cooled, 150mL of saturated sodium chloride (NaCl) solution is
added to the flask to "salt out" the soap.
8. The water at the aspirator is slowly turned on. The mixture from the flask is poured
into the Buchner funnel. Once all of the liquid has filtered through the funnel, the
 soap was washed with 10mL of ice-cold water. The suction filtration is continued until
all of the water is removed from the soap.
9. The soap is removed from the funnel and pressed between twopaper towels to dry it.
The filter paper and dried soap are weighed and the mass is recorded to the nearest
0.001g and the mass of thesoap determined by difference and the mass is then
recorded.

Part B: Comparison of soap and detergent properties precipitation and emulsification.

1. A stock soap solution is prepared by dissolving 2g of the preparedsoap in 100mL of

boiling distilled water. The mixture is stirred until the soap has dissolved and the
solution is allowed to cool.
2. Step 1 is repeated using 2g of synthetic detergent. When both solutions are cool, the
pH of each solution is determined using pH paper.
3. Three test tubes are labeled as test tube 1, 2, and 3. 4 drops of mineral oil are added to
each test tube. 5mL of distilled water is added to test tube 1.5mL of stock soap
solution is added to testtube 2. 5 mL of stock synthetic detergent is added to test tube
3.
4. Each solution is mixed by shaking and let stand for three to five minutes. The
solutions, if any, that emulsifies the oil by forming asingle layer is noted.
5. The mixtures are poured into the Waste Container. The three test tubes are cleaned
and dried.
6. Three more test tubes are labeled as test tube 1, 2, and 3. 2mLof stock soap solution is
placed in each of the three test tubes. 2 mLof 1% CaCl2 solution is added to test tube
1. 2mL of 1% MgCl2 solution is added to test tube 2. 2mL of l% FeCl 2 solution is
added to test tube 3. Each test tube is shaken to mix the solutions. The observations
are recorded.
7. 4 drops of mineral oil are added to each of the test tubes in Step 6. Each test tube is
shaken to mix the solutions and the solutions are left to stand for three five minutes.
The solutions, if any, that emulsifies the oil by forming a single layer is noted.
8. Steps 6-7 is repeated using 2mL of stock detergent solution. The solutions that
precipitated are observed.
9. The solutions, if any, that emulsifies the oil by forming a singlelayer is noted.
10. The mixtures are poured into the Waste Container. The test tube are cleaned and dried.
11. 5 ml of stock soap solution is poured in cine clean test tube and5 mL of stock
detergent solution in a second test tube. 1 M HC1 is added one drop at a time to both
solutions until the pH in each test tube is equal to 3. The number of drops of acid
 added to eachmixture is counted. Any precipitate formed in either mixture is
observed.
12. 1 drop of mineral oil is added to each test tube in Step 11. Each test tube is shaken to
mix the solution. Any emulsification formed in either mixture is observed.

Part C: Comparison of cleaning abilities of soap and detergents

1. The three beakers are cleaned, dried and labeled. Then 20 mL of stock soap solution
(from Step 1 in section 7.4.2) is placed in thefirst beaker. After that, 20 mL of stock
detergent solution (from Step2 in Part B) is placed in the 2nd beaker. 20 mL of a
commercialliquid is added in a third beaker.
2. Three cloth test strips that have been soaked in tomato sauce areobtained and then one
strip is placed in each of the beakers.Repeatedly each solution is stirred with a stirrer
bar for 5 minutes.
3. The cloth strips is removed from the soap and detergent solutionand then the excess
water is squeezed out. Each cloth strip isobserved and compared to determine their
relative cleanliness.
RESULT

Part A: Soap Preparation

Mass of Filter (g) 0.318

Mass of filter paper + soap + container (g) 73.638
Mass of soap recovered (g) 70.361
Mass of container (g) 44.9516

Part B: Comparison of soap and detergent properties

pH of soap solution 12.05

pH of synthetics detergent solution 8.63

Test tube Observations

4 drops of oil + 5mL of distilled water Oil droplets formed
4 drops of oil + 5mL of soap solution Oil droplets formed
4 drops of oil + 5mL of detergent solution Very tiny oil layer and bubbles formed

Precipitate Oil emulsified

System
Soap Detergent Soap Detergent
Formed Doesnt formed Doesnt Doesnt
CaCl2
emulsified emulsified
Formed Doesnt formed Doesnt Single layer
MgCl2
emulsified formed
Formed Doesnt formed Single layer Doesnt
FeCl3
formed emulsified

Test tube Number of drops

5mL of soap solution 7
5mL of detergent solution 3

Part C: Cleansing comparison of soap and detergents

Material Cleaning Abilities

Soap Good
Detergent Very good
DISCUSSION

The experiment is completed and successfully conducted. The objective of the experiment is
to prepare soap and compare its properties to that of a synthetic detergent. There are 3 parts in
the experiment which are part A; Soap preparations, part B: Comparison of soap and
detergent properties precipitation and emulsification and part C; Cleansing comparison of
soap and detergents.

In part A, the soap was successfully prepared by following the given procedure

In part B, the procedure is conducted to compare soap properties with the synthetic detergent
by observing the precipitation and emulsification that occurs. For this process, soap produced
in part A is used. During the soap preparation, saponification occurred where the fatty acid
carboxylate ions are formed in the presence of the base. These carboxylate ions are the
conjugate bases of the fatty acids, and therefore, able to accept a proton. When placed into
water, these conjugate bases are able to accept protons from any source including water.

From the experiment, the pH value of soap solution and detergent solution is compared and
are given value of 12.05 and 8.63 respectively. In overview, the pH value of soap is more
basic than synthetic detergent.

Next is test in comparing emulsification of soap and detergent solution. Emulsification can be
described as the solution that from single layer. From the experiment, emulsification occurred
for detergent solution only. But no emulsification occurred for distilled water and soap
solution as there are oil layer at the upper part of the solution samples.

After that, test in comparing properties of soap and detergent in hard solution that represents
the water condition in hard water which contains calcium ions (Ca2+) and magnesium ions
(Mg2+). These ions are leached from groundwater flowing over rock formations containing
limestone and other minerals. The experiment is conducted using three different test tubes
containing CaCl2, MgCl2, FeCl3 respectively. All three test tubes formed precipitates in soap
solution. This is because hard water interferes with the cleaning action of soaps. When soap is
added to hard water, insoluble compounds are formed which appear as sticky scum. This
scum leaves a deposit on clothes, skin, and hair.

Then mineral oil is added to all of the three mixtures. In this experiment, the precipitate that
forms in the test tube containing CaCl2 and MgCl2 dissolved while precipitate that forms in
test tube containing FeCl3 does not dissolved. The hydrocarbon is hydrophobic and soluble
with grease or oil; micelles will still be form even though the metal ions causing the soap to
be insoluble with water. So this may not appear as good characteristic for the soap as the
cleaning agent if they formed precipitate and emulsifies oil on cloth.

In the next test of comparing soap and detergent in acidic solution using 1M HCl. Soap
solution required 7 drops to become acidic and the solution of milky white precipitate is
observed while detergent solution required 3 drops only and a clear solution is observed. We
can conclude that soap solution has higher value of pH reading compared to detergent
solution.

In part C. both cleaning agent are tested with acidic water condition. This experiment is
conducted to determine the effectiveness of soap and detergent solution in cleaning stain on
cloth strip and it is observed that detergent solution cleans better than soap.

Detergents have undeniably replaced soap for many cleaning jobs around the home. The
development of synthetic detergents by chemists was a great advantage for people with
relatively hard tap water in their homes. However, there is a significant issue regarding the
use of synthetic detergent that is the biodegradability of some of its components. In fact,
many of the surfactants initially used in detergents were not biodegradable whereas soaps are
biodegradable, apparently can be degraded by bacteria. From the observations obtained from
this experiment, the soap from precipitates in all of the solutions added (CaCl 2, MgCl2 and
FeCl2) as well emulsifies the oil. This may not appear as good characteristic for soap as a
cleaning agent if it forms precipitate and emulsifies oil on cloth. Nevertheless, detergent is a
better cleaning agent as it forms no precipitation and does not emulsifies the oil. Thus, grease
and dirt can be cleaned without involving any precipitation or oil emulsification.
CONCLUSION

The soap is successfully prepared and the comparison of properties of soap and detergent,
which are precipitation, emulsification and cleaning abilities, are made and observed. From
the observation, distilled water do not emulsified oil meanwhile the soap and detergent
solution emulsified oil.

The pH value of soap solution is higher than detergent solution. This showed that the soap is
more alkali. Soap and detergent are soluble in water due to the presents of hydrophilic polar
which cause no emulsification occurred if water is added. Soap is not suitable to be used in
hard water because of the presence of metal ions that making soap insoluble in water. Soap
also is not suitable to be used in acidic water condition.

The abilities of forming precipitates can be seen clearly in soap solution whereas detergent
forms no precipitates at all.

RECOMMENDATION

There are a few recommendations that will significantly produce better observations which
will not deviate much from the theoretical observations.

The experiment should at least be repeated twice in order to get more accurate observations.
The observations might be more convincing if the average is taken. Wear gloves that have
been provided when conduct the experiment to avoid any error occurs because the tip of our
fingers is acidic. Then, any pH reading must be conducted at same temperature for pH is
varying at different temperatures. Avoid contact with any chemical reagents involved. Thus,
wash hands before leaving the laboratory.

REFERENCE

1. Experiments in General Chemistry Featuring Measuring Net, Bobby Shanton, Lin

Zhu, C. H. Atwood, 2005, Brooks/ColeLaboratory Series, USA.

2. Organic Chemistry(Third Edition), R. T. Morrison & R. N.Boyd,1973, Allyn and

Bacon, Boston.
3. Fundamentals of General, Organic and Biological Chemistry(Third Edition), J.
McMurry, M.E. Castellion, 1999, Prentice Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.