CHEMISTRY PROJECT ON

FOAMING CAPACITY OF SOAPS

A PROJECT REPORT

Submitted by

Faheem Niyas

Class: XI B

Under the guidance of

Mrs. Anjali Kurian

2021- 2022

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

SHANTINIKETAN INDIAN SCHOOL

DOHA-QATAR
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to express my acknowledgment to Dr.
Subhash. B. Nair, the principal of Shantiniketan Indian
School, Doha for providing me with this opportunity and all
necessary facilities during the entire course study.
I am grateful to Mrs. Anjali Kurian, the chemistry teacher
of the Science Department for the invaluable guidance
and persistent help apart from being a source of inspiration
throughout the course of my study.
I further express my gratitude to my friends, alongside my
parents and who were directly or indirectly involved in the
completion of this project.

Name: Faheem Niyas

Class & Div.: XI B

INDEX
Sl. No TITLE PAGE NO.
1. INTRODUCTION 5
1. History of soaps 6
2. Raw materials for soap 10
3. Chemistry behind soaps 12
4. Types of soaps 15
5. Manufacturing soaps 17
6. How do soaps work? 20
7. Hard Water and Soft water 23
8. Foaming capacity 24
2. SURVEY ANALYSIS 25
3. EXPERIMENT NO.1 28
4. EXPERIMENT NO. 2 32
5. THEORY 33
6. HYPOTHESIS 34
7. MATERIALS REQUIRED 35
8. PROCEDURE 39
9. OBSERVATION 40
10. RESULT 45
11. CONCLUSION 46
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY 47

INTRODUCTION
 ● Cleanliness is an indispensable part of our life.
Personal hygiene and cleaning the environment has
been an important part of the human race since
ancient civilization.
● Soaps plays a huge part in cleaning. They are
surfactants (compounds that reduce the surface
tension between a liquid and another substance) and
therefore help in the emulsification of oils in water.

HISTORY OF SOAP
● The chemistry of soap making is an ancient science.
In fact, soap is one of the earliest inventions of
humanity. It’s almost as old as civilization, with its
earliest recorded evidence being traced all the way
back to ancient Babylon 4,800 years ago though its
invention probably dates back much farther than
this. Even more astounding is that the basic
ingredients of soap haven’t changed over the
millenia.

● Soap has been known for at least 2,300 years.

According to Pliny the Elder, the Phoenicians
 prepared it from goat’s tallow and wood ashes in 600
BCE and sometimes used it as an article of barter
with the Gauls. Soap was widely known in the
Roman Empire. The Celts, who produced their soap
from animal fats and plant ashes, named the product
“saipo”, from which the word soap is derived. The
importance of soap for washing and cleaning was
apparently not recognized until the 2nd century CE;
the Greek physician Galen mentions it as a
medicament and as a means of cleansing the body.
Previously soap had been used as medicine. The
writings attributed to the 8th-century Arab Chemist
Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber) repeatedly mention soap
as a cleansing agent. Soap came into such common
use in the 19th century that Justus von Liebig, a
German chemist, declared that the quantity of soap
consumed by a nation was an accurate measure of its
wealth and civilization.

● Early soapmakers used ashes and animal fats.

Simple wood or plant ashes containing potassium
carbonate were dispersed in water, and fat was
added to the solution. This mixture was then boiled;
ashes were added again and again as the water
evaporated. During this process a slow chemical
 splitting of the neutral fat took place; the fatty acids
could then react with the alkali carbonates of the
plant ash to form soap (this reaction is called
saponification).

● The real breakthrough in soap production was made

in 1780 by a French chemist and physician, Nicolas
Leblanc, who invented the process of obtaining soda
(sodium carbonate, Na2CO3) from common salt,
and increased the availability of this alkali at a
reasonable cost. With the development of power to
operate factories, soapmaking grew from a "cottage
industry" into a commercial venture and became one
of the fastest-growing industries of the modern era.
RAW MATERIALS FOR SOAP PRODUCTION

Mainly, four basic raw materials are involved in the

manufacture of soap.
 1. Oils and fats
2. Soda lye or potash lye
3. Brine (for glycerin recovery)
4. Additives (sodium carbonate, sodium silicate, dyes,
perfumes, etc.) as secondary products.

CHEMISTRY BEHIND MAKING OF SOAP

- The most commonly used soap making process is

the saponification of oils and fats.
- This process involves heating oils and fats reacting
them with a liquid alkali to produce soap plus water
plus glycerine.
- Soap is made by hydrolyzing a triglyceride using an
alkaline solution. Triglycerides are typically
triesters consisting of three long-chain aliphatic
carboxylic acid chains appended to a single glycerol
molecule. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is commonly
known as lye.
- The process involves heating the animal or
vegetable oil in the lye. Carboxylate salts and
glycerol then combine with the cations of the
hydroxide compound to form a hydrolyze.
- This carboxylate salt is the soap that we use. Since
this reaction leads to the formation of soap, this
process is also called saponification.
What are the chemical name for soaps?
● Just like other substances, the chemical name of a
particular type of soaps depends on its composition.
Here are some of the most common types of soaps:
● Sodium tallowate: This is made using sodium
hydroxide and tallow, i.e. beef fat or mutton fat
● Sodium palmate: This is made using sodium
hydroxide and palm oil as the main ingredients
● Sodium palm kernelate: This is made with sodium
hydroxide and palm kernel oil
● Sodium cocoate: This is made using sodium
hydroxide and coconut oil
TYPES OF SOAPS
The saponification reaction may be tailored to produce
different types of soaps:

- Hard Soap: Hard soap is made using sodium

hydroxide (NaOH) or lye. Hard soaps are especially
good cleansers in hard water that contains
magnesium, chloride, and calcium ions.

- Soft Soap: Soft soap is made using potassium

hydroxide (KOH) rather than sodium hydroxide. In
addition to being softer, this type of soap has a lower
melting point. Most early soaps were made using
potassium hydroxide obtained from wood ash and
 animal fats. Modern soft soaps are made using
vegetable oils and other polyunsaturated
triglycerides. These soaps are characterized by
weaker intermolecular forces between the salts.
They readily dissolve, yet also tend not to last as
long.

- Lithium Soap: Moving down the periodic table in

the alkali metals group, it should be obvious soap
may be made using lithium hydroxide (LiOH) as
easily as NaOH or KOH. Lithium soap is used as a
lubricating grease. Sometimes complex soaps are
made using lithium soap and also calcium soap.

MANUFACTURING OF SOAP
● Soaps are produced both industrially as commercial
goods and locally as artisan products. In either case,
the basic ingredients and the process are the same:
soaps are made from an alkaline substance(mostly
sodium hydroxide), oil, and a choice of fragrance.

● Hot caustic alkali solution, such as caustic soda

(sodium hydroxide), acts on natural fats or oils, such
as tallow or vegetable oil, to produce sodium fatty
acid salt (soap) and glycerin (or glycerol). This
saponification reaction is the basis for all
soapmaking. If industrially produced fatty acids are
 used in place of natural fats or oils, the reaction with
caustic soda yields soap and water instead of soap
and glycerin.

● The major raw materials for soap manufacture are

fat and alkali. Other substances, such as optical
brighteners, water softeners, and abrasives, are often
added to obtain specific characteristics.

● Sodium Hydroxide is employed as the saponi-

fication alkali for most soap now produced. Soap
may also be manufactured with potassium
hydroxide (caustic potash) as the alkali. Potassium
soaps are more soluble in water than sodium soaps;
in concentrated form, they are called soft soap.
Although soft soaps are declining in importance,
potassium soap is still produced in various liquid
concentrations for use in combination with sodium
soaps in shaving products and in the textile industry.
● Fatty raw materials for soap manufacture include
animal and vegetable oils and fats or fatty acids, as
well as by-products of the cellulose and paper
industry, such as rosin and tall oil.
HOW DO SOAPS WORK?

● Soaps are made up of small tadpole-shaped soap

molecules which has two parts -
1. A long hydrocarbon chain part
2. A short ionic part containing- COO-Na+
group

● The long hydrocarbon chain is hydrophobic (water-

repelling), so the hydrocarbon part of the soap
molecule is insoluble in water but soluble in oil and
grease.
● The ionic portion of the soap molecule is
hydrophilic (water-attracting) due to the polar nature
of water molecules. So, the ionic portion of soap
molecules is soluble in water but insoluble in oil
grease
● These soap molecules, when suspended in water,
alternately float about as solitary units, interact with
 other molecules in the solution and assemble
themselves into little bubbles called micelles, with
heads pointing outward and tails tucked inside.

● The hydrophobic tails of the free-floating soap

molecules attempt to evade water; in the process,
they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of
certain microbes and viruses, prying them apart.
Some soap molecules disrupt the chemical bonds
that allow bacteria, viruses and grime to stick to
surfaces, lifting them off the skin.
● Micelles can also form around particles of dirt and
fragments of viruses and bacteria, suspending them
in floating cages. When you rinse your hands, all the
microorganisms that have been damaged, trapped
and killed by soap molecules are washed away.
HARD WATER AND SOFT WATER
- The hardness of water is determined primarily by the
amount of calcium and magnesium it contains.
Higher levels of these and other minerals make
water hard.
- Water softening systems work by reducing the
concentrations of minerals from the water.
- Instead of having higher levels of calcium and
magnesium, soft water tends to have higher
concentrations of sodium, or salt.
 FOAMING CAPACITY AND CLEANSING
CAPACITY

● 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 salts 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.
● Whenever soap 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
manner, an emulsion is formed between grease and
water which appears as foam.
● The washing ability of soap depends on 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.

SURVEY ANALYSIS
 EXPERIMENT-1

Aim: Study the effect of the addition of Sodium

Carbonate (Washing Soda) on the foaming capacity of
different soap solutions.
Apparatus:

1. 3 test tubes
2. test tube stand
3. Bunsen burner
4. stopwatch.

Materials Required: 0.5 g sample of soap, water

(distilled & tap both) and M/10 Na2CO3 solution.

Theory: When sodium or potassium soaps are put into

water containing calcium and magnesium ions (Hard
water), results in the formation of scum which applies a
grey appearance on the cloth. To achieve the same
washing or cleaning action, more soap must be added.

2C17H35COONa +Ca2+→(C17H35COO) 2Ca+2Na+

(Water-soluble) (scum)

Hard water is water that has high mineral content (mainly

calcium and magnesium ions) (in contrast with soft
water). Hard water minerals primarily consist of calcium
(Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) metal cations, and
sometimes other dissolved compounds such as
bicarbonates and sulphates. Calcium usually enters the
water as either calcium carbonate (CaCO3), in the form
of limestone and chalk, or calcium sulphate (CaSO4), in
the form of other mineral deposits.

When Na2CO3 is added to tap water the calcium (Ca2+),

and magnesium (Mg2+) ions precipitate as their
carbonates .i.e. foaming capacity of soap increases.

Ca2++ Na2CO3 →CaCO3 + 2Na+

Mg2++ Na2CO3 →MgCO3 + 2Na+

Procedure:
·Dissolve 0.5g of soap and dissolve it in 50 ml of distilled
water.

· Take three test tubes and add distilled water in the first,
tap water in the second and third test tubes.

· Add 5 ml of M/10 sodium carbonate to the third test

tube.

· To the above test tubes add soap solutions separately.

· Now shake the first test tubes for the formation of foam.

· Now start the stopwatch to calculate the time taken for

the disappearance of foam.

·Similarly, perform the experiment with other soap

solutions. Record the observations in a tabular form.

EXPERIMENT NO.2
 TO DETERMINE AND COMPARE

THE FOAMING CAPACITY OF EIGHT

DIFFERENT COMMERCIAL SOAPS

 THEORY

The foaming capacity of soap depends upon the nature of

the soap and its concentration. This may be compared by
shaking equal volumes of solutions of different samples
having the same concentration with the same force for the
same amount of time. The solutions are then 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 longer the time taken for the
disappearance of the foam for the given sample of soap,
the greater is its foaming capacity or cleansing action.
 HYPOTHESIS

This project will test the foaming capacity of 6

different soaps. The soap with the most foaming
capacity will have the highest cleaning capacity
among the soaps.
 MATERIALS REQUIRED

1. Spoon

2. Glass
3. Tap Water

4. Stopwatch
 SOAP SAMPLES

1. Dove

2. Lux

3. Himalaya
4. Pears

5. Johnson

6. Olay

PROCEDURE
1. Eight glasses (100 ml each) are taken and numbered 1
to 8.
2. In each of these glasses, equal amounts (say 5 gm) of
the given samples of soap shavings or granules are
taken and 50 ml of tap water is added.
3. Stir the solution with the spoon till it gets dissolved
completely.
4. Each glass is heated for a few minutes to dissolve all
the soap completely.
5. One ml of the eight soap solutions is then poured in the
glass of the corresponding number.
6. 10 ml. of tap water is then added to each glass.
7. Glass no 1 is then shaken vigorously 15 times.
8. The foam would be formed in the empty space above
the container. Stopwatch is started immediately and the
time taken for the disappearance of foam is noted.
9. Similarly the other glasses are shaken vigorously for an
equal number of times (i.e., 15 times) with
approximately the same force and the time taken for the
disappearance of foam in each case is recorded.
10. The lesser the time taken for the disappearance of
foam, the lower is the foaming capacity.
 OBSERVATION TABLE

Sl. Brand of Volume Volume of Time taken for

No. soap of soap the disappearance
solution distilled of foam
water
1. Dove 1ml 10ml 5hr 35mins
2. Lux 1ml 10ml 2hr 40min
3. Himalaya 1ml 10ml 1hr 22mins
4. Pears 1ml 10ml 2hr 10mins
5. Johnson 1ml 10ml 1hr 45mins
6. Olay 1ml 10ml 3hr 14mins

OBSERVATIONS
1. Dove

2. Lux

3. Himalaya
4. Pears

5. Johnson
 6. Olay

Graph of the foaming capacities of different soaps:

 RESULT

- The foaming capacity of soaps are in the order of:

Dove > Olay > Lux > Pears > Johnson > Himalaya
- From this experiment, we can find that the foaming
capacity of Dove is the highest and that of Himalaya
is the lowest.
- Since the foaming capacity of soaps determines the
quality of soap, with the experiment conducted we
conclude Dove is the best soap and Himalaya is the
worst soap for cleansing of dirt.
 CONCLUSION

In this experiment, we find that the time taken for the

disappearance of foam tests the foaming capacity of
soaps. Thus, the soap with the highest time taken for the
disappearance of foam has the highest foaming capacity
and hence the best soap for removal of oil and dirt.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

- https://www.thoughtco.com/how-saponification-
makes-soap-606153
- Industrial Soap Production and Manufacturing
Process | Saponification (chemistryscl.com)
- How Soap Is Made: The Chemistry Of Soap
Making (reagent.co.uk)
- https://www.healthline.com/health/hard-water-
and-soft-water#Whats-the-difference-between-
hard-water-and-soft-water
- https://www.icbse.com/projects/chemistry-
project-on-foaming-capacity-of-soaps-mm1
- https://thechemistryguru.com/chemistry-
project/chemistry-project-foaming-capacity-
soaps/
- https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/H
ealthU/2020/08/11/how-does-soap-work