Soap Molds

Soap is a surfactant used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning that is available in solid bars and in the form of a viscous liquid. more...

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Chemically, soap is a salt of a fatty acid. Traditionally, soap is made by the reaction between a fat and a strong alkali such as lye (sodium hydroxide), potash (potassium hydroxide), or soda ash (sodium carbonate). Historically, the alkali was leached from hardwood ashes.

The chemical reaction that yields soap is known as saponification. In the saponification of a fat to form soap the alkali and water hydrolyze the fat thus converting it into free glycerol/glycerin and soap (fatty acid salt). Occasionally, saponification can occur naturally: an underground mass tomb in Sicily has corpses whose bodies are slowly becoming saponified.

Many cleaning agents today are technically not soaps, but detergents, which are less expensive and easier to manufacture.

How soap works

Soaps are useful for cleaning because soap molecules attach readily to both nonpolar molecules (such as grease or oil) and polar molecules (such as water). Although grease will normally adhere to skin or clothing, the soap molecules can attach to it as a "handle" and make it easier to rinse away. Applied to a soiled surface, soapy water effectively holds particles in suspension so the whole of it can be rinsed off with clean water.

(fatty end)  :CH₃-(CH₂)_n-CO₂^{- +}Na: (water soluble end)

The hydrocarbon ("fatty") portion dissolves dirt and oils, while the ionic end makes it soluble in water. Therefore, it allows water to remove normally-insoluble matter by emulsification.

Soap making

The most common soap making process today is the cold process method, where fats such as rendered lard react with lye. Soap makers sometimes use the melt and pour process, where a premade soap base is melted and poured in individual molds. While some people think that this is not really soap making, the Hand Crafted Soap Makers Guild does recognize this as a legitimate form of soap crafting. Some soapers also practice other processes, such as the historical hot process, and make special soaps such as clear or transparent soap, which must be made with ethanol or isopropyl alcohol.

Handmade soap differs from industrial soap in that whole oils containing intact triglycerides are used and glycerin is a desireable byproduct. Industrial detergent manufacturers commonly use fatty acids, which are detached from the gylcerol heads found in triglycerides. Without the glycerol heads, the detached fatty acids do not yield glycerin as a byproduct.

Read more at Wikipedia.org