CHEM 208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Soap Film, Hard Water, Potassium Carbonate
16 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Soaps and detergents play a very important role in our lives. These chemicals help us in making our surroundings cleaner (i. e. , by removing soil and grease), healthier (i. e. , by reducing the germs), and pleasant. In order to make it more effective in the process of cleaning, the water must be made to spread and thus wet surfaces effectively, i. e. , its surface tension must be reduced. This is achieved by using compounds called surfactants. What are surfactants: soaps and detergents are composed of surfactants, surfactants are water-soluble and surface-active agents. Surfactants are composed of a hydrophilic (water-soluble) head and a hydrophobic (fat-soluble, water-hating) tail. The hydrophilic end is stable when solubilized in water and the hydrophobic end consists of a long chain hydrocarbon that is more stable when surrounded by other organic groups. Amphoteric surfactants have both positive and negative charges.
