What is the effect of sodium carbonate on soap?
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Answer:
Adding sodium carbonate to soap can affect the activity of the soap in different manners in presence of different types of water. For example in case of hard water it will precipitate calcium carbonate and hence, activity of soap will improve. But in presence of fresh water it will reduce the inter-facial tension , but bubbles of soap will not be formed . In presence of saline water addition of sodium carbonate may increase pH resulting in scale formation of calcium carbonate.
However, in general the foaming capacity of detergents is not affected to a very large extent by addition of sodium carbonate.
Soaps are made by reaction between vegetable oil / or / animal fats with Sodium hydroxide (or Potassium hydroxide for toilet soaps). The product is Soap and Glycerin. Glycerin is separated by salting or other process depending on requirement of end product - soap.
Sodium carbonate is a alkali. Addition of sodium carbonate into water will precipitates Calcium and other dissolved minerals as carbonate from water and makes water soft. Soft water will give better foaming - longer lasting and capable of removing more dirt from the object - cloth or body. Use of large quantity of soda will damage cellulosic fibres - say cotton, therefore it should be used wisely.
Addition of sodium carbonate in soap is done mainly to increase the weight of soap, but it has almost the similar effect on activity of soap,
Detergents can be said synthetic soap. Most detergents works well even with hard water - need not to use Sodium carbonate for better results.
Since the project is about the foaming capacity of different soaps and the effect of sodium carbonate on this property, it is better to avoid other issues like the hardness of water.
Prepare about 250 ml the same concentration (about 0.5%)of soap solution in distilled water for all the soaps being studied.
Divide each into two parts. To one part add sodium carbonate to make the carbonate concentration also 0.5%.
Take a clean 500 ml glass bottle with a stopper. Put 100 ml of the first plain soap solution in the bottle, stopper it, shake vigrously . Place on a table starting a stop watch. Note the time taken for the last bubble to break.. Repeat twice. Calculate the average of the three readings.
Repeat this with all of the solutions.
Tabulate and analyze the data and draw your conclusions.
Excess sodium carbonate in soap will increase the pH of water and also it softens water which results in more foaming in water.
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