Importance Of Saponification

1415 Words3 Pages

Elizabeth Ord
2nd period Chemistry
Mr. Evans
December 5, 2017 Saponification

Hygiene is an important part of our world today. Soap and detergent are important for public and personal health. It keeps our bodies and clothes clean. It removes germs and other contaminants which helps to prevent the spread of infection. The areas that do not have access to soap have many problems with infections and diseases that can cause death.
Soap making is an ancient process. People have been making soap dating back to 2800 BC. Soap was not initially made or used for bathing and personal hygiene but was produced for cleaning cooking utensils, goods, and used for medicinal purposes. The use of soap for personal cleanliness and hygiene became increasingly …show more content…

The animal fats and vegetable oils are esters of the alcohol, propane-1,2,3-triol (glycerol) CH2OHCHOHCH2OH and long chain carboxylic acids (often known as fatty acids) RCO2H, where the alkyl groups contain between 7 and 21 carbon atoms.”2 Saponification is the chemical reaction between fat and sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Saponification comes from the Latin word, “sapo,” which means soap. The fats and oils come from animal or plant sources and is made up of distinctive mixture of several triglycerides. The fatty acids of a triglyceride are weak acids composed of a carboxyl acid group with one hydrogen atom, two oxygen atoms, and one carbon atom plus a hydrocarbon chain. The hydroxide is an alkali metal such as sodium or potassium. They are chemically a base that reacts or neutralizes an acid. During the saponification process, a triglyceride reacts with aqueous hydroxide ion to form a mixture of glycerol and fatty acid salts, or soap. This process is called alkaline hydrolysis of esters. Triglyceride plus sodium hydroxide equals glycerol plus three soap molecules. An exothermic reaction occurs when fats or oils come into contact with a strong base. Soap uses carboxylic acid such as sodium stearate which contains eighteen carbon atoms.
When sodium hydroxide used a hard soap is produced. Potassium hydroxide reacting with a triglyceride produces a soft soap. Triglycerides are three fatty acids …show more content…

The cold process uses exothermic heat reaction and takes place at room temperature. The cold process uses exact measurements of lye and fat. It uses a saponification chart to make sure the finished product does not contain too much hydroxide or free unreacted fat. The hot process uses heat to speed up the saponification reaction. The reactants are boiled and the glycerol is removed. The advantage of the hot process is that exact amounts of hydroxide does not need to be accurate. The difference between the two process is that cold processed soap must cure for four to six weeks and hot process soap does not need to cure. Hot processed soap has a rustic look, while cold processed soap is smoother and has a polished

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