Why soap cleans

This unique structure gives soap its cleaning power. When your hands are dirty, it's usually because oils have attracted dirt molecules, causing them to stick to your hands. When you wash your hands with soap , the hydrophobic ends of the soap molecules attract the oily dirt , forming a drop of oil surrounded by soap molecules with their hydrophilic ends sticking outward. When you rinse your hands, the hydrophilic ends of the soap molecules allow the suspended drops of oil to be washed away!

So the next time you wash your hands , try to picture all the soap molecules grabbing the oily dirt particles and pulling them off your hands to be washed down the drain when you rinse.

You'll also be able to explain to friends and family members what's happening when dishwashing soap cleans those greasy plates!

Are you ready to learn more about the cleaning powers of soap? Be sure to explore the following activities with a friend or family member:. Who knows? Maybe your teacher will use Wonderopolis. Or better yet, you can suggest it! Take care, Inky Montoya! Thanks for the warning, Bowser Jr.!

Also, have you seen Mario lately? Good question! We are undergoing some spring clearing site maintenance and need to temporarily disable the commenting feature. Thanks for your patience. Drag a word to its definition. You have answered 0 of 3 questions correctly and your score is:. Want to add a little wonder to your website? Help spread the wonder of families learning together. We sent you SMS, for complete subscription please reply.

Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. How does soap make you clean? What is saponification? What kinds of substances do you need to make soap?

Wonder What's Next? Try It Out Are you ready to learn more about the cleaning powers of soap? Be sure to explore the following activities with a friend or family member: Know the best way to test out the cleaning powers of soap? Use it! First, you'll need to get your hands a bit dirty.

This is because water has a property called surface tension. This tension causes water to form a bead on the surface of things like glass or fabric. You can see surface tension at work by placing a drop of water onto a counter top.

The drop will hold its shape and will not spread. In order to clean the dirt on our clothes, the water needs to be able to reach the surface. Water is able to get to the surface if surface tension is reduced. To do this, we use a group of chemicals called surface active agents, or surfactants. Surfactants change how water behaves. When a surfactant is added, the surface tension is reduced. Now water can spread out and wet the surface e. The water-fearing end is known as the hydrophobic end.

Hydrophobic comes from two Greek roots, hydro- meaning water and -phobia meaning fearing. Over 11s. Under 11s Technology. Chemistry chaos. Our world. Our bodies. What do you know about? Soap - how does it get things clean? Soapy surprise! How does soap work? What you need: Jam jar or other small container with lid Cooking oil Water Washing up liquid How to: Put some cooking oil and water in the jam jar.

Before it gets too thick, the mixture is poured into a mold where it solidifies, and the saponification process is complete.

The last step is to let the soap sit, or cure for a few weeks, which allows excess water in the mixture to evaporate. This makes a harder soap, according to the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild. The hot process is the more traditional and ancient way to make soap and requires an outside source of heat. The ingredients are heated as they're mixed, which increases the speed of the saponification process. The soap is in a liquid form when it's poured into molds and it's ready for use as soon as it's solidified.

Hot-process soap can be cured in a way that's similar to the cold-process soap, but it's not usually needed, according to the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild.

Germs stick to the oils and grease on our hands sounds yucky, but it's totally normal. Water alone won't remove much of the germs on our hands because water and oil don't like each other, so they won't mix.

But soap likes both water and oil. That's because soap molecules are a type of surfactant, which means they have one end that's water loving, or hydrophilic, and one end that's oil loving, or hydrophobic.

When you wash your hands with soap, the soap molecules act as a mediator between the water and oil molecules, and bind with both of them at the same time. Then when you rinse everything off, the soap carries away the germs with the water.