How is “soap” chemically different from “detergent”? What chemical features and properties of detergents make them...

How is “soap” chemically different from “detergent”? What chemical features and properties of detergents make them better than soap for hard water applications?

Expert Solution

soap is the Na and K salts of long chain carboxyllic acids.

Detergents are Sulfonate salts.

Detergent are better than soap because detergent will not form precipitate in the presence of magnesium ion and calcium ion while soap does. The presence of magnesium ion and calcium ion in water is usually described as hard water.
Soap and detergent have hydrophilic part and hydrophobic part. They use hydrophilic part to dissolve in water and use the hydrophobic tail to dissolve in non-polar organic substances on your clothes such as oil spill. This properties of soap and detergent lift the oil molecules from your clothes. Further agitation of water causes the oil molecule to split into smaller molecules. The oil molecules are hence removed from your clothes. One disadvantage using detergent is it is non-biodegradable, which can result in eutrophication( excessive growth of algae) in nearby lake. Hopes this is helpful.

queen_honey_blossom answered 2 years ago

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