SOAP WORKS BY BEING BOTH POLAR AND NONPOLAR

Rather than washing our dirty hands and clothes with nonpolar solvents, however, we have a more pleasant alternative—soap and water. Soap works because soap molecules have both nonpolar and polar properties. A typical soap molecule has two parts a long nonpolar tail of carbon and hydrogen atoms and a polar head containing at least one ionic bond  

Nonpolar grime attracts and is surrounded by the nonpolar tails of soap molecules, forming a micelle. The polar heads of the soap molecules are attracted by ion-dipole attractions to water molecules, which carry the soap-grime combination away. 

For the past several centuries, soaps have been prepared by treating animal fats with sodium hydroxide, NaOH, also known as caustic lye. In this reaction, which is still used today, each fat molecule is broken down into three fatty acid soap molecules and one glycerol molecule  

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Soap Works by Being Both Polar and Nonpolar... 

SOAP WORKS BY BEING BOTH POLAR AND NONPOLAR... 

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