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SAI International School
Class-X
Subject_ Chemistry
Ch- Carbon & it's Compounds
Subtopic-Soaps & Detergents
Lesson Notes
Detergents-
Detergents are cleansing agents, which may be-
1. Soapy detergents (commonly called Soap) or
2. Synthetic detergents (commonly known as Detergent).
SOAP-
Soaps are Sodium or Potassium salts of long chained fatty acids.
They are basically prepared from vegetable oil or animal fat by the reaction known as
Saponification.
Saponification reaction-
Esters react in the presence of a base to give back alcohol and salt of carboxylic
acid.
This reaction is used in the manufacture of soaps and is known as saponification
Vegetable oil or animal fat are tri-esters made from a long chained carboxylic acid
(which may be Stearic acid/ Palmitic acid/ Oleic acid) and a tri-glyceride (i.e.
glycerol).
Preparation of soap-
When oil/fat(Tri esters) reacts with a strong Alkali (NaOH/KOH), it results in the
formation of soap and glycerol.
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