Soap

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/soap

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the modern industrial alkalis?Sodium carbonate (via Solvay process) and sodium hydroxide (via chloralkali process)
2. What is the related scientific discipline?Colloid and surface chemistry, organic chemistry, and chemical engineering
3. What makes soap so good at cleaning dirt and germs?Soap has a special shape with a water‑loving head and an oil‑loving tail. The tail grabs onto dirt and oils, while the head stays in water, so the dirt can be rinsed away.
4. How does soap work on a tiny level to lift dirt from skin?When soap meets water and oil, the oil and dirt get surrounded by soap molecules, forming little bubbles called micelles. The water then washes these micelles away, taking the dirt with them.

Amphipathic: Having both hydrophilic (water-attracting) and hydrophobic (water-repelling) properties.
Micelle: A spherical aggregation of surfactant molecules in water, with hydrophobic tails inward and hydrophilic heads outward.
Saponification: The chemical process of making soap by reacting fats or oils with an alkali.
Triglyceride: A type of fat or oil molecule composed of glycerol and three fatty acids.