I have always been interested in chemistry and one of the most practical uses of chemistry is making soap. The chemical process of soap making is called saponification, which occurs when you mix a fatty acid with a strong base. Fatty acids can be vegetable oils or animal fats and these are call triglycerides. The strong base can be Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) aka Lye or Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) aka Caustic Potash. While I am a big fan of fight club, we will not be hopping the fences of the local liposuction clinic for our fatty acids. Instead we are going to use an assorted variety of vegetable oils. As for the base, we want to make a hard bars of soap, so we will be using Sodium Hydroxide (Lye).
No comments:
Post a Comment