Help! What could be the physics aspect in soaps/detergents?

[leonarduskevin]

I got the topic "role of science in soaps/detergents". What could be the physics aspect of it?

[sameera95]

I don't think physics is the right science here, soaps and detergents would probably be more chemistry and biology - you could always look at the chemicals present in soaps/detergents and their effectiveness of killing a specific type of bacteria.

[Vioh]

Apart from looking at the chemicals present as sameera95 has mentioned, you can also talk about how soaps & detergents actually do their jobs.

 

The mechanism that many types of soaps & detergents use is to arrange themselves in a so-called micelle structure (google it yourself!). Because of this, soap molecules are required to have a long rod-like structure (similar to liquid crystals). These rod-like molecules consist of 2 parts: a polar head (which is made of polar bonding, such as hydrogen bond), and a non-polar tail (which is often a very long chain of hydrocarbons). The polar head allows the soap molecules to attach themselves to water; while the non-polar head allows the soap molecules to attach with organic compounds (like the ‘oily’ stuff). Soap molecules can therefore stick these oily stuff and water together, making it much easier for us to wash away the dirty stuff.

 

That’s roughly how a typical soap works. As I’m not an expert in these, you should definitely look for more information on the web

[mechnight]

Must say, I don't think that physics is not the right science - why don't you try to look at surface tension and density as physical properties, for example?

[Thrashmaster]

The momentum of someone slipping on a bar of soap