Experiment #: 10

Date: February 22, 2019

Topic: Planning and Designing
Problem Statement
Which oils are best for making homemade soap?
Hypothesis
Soap A is the Peppermint oil soap, soap B is the Neem oil soap and soap c is the eucalyptus
oil soap. The best type of oil is determined by how well soap is able to pick up grease and
dirt, i.e., the best oil for making soap is determined by how the soap picks up oil since oil and
water are immiscible. Therefore soap with the longest fatty acid chain (soap A) will leave
behind the most volume of vegetable oil in the separating funnel meaning it is the most
effective soap.
Aim
To investigate the hydrophilic nature of soaps made from specific types of oils.
Apparatus and materials

Electronic Balance, Soaps A,B and C, Beakers, Distilled Water, Separating Funnel, 250mL
Volumetric flasks, Conical Flasks, Filter Funnel, Vegetable Oil, Measuring Cylinders,
Bunsen Burner, Retort Stand, Wire gauze.
Procedure

1. Using an electronic balance, cut and weigh 2g of each of the soaps A, B and C on
separate petri dishes and label each A, B and C respectively.
2. Crush and transfer the soap sample A into a clean beaker and add distilled water. Heat
and stir until the soap completely dissolves.
3. Qualitatively transfer the solution to a 250mL volumetric flask and make up the
solution with distilled water to the calibration mark.
4. Measure and pour 60 cm3 of vegetable oil into the separating funnel.
5. Using a measuring cylinder, measure 50 cm3 of the soap solution and using a filter
funnel add to the separating funnel.
6. Shake the contents of the separating funnel and allow the layers to settle for 5 min.
7. Remove the bottom layer of soapy water solution from the separating funnel into a
beaker.
8. Pour the oily mixture into a beaker and heat for 3 min.
9. Pour the remaining oil into a conical flask. Measure the volume of oil remaining using
a measuring cylinder.
10. Repeat steps 2 – 9 using soaps B and C.
11. Record all observations in a suitable table.
Variables
Controlled –

 Volumes of oil and water present in the separating funnel,

 Mass of each soap sample used,
 Type of vegetable oil used in the separating funnel.
Manipulated –

 Sample of soap added to the separating funnel.

Responding –

 Volume of vegetable oil remaining in the separating funnel.

Expected Results

Soap A Soap B Soap C

3
Initial Vegetable Oil Volume (cm )
Final Vegetable Oil Volume (cm3)
Volume of Vegetable Oil Remaining (cm3)
TABLE SHOWING THE VOLUMES OF OILS TO BE OBTAINED AFTER THE SOAP
SOLUTIONS ARE ADDED TO THE SEPARATING FUNNEL

It is expected that soap A will leave behind the least volume of oil in the separating funnel
followed by soap B and soap C.
Interpretation

It is first important to highlight that oil and water do not mix. Non polar components like oil
and grease cannot dissolve in water. Polar components can dissolve in water thus oils will not
come off surfaces with just water. However soaps can mix with both oils and water as the
individual soap molecules have 2 distinct sections, the hydrophilic (polar) head that is water
loving and a hydrophobic (non polar) tail that binds with oils. When the oil is mixed with
soapy water the soap molecules arrange themselves into tiny clusters called micelles. The
hydrophilic head sticks to the water and points outwards while the hydrophobic section traps
the oil. As soapy water is rinsed away, the oil goes away with it.
Soaps are produced through the alkaline hydrolysis of an ester (commonly with NaOH or
KOH) the salt of a long chain carboxylic acids. The unique properties of different soaps are
based on the type of fatty acid and the length of the carbon to carbon chain of the molecules.
Tallow or animal fats five primarily sodium stearate (18 carbons) – a very hard, insoluble
soap. Eucalyptus oils have a molecular formula of C10H18O, Peppermint oils have a
molecular formula of C62H108O7 and Neem oils (Azadirachtin) have a molecular formula of
C33H44O16. These soaps are very soluble and will lather easily and will absorb more oils with
the increase in the length of the fatty acid chain. From the expected experimental results, soap
made from peppermint oil will emulsify the most vegetable oil, eucalyptus oil based soap will
emulsify the least volume of vegetable oil and soap made from Neem oil will emulsify the
second highest volume of vegetable oil.

Precautions

It must be ensured that 2 distinct layers of the oil and water must be present before the
addition of the soap solution and that all the crushed soap samples be removed from the petri
dishes.
Limitations

When making up the soap solution to 250mL the distilled water used might not be pure
enough so it may affect the contents of the soap and the accuracy of the measuring cylinders
used may affect the volume of vegetable oil collected.
Assumptions

The metal present in the soap does not adversely affect the cleaning ability of the soaps. The
other ingredients are present in all 3 soaps making them comparably negligible meaning that
the oil is the main ingredient and the oils being the manipulated variables.