Question

Differentiate between a soap and a detergent on the basis of their chemical constituents. For cleansing action why is a detergent preferred to a soap ?

Answer 1

Soaps are sodium salts of long chain fatty acids whereas detergents are sodium salts of alkyl benzene sulphonic acids. If water is hard i.e., it contains calcium or magnesium chlorides then detergent is preferred to a soap.