Question

Difference between detergents and synthetic detergents ?

Answer 1

Detergents are defined as substances which act as cleansing agents. There are two types of detergents - soaps and synthetic detergents.

Soaps are the cleansing agents which are sodium or potassium salts of long chain fatty acids (such as palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid etc). These are bio-degradable.

Synthetic detergents are the cleansing agents which are ammonium salts or sodium salts of long chain sulphonic acids. These are non-biodegradable.