Question

What are soaps made of?

Answer 1

Soaps

• Soaps are made up of sodium or potassium salts of long-chain fatty acids.
• Fatty acids such as palmitic acids and stearic acid can be used.

Formation of soap

• Soaps containing sodium salts are made by heating fat with an aqueous sodium hydroxide$\left(\mathrm{NaOH}\right)$ solution. This is referred to as saponification.
• The reaction is as follows