| Soap Dishes, Dispensers Article | Soap is a surfactant used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning that historically comes in solid bars but also in the form of a thick liquid, especially from soap dispensers in public washrooms. Historically, soap has been composed of sodium (soda ash) or potassium (potash) salts of fatty acids derived by reacting fat with lye in a process known as saponification. The fats are hydrolyzed by the base, yielding glycerol and crude soap. Many cleaning agents today are technically not soaps, but detergents, which are less expensive and easier to manufacture. |
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