Scientific Discussion and Explanation The first goal of this project was to create both soaps and detergents and compare the properties found in each. To do this, we had to decide to choose three materials with which to make the soap. We chose to use lard, vegetable oil and olive oil. We had to use oil because soap uses an oil to make insoluble substances soluble, which is why soaps are effective at cleaning. After we had our oil bases, we added sodium hydroxide and glycerol. Sodium hydroxide allows the substance to actually become clean, as the oil is a hydrophobic agent, meaning it would be ineffective on its own at cleaning, because most substances repel it. The solution was heated, under stirring, until it became dense. Sodium chloride was then added. This causes the soap to precipitate, allowing for easier filtering. Next we filtered our solution, separating the soap and wastewater and saving both. We let them dry for a week. In general, soap is made by a process called saponification. This process requires a base, for which we used sodium hydroxide which must be hydrolyzed into triglyceride. A triglyceride is an ester that comes from glycerol. This ester undergoes hydrolysis, which causes the ester to split into an acid and an alcohol. Hydrolysis is the reaction with water. However, this reaction would be too slow, so a weak acid or weak alkali is added to make the process faster. An alkali is more useful, because this reaction can only go in one direction. Animal fats, such as lard, are more saturated than both vegetable oil and olive oil. A saturated triglyceride is one whose carbon bonds are only single bonds and whose carbon atoms are bonded to hydrogens. An unsaturated triglyceride contains one or more single or do...... middle of paper...... released into the environment, high concentrations can have serious adverse effects, polluting many different ecosystems, particularly aquatic ones, such as lakes and rivers. Since detergent method two has the highest equivalence point, and therefore the highest concentration, this is the most dangerous to the environment, while detergent method one is the least harmful. We made the mistake of not separating the olive oil filtrate and the vegetable oil filtrate. This means that we don't know for sure whether one of these is actually the best, and our results were skewed due to the combination of the two. However, we believe that the properties of vegetable oil and olive oil are similar enough to assume that neither is the best solution. Human error may occur when measuring quantities and an error may have occurred by not inserting the filter paper exactly the right way.