How to Make Soap for a Science Project
The word soap originates from Ancient Rome, in the mountains of Mount Sappo, where the Romans sacrificed animals. Over time, people discovered that using soap makes clothes and skin cleaner. If you want to wow your classmates in your science class, you can make soap for a science project.
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Things You'll Need
- Plastic gloves
- Lab coat
- Eye protection
- Two glass beakers
- Bunsen burner or heating solution
- Lard or a type of fat
- Sodium Hydroxide
- Ethanol alcohol
- Table salt
- Water
- Stirring rod
- Soap dish mold
Instructions
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1
Place approximately 10 grams of a fat, such as lard, butter or oil in your glass beaker.
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2
Add 15 mL of sodium hydroxide in the glass beaker. For safety reasons, make sure an adult wearing eye protection slowly adds the sodium hydroxide into the glass beaker.
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3
Add 50 mL of ethanol alcohol into the glass beaker.
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4
Heat the glass beaker on a low temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. Stir the mixture of alcohol, lard and sodium hydroxide with a stirring rod, preferably a glass-stirring rod. Stir until the mixture reacts to the lard.
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5
Add 20 mL of water into the glass beaker once the mixture has reacted. Stir with stirring rod.
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6
Cool your base mixture. The base mixture is the mixture of sodium hydroxide, lard and ethanol alcohol. Combine 12 grams of table salt and 50 mL of water in a separate glass beaker.
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Pour the mixture that you just cooled into the table salt mixture. Wait for the mixture to completely cool, which may take several hours.
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Pour the soap into a soap mold and wait for it to harden overnight.
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Tips & Warnings
Wear eye protection.
Have an adult present when you make the soap.
Wear a fume hood to prevent breathing the chemicals.
Use the sodium hydroxide in a well-ventilated area.
If make mixture contacts your skin, wash with vinegar. Do not use water.
