Cleaning with soap and soapless detergents. Detergent comes from the Latin word detergere meaning to clean, it is defined as a cleansing agent. Therefore, water itself is a detergent. This essay looks at soap and soapless (or synthetic) detergents. Both substances we use everyday and have a big market commercially, they effect everyone. Soaps are made from natural products and soapless detergents are produced chemically, each having advantages and disadvantages. Soap has a much longer …showed first 75 words of 657 total…

…showed last 75 words of 657 total…bad hydrogen sulfide smell. There are now regulations on phosphate levels. The cleaning action of soap and synthetic detergents are very similar, they are both surfactants. They act as emulsifying agents and reduce the surface tension of water allowing it to ‘wet’ better. Each have their own disadvantages and advantages. I think the production of synthetic detergents is a good thing especially since all the time improvements are being made to make them environmentally friendly.