Saponification A water softener is an ion-exchange unit that replaces calcium, m

Question

Saponification
A water softener is an ion-exchange unit that replaces calcium, magnesium, and ferrous ions with sodium ions. How is a water softener important in increasing the effectiveness of soap? Does a water softener convert "hard water" to "soft water"? Explain. Describe how you could make a hard soap, starting with olive oil. Suppose that the lipid that you used in today's experiment was a How could you use the saponificati you used in today's experiment was a mixture of a trigyceride and a cholesterol. on process to separate the cholesterol from the triglyceride?

Explanation / Answer

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1.

A water softener replaces the Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions in hard water with Na+ ions, thereby converting it to soft water. The Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions in hard water inhibit the action of soap as they form an insoluble scum with the long chain fatty acids, thereby preventing the long fatty acid chain from interacting with the grease or dirt, which is responsible for the cleansing action of soap. Not only does this mean we need to use more soap to clean the same amount of dirt, but the insoluble scum leaves deposits on dishes, skin etc. Replacing these inhibitory Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions in water with the Na+ ions will restore the water's "softness". Na+ salts of fatty acids can then carry out regular cleansing action of soap effectively.

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