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Draw the structure of a soap surfactant molecule. Label the relevant features that enable it to be a good cleaning agent. Explain why surfactants dissolve in both water and water/oil mixtures. Use your knowledge of intermolecular forces in your explanation.

Respuesta :

Explanation:

In the Figure can be seen the structure of a soap surfactant. It has two key parts: the hydrophobic tail and the hydrophilic head.

  • The first one is non-polar and formed only by H and C.
  • The other, is polar due to the O atoms.

Surfactant molecules bond with each other forming miscelles, expossing the part that is compatible with the solvent and protecting the other one.

This means thar the polar head enables the surfactant to dissolve in water and the non-polar tail enables it to dissolve in non polar solvents such as oil mixtures.

Ver imagen Giangiglia