Answer:
- a base
Step-by-step explanation:
Soap is a product that is used for personal hygiene and for washing certain objects. It can be found in pill, powder, cream or liquid.
Soaps bases its cleansing action on fats with water thanks to the structure of its molecules. The soap has a fat-soluble part (dissolves in fat) and another water-soluble part (dissolves in water). This causes the fat-soluble end to drag the fats and drag with the water with the water-soluble ends.
The reaction by which soap is formed is a saponification. It is a sodium or potassium salt of the chemical reaction between an alkali (such as sodium or potassium hydroxide) and a lipid (or fat). The fat used can be of vegetable origin (such as olive oil) or animal (such as lard). The soap is soluble in water.
The chemical formula resulting from the saponification reaction is therefore: fat + caustic soda → soap + glycerin.