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More than
you'll ever need to know about soap!
Soaps, or detergents, are surface-active
agents that assist in the removal of soils from a surface. The primary
purpose of detergents is to facilitate the removal of soils that exhibit
poor solubility in water. The molecular structure of detergents
(surfactants) reveals the presences of a hydrophilic head (water-loving) and
a hydrophobic (water-hating) tail portion. It is this hydrophobic
portion that has the affinity for non-polar soils (fats, oils, greases),
which are then bound up by the surfactants and sent down the drain.
In short, detergents remove soil from a
substrate (sports equipment), then keep the soils from re-depositing back
onto the substrate, and finally transport the soils down the drain.
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