Who invented soap and how does it work?
I’ll answer the last part of your question first. Soap is made up of polar molecules. That just means that one end of each molecule is different from the other like the poles of a magnet. One end dissolves in grease and fats while the other end dissolves in water. Since most really dirty things are fatty and greasy, this means that one end of each soap molecule sticks to the dirt on your hands while the other end sticks to the water running over them. This washes the dirt away. Why not use plain water? If you don’t have soap plain water will help get you clean but because of surface tension water won’t stick to grease so you will never get completely clean. Another class of cleaners solves this problem. Detergents reduce the surface tension of water allowing it to clean better. Look at the list of ingredients on your cleanser. If one of them is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, your cleanser is a detergent. Now for the first part of your question. Long ago people found that you could make a clean
