- Soaps and detergents make oil and dirt present on the cloth come out into water, there by making the cloth clean.
- Soap has one polar end and one non-polar end.
- The polar end is hydrophilic in nature and this end is attracted towards water.
- The non-polar end is hydrophobic, in nature and it is attracted towards grease or oil on the cloth, but not attracted towards water.
- When soap is dissolved in water, its hydrophobic ends attach themselves to dirt and remove it from the cloth.
- The hydrophobic end of the soap molecules move towards the dirt or grease particles.
- The hydrophobic ends attached to the dirt particle and try to pull out.
- The molecules of soap surround the dirt particle at the centre of the cluster and form a spherical structure called micelle.
- These micelles remain suspended in water like particles in a colloidal solu¬tion.
- The various micelles present in water do not come together to form a precipitate as each micelle repels the other because of the ion-ion repulsion.
- Thus, the dust particles remain trapped in micelles and are easily rinsed away with water.
- Hence, soap micelles remove dirt by dissolving in water.