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The following ingredients are in a Dove White Beauty BarLinks to an external sit

ID: 704461 • Letter: T

Question

The following ingredients are in a Dove White Beauty BarLinks to an external site.:

Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate or Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Edta, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891).

What would happen if while using this Dove soap your water softener broke, introducing in minerals containing calcium and iron? How would this affect the cleaning action of soap? Use your observations in the lab to help answer this question. (Maybe you've seen your observations in the bathroom somewhere? Maybe around your faucet/shower head and possibly around caulking, tiling, and grout?)

Explanation / Answer

if water softner broke introducing calcium,magnesium,iron to water then those ions form insoluble salts, effectively removing the residual soap from the skin but potentially leaving a coating of insoluble stearates on tub and shower surfaces, commonly called soap scum.