What effect does soap have on fats in milk?

Question

I was doing a science experiment on how liquid soap has an effect on fats. First, I put 4 different colors of food coloring in a petri dish filled with milk. Then, I put liquid soap on a toothpick and saw that the soap made the food coloring swirl around together. My teacher said that the soap had an effect on the fats in the milk, but I don't understand this. Please Help.

Answer 1

For detailed experiment, please visit :

science.csustan.edu/phillips-stone/ CHEM3090/Poster%20Activities/Dish%20soap...

Results and Conclusions:

Results: When adding dish soap to the whole milk and 1% milk, it broke the weak molecular bonds of fat and protein. The whole milk which contains more fat, it worked better and the food coloring

displayed a big part by being the visual aid. The 1% milk, it did break the weaker molecules, but there were not as many fat molecules so the food coloring did not move as fast. The food coloring helped

the eye to see the movements of the molecules. With dish soap, you have two ends that react differently. The “head” of the dish soap molecule is hydrophilic which is attracted to water. The “tail”

of the dish soap is hydrophobic which does not like water, and is attracted to the fats and proteins in the milk. With the hydrophilic “head” it dives in first into the water. While the hydrophobic “tail” stays above the milk mixture.

Conclusion: The Surface of the milk is disrupted by the dish soap molecules, because of their hydrophobic tails and their hydrophilic heads causing the break in the surface tension and getting

between the milk molecules. With the whole milk you can really see how the dish soap works because

of the high fat content in it.