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Soap making goes back to the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy about 2000 years ago. Before the advent of bath soap, people would wash with plain water, and in ancient Rome they washed with oil. The Roman's body was rubbed with oil and the person would sweat in a steam bath. The oil was then rubbed off, and the bather finished up in a pool of cool water. This Roman oil bath sounds interesting, but not very clean.
Why are soap bubbles round? We thought you'd never ask. It's because the surface tension of the bubble's water wants to contract, and the sphere is the shape that holds the most volume within the smallest surface area.
How does soap clean? The short answer is because of its ability to act as an emulsifier. The complete answer can be found here. |
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In the 1500s, most people got married in June because they took their annual bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June (according to standards of the day). However, they were starting to smell by June, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide their odor. Hence the custom today of a bride carrying a bouquet of flowers ... and also the custom today of bathing more often than once a year!
Also back then, baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of taking the first bath in the clean water. Then all the other men and sons would wash, then the women, and after that the children. Babies went last, and by then the water was so dirty you could actually lose one in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." Hopefully this saying caught on quickly. |
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Why does Ivory soap float? One day in 1875, an employee at Procter & Gamble accidentally left a soap mixer on when he went to lunch. The soap was so over-mixed that it had much more air in it and was more white than usual. The company tried selling this new product, and people loved it. The soap became very popular and has been floating ever since.
What is soap made of? Soaps are made of molecules that are both fat and water soluble. To complete the answer, please visit here.
In the 1930s, soap companies sponsored the first US radio shows about the lives of everyday people. These were 15-minute shows intended to grab the attention of the listener so they would stick around to hear the advertisements. The term "soap opera" was eventually applied to all similar dramas. And all this time you thought a soap opera involved singing the praises of good soap.
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