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NCW 2002: Chemistry Keeps Us Clean. Chemists Clean Up: A History and Exploration of the Craft of Soapmaking - How Soap Came to be Common in America

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Kim Kostka and David D. McKay

Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Rock County, Janesville, WI 53546

J. Chem. Educ., 2002, 79 (10), p 1172

DOI: 10.1021/ed079p1172

Publication Date (Web): October 1, 2002

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

Soap is an article whose commonplace presence and obvious necessity we take for granted at the dawn of the twenty-first century. For most of American history bath soap, however, was a luxury product. This paper explores the confluence of the cultural and technological changes that led to its transformation into the ubiquitous and well-used object it is today. We pick up the timeline for the development of soap in the early American republic when soapmaking was a householder's task and soap use was generally limited to laundering clothes. We then trace the rise of the American cleanliness movement and correlate this rise to the increased manufacturing capabilities of the nation's large soapmakers. This technological forward movement included improvements in producing alkalis as well as the inception and growth of the oleochemicals industry. Additional growth agents were the development of market analysis, advertising campaigns, and factory-scale hydrolysis of fatty acids from their parent fats.

Keywords (Audience):

General Public

Keywords (Domain):

History / Philosophy

Keywords (Feature):

National Chemistry Week

Keywords (Subject):

Consumer Chemistry

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

Making Usable, Quality Opaque or Transparent Soap
Suzanne T. Mabrouk
Journal of Chemical Education2005 82 (10), 1534
- Making Usable, Quality Opaque or Transparent Soap
  Suzanne T. Mabrouk
  Journal of Chemical Education2005 82 (10), 1534
  First-year and organic chemistry students will learn the chemistry of soap by making some of the eleven described formulations, which produce usable, quality bars of soap. Opaque and transparent soaps are made in two and three hours, respectively. With an ...
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