Soap with water forms :

Soap with water forms :

Metallotropic liquid crystal
Thermotropic liquid crystal
Homogeneous solution
Lyotropic liquid crystal
This question was previously asked in
UPSC NDA-1 – 2024
Soap with water can form lyotropic liquid crystals, especially at higher concentrations.
Soap molecules are amphiphilic, having a hydrophilic (water-attracting) head and a hydrophobic (water-repelling) tail. In water, they aggregate into structures like micelles, bilayers, or vesicles depending on concentration and temperature. These ordered structures often exhibit liquid crystalline phases, which are classified as lyotropic because their formation depends on the concentration of the solute (soap) in the solvent (water).
A homogeneous solution is formed at very low soap concentrations where molecules are dispersed individually. However, the characteristic behavior of soap forming micelles and other structured phases at higher concentrations leads to lyotropic liquid crystal phases. Thermotropic liquid crystals are formed by pure substances or mixtures that show liquid crystalline phases at different temperatures without a solvent. Metallotropic liquid crystals are formed from molten salts.