{"id":87351,"date":"2025-06-01T06:41:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T06:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=87351"},"modified":"2025-06-01T06:41:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T06:41:28","slug":"soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Soap is sodium or potassium salt of"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soap is sodium or potassium salt of<\/p>\n<p>[amp_mcq option1=&#8221;Stearic acid&#8221; option2=&#8221;Oleic acid&#8221; option3=&#8221;Palmitic acid&#8221; option4=&#8221;All of the above&#8221; correct=&#8221;option4&#8243;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"psc-box-pyq-exam-year-detail\">\n<div class=\"pyq-exam\">\n<div class=\"psc-heading\">This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n<div class=\"psc-title line-ellipsis\">UPSC NDA-1 &#8211; 2016<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pyq-exam-psc-buttons\"><a href=\"\/pyq\/pyq-upsc-nda-1-2016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"psc-pdf-button\" rel=\"noopener\">Download PDF<\/a><a href=\"\/pyq-upsc-nda-1-2016\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"psc-attempt-button\" rel=\"noopener\">Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"pyq-correct-answer\">Soaps are traditionally made by the saponification of fats or oils with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (for hard soap) or potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap). Fats and oils are triglycerides, which are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids. Saponification breaks down the triglyceride into glycerol and the sodium or potassium salts of the fatty acids.<br \/>\nCommon fatty acids found in fats and oils used for soap making include saturated fatty acids like stearic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2085COOH) and palmitic acid (C\u2081\u2085H\u2083\u2081COOH), and unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2083COOH). Therefore, soap is the sodium or potassium salt of long-chain fatty acids like stearic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid.<\/section>\n<section id=\"pyq-key-points\">Soaps are salts of fatty acids. Saponification involves reacting fats\/oils (triglycerides of fatty acids) with a strong base (NaOH or KOH) to produce soap (fatty acid salt) and glycerol.<\/section>\n<section id=\"pyq-additional-information\">The general formula for a soap molecule is R-COONa (sodium soap) or R-COOK (potassium soap), where R is a long hydrocarbon chain derived from a fatty acid. The long hydrocarbon chain is nonpolar and hydrophobic (water-repelling), while the carboxylate head (-COO\u207bNa\u207a or -COO\u207bK\u207a) is polar and hydrophilic (water-attracting). This dual nature allows soap to emulsify grease and dirt in water.<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soap is sodium or potassium salt of [amp_mcq option1=&#8221;Stearic acid&#8221; option2=&#8221;Oleic acid&#8221; option3=&#8221;Palmitic acid&#8221; option4=&#8221;All of the above&#8221; correct=&#8221;option4&#8243;] This question was previously asked in UPSC NDA-1 &#8211; 2016 Download PDFAttempt Online Soaps are traditionally made by the saponification of fats or oils with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (for hard soap) or &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Soap is sodium or potassium salt of\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/#more-87351\">Detailed Solution<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Soap is sodium or potassium salt of<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1093],"tags":[1098,1096,1445],"class_list":["post-87351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-nda-1","tag-1098","tag-chemistry","tag-detergents-and-soap","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v23.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Soap is sodium or potassium salt of<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Soaps are traditionally made by the saponification of fats or oils with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (for hard soap) or potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap). Fats and oils are triglycerides, which are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids. Saponification breaks down the triglyceride into glycerol and the sodium or potassium salts of the fatty acids. Common fatty acids found in fats and oils used for soap making include saturated fatty acids like stearic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2085COOH) and palmitic acid (C\u2081\u2085H\u2083\u2081COOH), and unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2083COOH). Therefore, soap is the sodium or potassium salt of long-chain fatty acids like stearic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Soaps are salts of fatty acids. Saponification involves reacting fats\/oils (triglycerides of fatty acids) with a strong base (NaOH or KOH) to produce soap (fatty acid salt) and glycerol.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Soap is sodium or potassium salt of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Soaps are traditionally made by the saponification of fats or oils with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (for hard soap) or potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap). Fats and oils are triglycerides, which are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids. Saponification breaks down the triglyceride into glycerol and the sodium or potassium salts of the fatty acids. Common fatty acids found in fats and oils used for soap making include saturated fatty acids like stearic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2085COOH) and palmitic acid (C\u2081\u2085H\u2083\u2081COOH), and unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2083COOH). Therefore, soap is the sodium or potassium salt of long-chain fatty acids like stearic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Soaps are salts of fatty acids. Saponification involves reacting fats\/oils (triglycerides of fatty acids) with a strong base (NaOH or KOH) to produce soap (fatty acid salt) and glycerol.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T06:41:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Soap is sodium or potassium salt of","description":"Soaps are traditionally made by the saponification of fats or oils with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (for hard soap) or potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap). Fats and oils are triglycerides, which are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids. Saponification breaks down the triglyceride into glycerol and the sodium or potassium salts of the fatty acids. Common fatty acids found in fats and oils used for soap making include saturated fatty acids like stearic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2085COOH) and palmitic acid (C\u2081\u2085H\u2083\u2081COOH), and unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2083COOH). Therefore, soap is the sodium or potassium salt of long-chain fatty acids like stearic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Soaps are salts of fatty acids. Saponification involves reacting fats\/oils (triglycerides of fatty acids) with a strong base (NaOH or KOH) to produce soap (fatty acid salt) and glycerol.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Soap is sodium or potassium salt of","og_description":"Soaps are traditionally made by the saponification of fats or oils with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (for hard soap) or potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap). Fats and oils are triglycerides, which are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids. Saponification breaks down the triglyceride into glycerol and the sodium or potassium salts of the fatty acids. Common fatty acids found in fats and oils used for soap making include saturated fatty acids like stearic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2085COOH) and palmitic acid (C\u2081\u2085H\u2083\u2081COOH), and unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2083COOH). Therefore, soap is the sodium or potassium salt of long-chain fatty acids like stearic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Soaps are salts of fatty acids. Saponification involves reacting fats\/oils (triglycerides of fatty acids) with a strong base (NaOH or KOH) to produce soap (fatty acid salt) and glycerol.","og_url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/","og_site_name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T06:41:28+00:00","author":"rawan239","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rawan239","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/","name":"Soap is sodium or potassium salt of","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-01T06:41:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T06:41:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209"},"description":"Soaps are traditionally made by the saponification of fats or oils with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (for hard soap) or potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap). Fats and oils are triglycerides, which are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids. Saponification breaks down the triglyceride into glycerol and the sodium or potassium salts of the fatty acids. Common fatty acids found in fats and oils used for soap making include saturated fatty acids like stearic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2085COOH) and palmitic acid (C\u2081\u2085H\u2083\u2081COOH), and unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid (C\u2081\u2087H\u2083\u2083COOH). Therefore, soap is the sodium or potassium salt of long-chain fatty acids like stearic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Soaps are salts of fatty acids. Saponification involves reacting fats\/oils (triglycerides of fatty acids) with a strong base (NaOH or KOH) to produce soap (fatty acid salt) and glycerol.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/soap-is-sodium-or-potassium-salt-of\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UPSC NDA-1","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/category\/upsc-nda-1\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Soap is sodium or potassium salt of"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/","name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209","name":"rawan239","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rawan239"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com"],"url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/author\/rawan239\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}