dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) (04/09/86)
I have a kind of silly little question that I've been curious
about for a while. Can someone explain to me the principles
on which dish detergent (and, I suppose, any soap) works?
Let's say I have a big bowl which I used to cook food, and I'm
about to clean it in the kitchen sink. I do one of the following:
1. Squirt in some liquid detergent, then fill it with hot water, using
the vegetable spray that's attached to the sink so I can direct
the streams of water all over the bowl. When the water is directed
at the detergent, lots of soapy bubbles appear and I feel good.
Half an hour later I wipe the thing out.
2. Squirt in some dish detergent, then fill the bowl from the tap.
The soapy bubbles concentrate in the area underneath the tap,
but do cover the whole bowl by the time it's full.
3. Fill it with hot water first, then remember to put in the detergent.
Now, if I do 3, I don't get any of those satisying bubbles. But
it's not the bubbles that make the bowl easy to clean, is it?
Should 3 give me a worse cleaning than 1 or 2? Why? How does soap work?
(Followups directed to net.misc.)
Striving for a deeper understanding of the important things in life,
Dave Sherman
The Law Society of Upper Canada
Toronto
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{ ihnp4!utzoo pesnta utcs hcr decvax!utcsri } !lsuc!dave