Anionic surfactants - Chromatography Forum
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Anionic surfactants | Naked Science Forum
A surfactant is a posh and probably slightly more general name for detergents, the way these work is they have a head that is ionic (in this case probably -ve) and a tail that is oily (they look a bit like a wobbly pin), this means that the head loves water but the tail hates it. So the tails collect anywhere that water isn't, the surfaces, grease etc. Because the grease gets covered with the detergent molecules (think pincusion) it is now covered with water loving heads so will dissolve well, hence why you use them to wash up. They also have the effect of breaking up the surface tension so foams will form.
Soap is an anionic surfactant. You can also get cationic surfactants, but these are less common.
If you haven't already found it
http://www.kcpc.usyd.edu.au/discovery/9.5.5-short/9.5.5_anionic.html
is quite useful
[:0] Look what I found at that link...
Long-term exposure to anionic surfactants has been linked to swelling of the skin in a conditioned allergic reaction. This swelling is temporary, although it tends to increase the susceptibility of the skin to permeation by other substances. Anionic surfactants are generally avoided in cosmetic products, but their use in shampoos and other products can still lead to irritation (that's why some people suggest changing shampoos every month or so).
There's a really cute demo you can do with this..
Cut out a piece of paper this sort of shape
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Edit... my artwork seems to be broken. It's supposed to be a sort of arrowhead shape, but the spaces have got lost.
Float on some clean water, then spot a little bit of washing up liquid, or soap, or anything else that'll break the surface tension, into the nick in the back and it'll shoot off across the water because there's more surface tension on one side than the other.
I think daveshorts probably knows better than I do which random other things you can use to break the surface tension... I've an idea one was mustard powder, but I think there were more.