Microwave Trick

Hello people. I was home for a week *a week that felt like only a day long* and I got the chance to watch this educational programme on channel TVIQ called Clever!. It is an adaptation from an English show just like what Roda Impian and Who Wants to be A Millionaire have come up with. The show is overall informative and jam-packed with many hands-on activities and lab experiments. And I was really keen in one of the experiments conducted in that episode, in which they talked about how to make a soap floats in the water. Interesting right? :) There are three options given, whether you are to rub the soap with sea salt, make a hole out of the soap bar or maybe you can cook the soap in the microwave.

Basically, everything is related to density. Density is the measure of the mass of the substance divided by its volume. As we all know, water is less dense than soap, and as a result, the soap will sink. The chemical composition of soap in general is what causes it to have its particular density. Ivory soap in particular, is known for it can float in the water. In other words, its density is lesser compared to water (H2O).

Let's take a look at the package of Ivory Soap

So this is how it looks like. I'm not sure if there is any in Malaysia. I guess there is.

*edit : yes, there is.

When we rub salt onto the soap, it still sinks down under. Same goes to the second option. Even if we make a deep hole out of it, the soap will eventually sink. So, how does an ivory soap float in the water? Lets grab our lab coats and safety goggles and yeah, we are scientists now. Wannabe scientists. *cough* Time to hit the lab! These are the materials we need ; a bar of Ivory soap, various bars of another brand soap, deep bowl of water, paper towel and last but not least, a microwave oven.

1. First thing first, fill the bowl with water. Drop the bars of soap into the water and notice all the other brands sink but Ivory soap. Why?

2. Take the ivory soap out of the water and break it half to see if there is any pockets of air hiding in the middle of the bar.

3. Place the Ivory soap bar in the middle of a piece of paper towel and place the whole thing in the center of the microwave oven.

4. Cook the bar for 2 minutes long. Dont take your eyes off the bar as it begins to expand and erupt into beautiful puffy clouds. Be careful not to overcook it.

5. Allow the soap to cool for a minute or so. The soap looks puffy on the outside but it is rigid when you touch it. 

Soap souffle - the result of the cooked soap

Dont waste it. Use it when you're taking shower and it will still float. How does it work actually? Ivory soap floats because it has air pumped into it during manufacturing process. In 1890, the air-filled soap accidentally happened when one of the workers forgot to turn off the mixing machine which then caused so much air to be whipped into the soap. Procter & Gamble then chose to capitalize on the mistake by marketing a brand new product of floating soaps, which gets favoured by the public.