Why are different detergents made for cleaning different surfaces and how their chemical structure/composition affects this?

This is because of the different chemical composition of the types of detergents affects their cleansing actions.

Explanation:

Detergent means any substance which has the ability to clean an object. This includes soaps, soap powers and dish washing liquids as well as water. Detergents fall into two main types

--> Soapy detergents and

--> Soapless detergents

Soapy detergents are sodium salts of fatty acids. They are saponification products of fats and oils. In the chemical composition, each molecule of soap possesses a long hydrocarbon chain attached to an ionic head. The hydrocarbon tail is hydrophobic, so it is insoluble in water but soluble in oil and organic solvents. The ionic head is hydrophilic, so it is soluble in water. Due to this dual nature, when is dissolved in water, the soap molecule forms spherical clusters called MICELLES( hydrocarbon tails points inward and ionic heads point outward). Repulsion between the similarly charged ionic heads keeps the micelles apart. This property helps the soapy detergent to lift grease from grease coated fabrics when applied to it.

While the chemical properties of the Soapless detergents has a hydrophobic tail and a hydrophilic head. The hydrophobic tail is either a long chain hydrocarbon or a benzene ring with a long alkyl group attached. The hydrophilic head, unlike the Soapy detergents, can be positively or negatively charged or even neutral. These chemical properties makes it to have a more favourable and wider application than soapy detergent.it is suitable for washing acid - sensitive fabrics and for breaking up oil slicks.

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