A New Path for Clean Water: Magnetic Soap?
A team of international scientists at Bristol University has created the world’s first magnetic soap by adding iron atoms to the detergent molecules. The soap is composed of long molecules that have one end that is attracted to water and the other is repelled by it. The soap is able to attach to oily, grimy surfaces, with the water-repelling end breaking up molecules at that surface. The soap molecules then gather up into droplets in which all the water-attracting ends face outward. By adding iron atoms to the soap molecules, the droplets become attracted to magnets. This means the soap and the materials that it dissolves can be removed easily by applying a magnetic field. The soap and its magnetic properties are still in the testing phase, but might have a potential role in cleaning-up oil spills or wastewater in the future.
Details of the new magnetic soap are reported in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, a peer-reviewed journal of the German Chemical Society.
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