Soap, November 19
Remember back in science class when you had to read about exothermic/endothermic reactions and you thought, 'When am I ever going to need this knowledge?'
Turns out you'll need it years later when you're making soap from scratch! Better yet, you'll see it in action and really understand what's going on!
Our soap-ologist Athenaise (that's not really her job title) turned a Bill Nye lab into reality this month as she demonstrated the art of soap making, using precise measurements of olive, palm, coconut oils, lye & water, beeswax, and essential oils. In the beginning everyone seemed intimidated by her somewhat impenetrable safety gear and stayed back while ingredients were being mixed. However, all the scary safety stuff went out of our minds as we watched Athenaise cause an exothermic reaction by stirring lye into water. Exothermic = giving off energy, and in this case what we saw was heat coming off the mixture!!
Alright, so the effect was no exploding baking soda volcano but it was still really cool. Also crazy is the thought that you can burn your skin during soap making if you don't know what you're doing, but 2 months later once it's all done and hardened, you use it to clean your skin. Humans are weird.
So in short we think you should try making it, but please be really really really careful!
