What is the scientific name of soap?

Answer 1

There are many different substances used for cleaning called soap.

One is basically sodium lauryl sulfate. Another, old fashioned lye soap, is mostly sodium stearate. Liquid soaps may be made from palm oil, coconut oil, or other vegetable oils instead of beef fat.

The end of the name comes from the name of a fatty acid: lauric acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, and so on. The different names tell scientists how many carbons their are in the "fatty" part of the molecule, and how they're bonded.

Actual fats and oils contain complicated mixtures of different fatty acids in various proportions. Palm oil, for example, is just under half palmitic acid, with a bit less oleic acid, and small portions of linoleic, stearic, and myristic acids.

So there is no one single scientific name for soap, and soaps generally actually are several different chemicals anyway.

Answer 2

Detergent, a substance with soap-like properties

Answer 3

A commonly held belief is that it's an acronym for a primitive soap recipe - Salt, Oil, Alkali, Potash.