We are going to perform one of the most important chemical reactions ever .

discovered the conversion of a natural triglyceride oil into soap using sodium .

hydroxide we are going to be using coconut oil as you can see this is a .

solid when it's cool measure out 210 grams of coconut oil and place in a large .

beaker this will be enough to produce three large bars of soap warm this .

gently and allow the oil to melt this should occur at around 30 to 40 .

degrees C now measure out 34 grams of sodium hydroxide this should be enough .

to hydrolyze a large portion of the oil but leave some oil left over to act as a .

moisturizer in the soap we'll dissolve this in 84 mils of water .

prepare a 200 mil beaker and add the sodium hydroxide and the water to it .

note that this will create quite a strong solution .

and it will help to reduce the amount of sodium hydroxide in the soap.

it's going to get very hot as it dissolves as you can see it's getting .

steamy around here stir the solution well until all the hydroxide dissolves .

now place a magnetic stir bar into the coconut oil and get it up to a .

temperature of 40 degrees at which point all the oil should have melted we've used .

a thermometer in the oil so we can monitor the temperature .

now with stirring on vigorously we're going to add the half sodium hydroxide .

solution to the oil as you add this to you'll see the mixture form a cloudy .

emulsion in the beaker .

the temperature on addition should be around 60 degrees C turn off the heat .

and let the mixture cool slowly with vigorous stirring .

the color will lighten and the mixture will thicken over time here we are about .

20 minutes later eventually you reach a point after 35 minutes or so where the .

mixture can no longer stir at this point turn off the stirring now you'll need to .

get your molds ready we really recommend using silicone baking molds as this .

makes it much easier to get the bars out of later when they have set for the .

molds don't worry of the top of the soap bars looks a little uneven at this .

stage here we are with our three bars now leave these in the mold at room .

temperature to harden for three days after 24 hours they will still be soft .

in the middle but hard enough to smooth the tops .

using your .

after three days the bars will be quite solid so turn them out of the molds and .

wrap them in polyethylene wrap you'll need to leave them now for two to three .

weeks in order for their reaction to complete before this time the bars will .

still contain sodium hydroxide which could burn your skin and here it is the .

finished article .

this is in fact one we prepared for the next step we are going to use a little bit of a .

mixture that we prepared earlier which takes pride of place in our lab bathroom .

it forms a strong lather and has a subtle natural pleasant coconut aroma .