what can we use to substitute lye?

Question

iam trying to make a soap for science but we need to use but we cant find any lye so is there anything that we can use to substitute it?

Answer 1

Hmm,I don't think so.Wait: I surched in a book and I found that just potassium hydroxide, which is also caustic, and is typically used when making liquid soaps.If you need recipies surch on the net:www.make-stuff.com/formulas/soap.html

Answer 2

Soap was made in prehistoric times.

The way lye was made was by pouring water through ashes. Ashes contain the oxides of all the metal ions, principally sodium and potassium, which form the hydroxides when mixed with water.

Sodium or potassium hydroxide would be an adequate substitute.


The problem faced by ancient soap makers was that they had no way to determine how much base was needed and generally excessive lye was used. The most effective method to deal with this was to was the crude soap in sea water which would dissolve the excess base but very little of the soap.

Answer 3

Lye is sodium hydroxide - if you are doing this in a supervised lab setting sodium hydroxide should be readily available.

Potassium hydroxide could be substituted.