Can you please use chemistry terms in explaining this problem, please.
2007-01-30 10:43:23 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
a mirror is made of Si and O and is polar and slightly acidic.
Water loves to make hydrogen bonding with the O in the mirror. And the mirror is probably colder then the vapour just passing by. So water will condense on the mirror and stick on it.
If you put soap (that is a long molecule with a polar head a a lypophylic tail) on the mirror, the soap will cover all the sites for hydrogen bonding of the mirror and the water is less able to stick on it and condense fogging the mirror.
2007-01-30 10:55:47 · answer #1 · answered by scientific_boy3434 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are taking a hot shower the water will evaporate and fog up the entire room. Fog is a huge number of tiny water droplets in the air. What the mirror does (as it is usually cold) is to condence this vapor and turn them back to liquid therefore fogging up the mirror. In fact the vapor fogs up everything but seeing as most materials in a bathroom arent very reflective you notice it much less.
I do not really know why soap does this my guess is that when water comes in contact with soap it removes the surface tension in the water and brakes them into individual molecules therefore they drop down the mirror not being able to join up with other water molecules and stick to the mirror.
2007-01-30 10:57:32 · answer #2 · answered by Fran 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋