The soap is sufficiently colored in red and purple blue, why is it only white?

Soap no matter what color it gives, white foam. This is a very common and normal phenomenon, but there is a very interesting scientific explanation.

Soap plays an extremely important role in our lives. They are used in many forms - bath soaps, shampoos, hand washes . and have a multitude of different colors.

But no matter what form and color, soap has a characteristic: when hit with water, they only produce white foam.

Picture 1 of The soap is sufficiently colored in red and purple blue, why is it only white?
Soap plays an extremely important role in our lives.

So what is the cause of this phenomenon?

The answer lies in light scattering .

Scattering is understood that light is "shot in many different directions" . In optics, light scattering is the phenomenon of light changing direction when colliding with other objects.

Light is scattered when the medium it passes through is heterogeneous, causing light rays to hit particles or surfaces between two different environments.

Need to distinguish between scattering and reflection . When reflected, light will be reflected in a single direction that we can easily calculate. But with scattering, you will not determine in what direction the light is scattered.

Picture 2 of The soap is sufficiently colored in red and purple blue, why is it only white?
Small particles of water in clouds scatter sunlight.

Light scattering is the reason why the sky we see is white or gray. Clouds contain countless tiny droplets (only about 20 micrometers). Sunlight when exposed to these clouds will be scattered into white and gray.

Why is soap foam only white?

First, you need to know that although there are many different colors, soap is only mixed in a very small amount of colorings. So the color of the soap is inherently pale. When fighting with water, the color becomes more and more diluted.

The soap consists of a lot of tiny bubbles, each of which is a thin film. Soap is a surfactant, which reduces the surface tension of water, causing the membranes to expand.

Picture 3 of The soap is sufficiently colored in red and purple blue, why is it only white?
Soap bubbles include tiny bubbles.

Therefore, soap bubbles when formed gradually increase surface area, colors fade and become transparent.

To make it easier to imagine, imagine you're blowing an unbreakable balloon. Initially, the balloon has a bold color.

The more you blow, the more the color of the ball fades and turns white. If you don't stop blowing, the ball will become completely transparent.

As for white light , it is essentially a mixture of light with different wavelengths (ie different colors).

Picture 4 of The soap is sufficiently colored in red and purple blue, why is it only white?
Different colored light when mixed together will create white light.

Soap bubbles are white because the light must pass through many small bubbles. These bubbles form the surface of light scattering, leaving the foam white.