I’ve noticed when cleaning dishes that when the cleaning solution is “sudsy,” cleaning seems to happen more quickly (less scrubbing, etc.).
Is this because:
* The suds themselves help with cleaning
* The suds don’t help with cleaning but they indicate that the cleaning solution has a particular desirable property;
* The suds don’t help with cleaning and aren’t related to any desirable property.
A related question is: For any effective cleaning solution can one create a cleaning solution which is just as effective but has very little sudsiness?
In: Chemistry
It’s nothing about the suds themselves exactly, it’s just that the surfactants and other detergent components which are effective at dissolving lipids, aka grease/fat/oil and other substances, also happen to have a chemical structure which makes them viscous or “thick” which allows them to more easily form pockets of film which trap air, aka bubbles. Some cleaning chemical might release their own gases as well when agitated or exposed to the air, like expanding insulation foam or when exposed to other substances while cleaning things. But even so, the bubbles are just a byproduct of physical agiation and/or chemical reactions, rather than actually being a crucial function.
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