Part one of term paper
Soap is a surfactant, which acts as a link between water and dirt particles, decreasing surface tension in order to attract away dirt. Its beginning can be traced as far back as 2500 BC, where it is mentioned on Sumerian clay tablets, describing the use of soap to wash wool. Before that, plants with surfactant properties, such as yucca, soapw ...

Part two of term paper
... was considered quite unfashionable, contributing strongly to the terrible plagues of the Middle Ages. That occurred, in part, because of heavy taxation of soap as a luxury item, making it available nearly exclusively to the wealthy. In Europe, in the sixteen hundreds, soapmakers’ guilds began to appear, and soaping as a trade became a closely guarded, and much sought after secret. In 1622, King James I, granted a monopoly to a soapmaker for a staggering $100,000 a year! It was not until Queen Vi ...