Soap is a general term for fatty acid metal salts. The general formula is RCOOM, where RCOO is fatty acid radical and m is metal ion. The carbon number of fatty acids in daily soap is generally 10- 18. Metals are mainly alkali metals, such as sodium or potassium, but ammonia and some organic bases, such as ethanolamine and triethanolamine, are also used to make soaps for special purposes.