Question

KOH is used in making:
A. Drain cleaner
B. Cement
C. Soap
D. Table

Answer 1

Hint: To answer this question, we should know about KOH, its uses. We should know that potassium hydroxide is a very important inorganic base and it is used in a wide range of industry applications.

Step by step answer:
To answer the correct use of potassium hydroxide, we should first know about its variety of
applications. We should know that potassium hydroxide is also known by the other name of caustic potash or we also call it as potash lye. It is solid in white colour that is very dangerously corrosive. So,first we should know that it is an inorganic compound. And it is a very strong base. We can identify it by white to slightly yellow lumps, flakes, pellets, or rods. And it has no characteristic odour can be attributed to this compound in its solid-state.
We should know that potassium hydroxide is used in the process of saponification. We should know that saponification is a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium or potassium hydroxide to produce glycerol and a fatty acid salt called soap. The triglycerides are most often animal fats or vegetable oils. We should know that sodium hydroxide produces hard soap while potassium hydroxide produces soft soap that is used for everyday cleaning. We use potassium for saponification because a strong base is required in the hydrolysis of the fatty acids. So, from the above discussion we can say that use of KOH is in making soap. And the correct answer is C.

Note: We know about sodium hydroxide hard soap and potassium hydroxide soft soap that we use in everyday cleaning. We should know that there are soaps made using other metal hydroxides. Lithium soaps are used as lubricating greases. There are also complex soaps consisting of a mixture of metallic soaps. An example is lithium and calcium soap.