On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:56:25 GMT, Stormport wrote:

...Whereas the chained hydrocarbon barriers also provide lubrication,
they may be permeable to oxygen. Corrosion. Soap being a modified chained
hydrocarbon will give lubrication and the amphipathic charged end or
electronegative end may become hydrated and the combined electronegativity
provides a second barrier to Oxygen diffusion with a sort of negative Van
der Waals force. ...

Now, for all the non-chemists in the audience, "Say what?"

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA