Question

what happens if you put laundry detergent in a cup of water

Answer 1

(step by step observations)

Answer 2

SDS detergent is amphipathic
1. The detergent in the water will slowly agglutinate together to minimize free energy because all molecules want to reach their most stable form.
2. This is achieved by the instability of the surrounding water molecules, wanting to form hydrogen bonds with each other, but the only way to make more hydrogen bonds is to minimize the surface area of the hydrophobic core.
3. Therefore, you will see chunks of immisible detergent molecules. These structures are called miscelles.