soap molecules can break down grease grime and even germs a soap molecule has a head and a tail it has a head that loves water known as hydrophilic and it has a tail that hates water known as hydrophobic when we place soap in water and create that lather the soap molecules form into these little beads called micelles if we take a closer look at a micelle we see the water-loving heads on the outside of the beads closest to water and the water-hating tails on the inside of the beads keeping away from water when cleaning a surface the water-heating tail will attach to anything to get away from water so when it finds grease and dirt on the surface it surrounds and latches onto the dirt and as we apply friction by scrubbing it pulls it from the surface causing it to float around in the soap solution then when you rinse the surface off with water the grease and grime are then washed away