Does soap kill bacteria or just clean off bacteria and viruses? How does the hand washing process really work?
Does soap kill bacteria or just clean off bacteria and viruses? How does the hand washing process really work?
Soap is a detergent, meaning one side of the molecule is hydrophilic (likes water), and the other is hydrophobic (likes oil).
Now, cellular membranes are also made out of a dual sided hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecule, a lipid.
The detergent does an excellent job of dissolving the hydrophobic parts of the lipid cell membrane, which means it dissolves the membranes of the cell thus killing the bacteria, while the hydrophilic part of the molecule allows it to be easily washed away.
Soap is less effective against viruses because it's capsid is made out of proteins instead of lipid molecules, so it does not as easily dissolve the capsid (the "membrane" of the virus) but the new very non-polar, and thus hydrophobic, environment significant can significantly disrupt the protein structure and therefore inactivate the virus.
Now, cellular membranes are also made out of a dual sided hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecule, a lipid.
The detergent does an excellent job of dissolving the hydrophobic parts of the lipid cell membrane, which means it dissolves the membranes of the cell thus killing the bacteria, while the hydrophilic part of the molecule allows it to be easily washed away.
Soap is less effective against viruses because it's capsid is made out of proteins instead of lipid molecules, so it does not as easily dissolve the capsid (the "membrane" of the virus) but the new very non-polar, and thus hydrophobic, environment significant can significantly disrupt the protein structure and therefore inactivate the virus.
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