Wash your hands…Wash your hands…this is the most popular line we seem to hear of late…
What is the big deal with so much importance just on this seemingly simple task?
How would such a thing save lives and protect against even THE coronavirus?
What is this thing which is so powerful to kill even the virus that has made the world freeze? You may wonder!!!
I did too, till I understood what soaps are made of and how they work..
Well, soap is nothing but salts of fatty acids with an alkali.
Complicated? Well it does not matter..All you need to remember that they are modified versions of fats and oils (coconut oil, olive oils or palm oils) with a basic compound like Sodium or Potassium hydroxide
(lye). Glycerin, fragrances and other constituents of soap add to its pleasant aroma and also serve as a softening agent.
Soaps are not something that the modern civilisation invented and there are evidence tracing it to ancient Babylon and Egyptian civilisations.
So how does this soap work? Basically (pun intended), soaps have a unit which is hydrophilic (hydro : water; philic : love) or water-loving and another hydrophobic (hydero : water; phobic : hate) water-hating unit. When in contact with fats or greasy portions of dirt, the water-hating or grease-loving part of the soap binds to that
and covers it up like a sphere (also called a micelle) with the external surface of the sphere being made of the water-loving portion of soap.
In such a situation, it becomes easier for a person to wash off dirt, grime from the skin as compared to using just water alone.
In addition, soap destroys the ‘surface tension’ or the ability of water molecules to stick to each other thus making it spread out and have a wider outreach on the surface to be cleaned.
Well, all that about soap is fine, but isn’t the coronavirus or any germ more than just a piece of grime?
Yes indeed!! What is a virus? It is nothing more than a core of genetic material (DNA or RNA) encapsulated by an envelope of proteins and lipids. In fact, viruses are hardly alive and just make use of the cell it infects to replicate and make more copies of itself.
When a surface including your hands get contaminated by a virus, it forms a sticky bond with the skin surface and stays there till it gains entry into the human body through the nose, eyes or mouth as happens when you touch them with your hands.
That is where washing with soap gets into the picture. Soapy water loosens the sticky bond between the virus and the skin since the virus envelop is mainly made of lipids or fats. Due to its ability to reach any nook and cranny on the surface, by the ability of soap to reduce the ‘surface tension’ of water, every inch of the surface gets cleaned of the virus. And Voila, you have inactivated the virus just by using our humble hero – The soap.
So yes…wash wash wash your hands frequently especially during times like these.
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Some links for those interested to read more:
http://www.soaphistory.net/soa
https://www.theguardian.com/co
https://www.themacbath.com/blo
