Why does soap work

These drops are washed away when you rinse your hands. Planet Science. Advanced Search. Under 11s. Over 11s. Under 11s Technology. Chemistry chaos.

Our world. Our bodies. What do you know about? Soap - how does it get things clean? Soapy surprise! How does soap work? What you need: Jam jar or other small container with lid Cooking oil Water Washing up liquid How to: Put some cooking oil and water in the jam jar.

It is important to remind people that they need to rub hands thoroughly and create a lot of lather so the soap can get into all the cracks and crevices in skin where the virus likes to hide. So when the hydrophobic end of the molecule comes in contact with this fatty membrane it causes it to dissolve and fall apart, thus destroying the virus. For more on how soap works read this article. Category: Coronavirus. Category: Latest News. Category: New Resource.

It's still a combination of fat or oils with an alkali — basic ionic salt — and water. When those ingredients combine in the proper proportions, they go through a chemical process called saponification, which results in soap. Today, there are two techniques that people use to make soap: the cold process and the hot process. In the cold process, a room-temperature lye solution sodium hydroxide in water is mixed with animal or vegetable oil.

As the ingredients react with one another, the mixture thickens and heats up. Before it gets too thick, the mixture is poured into a mold where it solidifies, and the saponification process is complete. The last step is to let the soap sit, or cure for a few weeks, which allows excess water in the mixture to evaporate. This makes a harder soap, according to the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild. The hot process is the more traditional and ancient way to make soap and requires an outside source of heat.

The ingredients are heated as they're mixed, which increases the speed of the saponification process. The soap is in a liquid form when it's poured into molds and it's ready for use as soon as it's solidified. Hot-process soap can be cured in a way that's similar to the cold-process soap, but it's not usually needed, according to the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild. Germs stick to the oils and grease on our hands sounds yucky, but it's totally normal.

Water alone won't remove much of the germs on our hands because water and oil don't like each other, so they won't mix. But soap likes both water and oil. That's because soap molecules are a type of surfactant, which means they have one end that's water loving, or hydrophilic, and one end that's oil loving, or hydrophobic.

When you wash your hands with soap, the soap molecules act as a mediator between the water and oil molecules, and bind with both of them at the same time. Then when you rinse everything off, the soap carries away the germs with the water.