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How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

pfizer.com

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Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#71

Post by thesaintlives »

downWidOutaFite wrote: post #34
Kranar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean yes, technically soap will destroy viruses that are already in your body absolutely. It will also destroy many other cells and proteins in your body as well since soap is an indiscriminate killer. The end result is that both viruses and normal tissue will end up dying which will damage you or possibly kill you.

This doesn't sound right. Soap is considered nontoxic. We all ingest soap residue from dishes and other hygiene and I've never heard anyone concerned about it.

Phosphates.. We ingest phosphates from soaps.

Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#72

Post by matheusmoreira »

downWidOutaFite wrote: post #34
Kranar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean yes, technically soap will destroy viruses that are already in your body absolutely. It will also destroy many other cells and proteins in your body as well since soap is an indiscriminate killer. The end result is that both viruses and normal tissue will end up dying which will damage you or possibly kill you.

This doesn't sound right. Soap is considered nontoxic. We all ingest soap residue from dishes and other hygiene and I've never heard anyone concerned about it.

Dose makes the poison. A little bit of residue won't do much. Eat a whole bar of soap and you'll feel it.

Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#74

Post by fragmede »

lispisok wrote: post #67

When covid first hit I was smug because while everybody was freaking out buying up all the hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes I remembered the section college biochemistry about surfactants and bought a few extra bottles of soap. Sodium Laureth Sulfate et al. are super cool underrated substances imo

Thankfully it turned out not to cling to surfaces (unfortunately it turns out it was airborne instead) like rhinovirus, so the surface cleaning proved unnecessary.

Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#75

Post by TeMPOraL »

IKantRead wrote: post #47
jawns wrote: post #10

This is probably the stupidest question many of you will encounter today, but: If soap has an extraordinary ability to destroy viruses on our skin ... can eating soap give us some of those benefits for viruses that are already in our bodies? I'm not seriously envisioning chowing down on bar soap or using liquid hand soap as a salad dressing. But are there ways to use the _properties_ of soap that make it good for kil…

> can eating soap give us some of those benefits for viruses that are already in our bodies? I think the thing people are missing in a lot of these comments is that viruses are typically traveling from the skin to a mucus membrane in your body (which can be in the stomach but also in your lungs and nose), then infecting your cells. Eating soap might impact pathogens in your still in your stomach, but it's not going t…

> ...and if it was high enough concentration: imagine snorting, inhaling or injecting dish soap.

I'm worried enough imagining the soap doing to my insides the things it does to organic residue on my hands or dishes.

Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#76

Post by dist-epoch »

lispisok wrote: post #67

When covid first hit I was smug because while everybody was freaking out buying up all the hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes I remembered the section college biochemistry about surfactants and bought a few extra bottles of soap. Sodium Laureth Sulfate et al. are super cool underrated substances imo

There are viruses which are immune to soap, because they don't have a lipid envelope. A common one is Norovirus.

Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#77

Post by [deleted] »

sand500 wrote: post #23
jyoung789 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t have a real answer for you but I will say that olive oil works well for this. I worked on a Christmas tree lot through my winters as an undergrad and olive oil always worked well. Of course then you need soap and water to remove the olive oil.

This is great for when the contaminant is oil soluble but not water soluble.

[deleted]

Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#78

Post by TeMPOraL »

ska wrote: post #53
e12e wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guessing inside (white side) of orange peel will work too (the oils are used to make various cleaning products).

IIRC This is why "goo gone" product is really good with many adhesives.

Does it have a generic name for non-American audience?

Re: How Soap Works: The Science Behind Handwashing

#79

Post by WoodenChair »

s3p wrote: post #57

"Here’s why it’s soap is so effective" Maybe with all that covid funding they could afford a better proofreader..

There are actually multiple grammatical errors throughout. I'm sure they could afford to at least have ChatGPT double check their writing. It's embarrassing when a company of that size makes these kind of mistakes. It hurts trust in the brand.

"Soap, which has been in around for thousands of years"

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