Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

TyrconnellFL t1_iydfl8q wrote

Reply to comment by Thor527 in ELI5: Why does stuff dissolve in hot water more? by samuelma

That is wrong. Soap is very effective at disrupting cell membranes and destroys bacteria. The surface of cells, including many bacteria, is kind of like a bubble of fats. Not exactly days, but similar enough that soap does the same thing and dissolved it. Dissolve the surface of a cell and all the innards spill out. Now it’s not a living cell, it’s a collection of dead cell bits.

Soap will also detach many bacteria and let you wash them off, but soap itself is strongly antimicrobial. It doesn’t contain antibiotics and for most uses there’s no reason to add antibiotics. The same is true for alcohol hand sanitizer: it’s not antibiotic, but it’s lethal to cells.

7

IonizingKoala t1_iydnmvi wrote

The FDA has found that anti-microbial soap is equally as effective as regular soap. But the main anti-microbial ingredients can actually be harmful to the environment, so it's worse if you care about the environment.

It's different in a hospital setting, I think they have some more unique reasons for needing to use anti-microbial soap.

2