To add to this, unless the hand soap is anti microbial, hand washing generally doesn’t kill germs. As you said though it helps rinse them off your skin and temperature doesn’t make any difference beyond comfort unless it’s hot enough to really burn you.
Edit: I stand corrected, disrupting the membrane can kill some bacteria. I thought that was only true for some soaps and not all but I guess I was wrong.
Thor527 t1_iyddf2w wrote
Reply to comment by sparklesandflies in ELI5: Why does stuff dissolve in hot water more? by samuelma
To add to this, unless the hand soap is anti microbial, hand washing generally doesn’t kill germs. As you said though it helps rinse them off your skin and temperature doesn’t make any difference beyond comfort unless it’s hot enough to really burn you.
Edit: I stand corrected, disrupting the membrane can kill some bacteria. I thought that was only true for some soaps and not all but I guess I was wrong.