I remember from my high school biology class that almost all cells are protected by a lipid bilayer. I know that soap kills germs by disintegrating this bilayer, causing the bacterium to fall apart. How come soap doesn’t do this to skin cells?
In: Biology
Soap can kill some bacteria but that is the primary function. What soap do is to help detach bacteria from your hand so they can be washed away in the water.
You can compare it to how soap help removes fat and other stuff that you can feel a lot better than just water. They remove bacteria and virus the same way,
There is a reason we do not use soap as a hand sanitizer by just rubbing it on our hands. You use stuff that contains a lot of alcohol because it kills the bacteria where soap does not do that. So it is not just that it does not evaporate and would be hard to remove without something to wipe it away, is would not kill enough bacteria to be useful without the water to physically remove them.
If I am not mistaken a soap that is more alkaline will kill more bacteria but at the same time have a larger effect on your skin because it removes the top layer of it too.-
Well, it does, but to the outer layer of the skin, which consists in multiple layers of “dead” cells
It does, a little. We have extra skin layers so that the effect isn’t harmful. We used to use lye as a soap ingredient, but it was a little too good at its job, what we low call harsh. Now we use milder chemicals.
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