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The science of soap – here’s how it kills the coronavirus
theguardian.com ^ | 3/12/2020 | Pall Thordarson

Posted on 03/16/2020 12:16:48 PM PDT by bitt

Alcohol-based disinfectants are also effective, but soap is a highly efficient way of killing the virus when it’s on your skin

iruses can be active outside the body for hours, even days. Disinfectants, liquids, wipes, gels and creams containing alcohol are all useful at getting rid of them – but they are not quite as good as normal soap.

With Italy in lockdown, fear over coronavirus is natural but we must not be alarmist Gaby Hinsliff Gaby Hinsliff Read more When I shared the information above using Twitter, it went viral. I think I have worked out why. Health authorities have been giving us two messages: once you have the virus there are no drugs that can kill it or help you get rid of it. But also, wash your hands to stop the virus spreading. This seems odd. You can’t, even for a million dollars, get a drug for the coronavirus – but your grandmother’s bar of soap kills the virus.

So why does soap work so well on the Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses? The short story: because the virus is a self-assembled nanoparticle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and dies – or rather, we should say it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive.

The slightly longer story is that most viruses consist of three key building blocks: ribonucleic acid (RNA), proteins and lipids. A virus-infected cell makes lots of these building blocks, which then spontaneously self-assemble to form the virus. Critically, there are no strong covalent bonds holding these units together, which means you do not necessarily need harsh chemicals to split those units apart. When an infected cell dies, all these new

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: chinavirus; coronavirus; handwashing; soap
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1 posted on 03/16/2020 12:16:49 PM PDT by bitt
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To: Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; ...

p


2 posted on 03/16/2020 12:17:01 PM PDT by bitt ("Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin)
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To: bitt

Became a faithful 20 second soap-and-water guy after seeing this proven on Mythbusters years ago.


3 posted on 03/16/2020 12:18:21 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: bitt

Dawn dish detergent dissolves fat/grease and probably works pretty good as a hand soap for this, but it will dry your hands out quickly.


4 posted on 03/16/2020 12:22:15 PM PDT by lgjhn23 (It's easy to be a liberal when one is dumber than a box of rocks...)
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To: bitt

“You can’t, even for a million dollars, get a drug for the coronavirus – but your grandmother’s bar of soap kills the virus. “

Eat a bar of soap. There will be someone out there that will read this and believe it.


5 posted on 03/16/2020 12:24:14 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: bitt

I cannot find any hand sanitizer. I will carry a bottle of water and a small bar of soap with me.


6 posted on 03/16/2020 12:25:55 PM PDT by forgotten man
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To: bitt

OK, good to know but is there a common ingredient in soap that causes this breakdown of the virus? Soap is marketed as Goats Milk, Oatmeal and so on. I doubt those type ingredients make viruses coil in fear.


7 posted on 03/16/2020 12:27:01 PM PDT by DAC21 ( and Naflet had demint)
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To: bitt

"What is this 'soap' of which you speak?"
8 posted on 03/16/2020 12:29:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: forgotten man

Does hand sanitizer expire?


9 posted on 03/16/2020 12:31:28 PM PDT by Dacula
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To: forgotten man

“I cannot find any hand sanitizer. I will carry a bottle of water and a small bar of soap with me”

If you can track down 99% alcohol, Aloe Vera jell and some essential oil, like lavender or Tea Tree oil you can make your own. Alcohol will be the tricky one. 99.9% is recommended so you will need to probably find it on-line like I did.

https://www.alliedelec.com/product/mg-chemicals/824-1l/70125536/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwx7zzBRCcARIsABPRscNFLq4tqWa4DyhGobZEkiPrGMOp_JC2Crr3zZAzrfUUM9wc5onC1SYaAqQmEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/fruit-of-the-earth-aloe-vera-100-gel-crystal-clear/ID=prod6143110-product

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Candle-Soap-Making/Soap-Making/Tea-Tree-Essential-Oil/p/24086?gclid=Cj0KCQjwx7zzBRCcARIsABPRscP6afDWQ-5D6v-d0qaN8wMxiVT6iGMFCvkzKHh3sih4bCWnD-1-knQaAlC0EALw_wcB


10 posted on 03/16/2020 12:34:51 PM PDT by DAC21 ( and Naflet had demint)
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To: DAC21

I bought a BIG bottle of 99% alcohol on Amazon just a few days ago!!


11 posted on 03/16/2020 12:36:31 PM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: bitt

Good article, thanks for posting it.


12 posted on 03/16/2020 12:37:30 PM PDT by Candor7 ((Obama Fascism)http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obam_the_quintessentia_1.html))
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To: DAC21

I don’t think the essential oil is essential. I believe it’s for smell only.


13 posted on 03/16/2020 12:38:35 PM PDT by lilypad
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To: lilypad

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bUp-wnLT6ew
University Nebraska Med Center


14 posted on 03/16/2020 12:41:49 PM PDT by lilypad
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To: bitt

Soap murders bad guy humans live good news.


15 posted on 03/16/2020 12:42:21 PM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: bitt
Hand washing instructions in pharmaceutical clean rooms:


16 posted on 03/16/2020 12:43:14 PM PDT by Grampa Dave ((FearRepublic.com - keeping the media panic narrative going 24/7 to finally bring down Trump)!!!!)
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To: lilypad

“I don’t think the essential oil is essential. I believe it’s for smell only”

Yep, but with 99% alcohol I would recommend it. IT IS STRONG


17 posted on 03/16/2020 12:43:33 PM PDT by DAC21 ( and Naflet had demint)
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To: lilypad

You don’t need essential oils, aloe vera, or 99% alcohol.

All you need is regular 91% alcohol, glycerin, and water.


18 posted on 03/16/2020 12:43:56 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: TexasGator

Tide Pods, and we all thought those kids were crazy!


19 posted on 03/16/2020 12:44:22 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: bitt

Soap (not detergent bars) is a salt made by combining an acid (the fatty acids found in fats and oils) with a base (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide for liquid soap.

You can make it at home with drain cleaner labeled 100% sodium hydroxide and olive oil.(this is true Castille soap) But lye is a corrosive and you must wear eye protection, nitrile or other chemical resistant gloves, closed toe shoes and protect your clothing.

There is a lot of information available on soap making. But please follow safety instructions including to always pour the lye into your liquid not the other way around.


20 posted on 03/16/2020 12:45:13 PM PDT by lastchance (Credo.)
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