१५ मार्च, २०२०

"Soap is made of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head — it readily bonds with water — and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to link up with oils and fats."

"These molecules, when suspended in water, alternately float about as solitary units, interact with other molecules in the solution and assemble themselves into little bubbles called micelles, with heads pointing outward and tails tucked inside. Some bacteria and viruses have lipid membranes that resemble double-layered micelles with two bands of hydrophobic tails sandwiched between two rings of hydrophilic heads. These membranes are studded with important proteins that allow viruses to infect cells and perform vital tasks that keep bacteria alive.... In an age of robotic surgery and gene therapy, it is all the more wondrous that a bit of soap in water, an ancient and fundamentally unaltered recipe, remains one of our most valuable medical interventions."

From "Why Soap Works/At the molecular level, soap breaks things apart. At the level of society, it helps hold everything together" (NYT).

४९ टिप्पण्या:

FullMoon म्हणाले...

In case you are wondering:
Simple Science | Difference Between Soap and Detergent

Owen म्हणाले...

Amazing that our super-good and full-strength-science curricula have produced a readership that needs to have this explained at a 5th-grade level. I wonder when the NYT is going to share its recent discovery of electrical charge.

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

The other good thing about soap & water is that, unlike bactericides & viricides which create a natural selection process which ultimately favors really nasty bugs, soap just washes everything in the bacterial & viral biome on your hands down the drain, where it lives in the larger biome to fight another struggle for survival.

The bacterial & viral biomes are just like the biomes of higher organisms --- they, too, struggle for survival in their ecological niches. Sometimes, it helps if we can preserve the benign bacteria & viruses because they help crowd out the bad stuff.

chickelit म्हणाले...

It's no lye that soap is made from pot ash

ALP म्हणाले...

I make cold process soap as a hobby. One GOOD thing about this pandemic are the wonderful videos coming out showing how soap WORKS. Many people have silly ideas about what various bath and body products are capable of (members of my female gender - looking at YOU). They think soap can remove 'toxins'. They think putting some activated charcoal in the soap affects the skin in a miraculous way. I keep saying "no no no all soap does is grab onto the oils on your skin allowing you to wash them away....period."

A soapmaker can manipulate how agressively a soap cleans. We can manipulate the quality of lather. We can make a soap that tends to be softer, or harder. But that's about it.

narciso म्हणाले...

some perspective

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

@ALP,

We can make a soap that tends to be softer, or harder. But that's about it.

But, what about the most important thing -- can you make a soap that'll make a Man smell like a Man at the end of a shower?

Inga म्हणाले...

I’m so happy I bought a huge bottle of liquid hand soap two weeks ago. The shelves are pretty bare of them now. Lots of good videos on hand washing nowadays too. Everyone’s personal hygiene should be so much better when this is all over...hopefully.

Sarthurk म्हणाले...

The elaborate explanation of how soap works is a little over the top. AOC wouldn't begin to have any comprehension of the story.
Just sayin'.
Sarthurk

Michael K म्हणाले...

The same is true of bile salts, which are what digest fat in the diet. Common bile duct obstruction also causes malabsorption of fat. Plus, of course, you eyes get yellow. Pancreatic cancer will do the same thing.

walter म्हणाले...

Sarthurk said...The elaborate explanation of how soap works is a little over the top. AOC wouldn't begin to have any comprehension of the story.
--
I await her video on discovering automatic soap dispensers.

Michael म्हणाले...

The medical innovation saving the most lives over the last 20 years is a solitary piece of paper....a sign in hospitals placed everywhere reminding doctors, RNs, LPNs, aides, etc to wash their hands between each patient contact.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

Soap is also a surfactant, reducing the surface tension of the medium in which it is dissolved.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

Oh, I see Full Moon's link provides this information.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

Spare a thought for Ignaz Semmelweis, who in the 1840's advocated hand-washing to prevent disease, long before Pasteur. He was drummed out of medicine for such heresy and died in the nut-house. Now there's a med school named after him in his home town of Budapest.

Ron Winkleheimer म्हणाले...

Alton Brown has a hand washing tutorial out on youtube, and of course it covers the science behind why and how soap works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnI0PHIFEMA

Basically, soap is an emulsifier.

Ron Winkleheimer म्हणाले...

By the way, just got back from the local Walmart. We ate the last of our oatmeal a couple of days ago and we needed some mustard and other sundry things. Its crazy out there. There was no bread. The only other times I have seen that around here is if there is a threat of a snow storm. A big girl, I'm talking over 6 feet and at least 250 pounds, was trying to get something from the bottom shelf and an old guy was giving her grief about blocking the aisle. She stood up and told him, "I will hurt you." I turned my cart around and left. I wanted no part of that. I don't need to be on the local news as one of the guys that got stabbed with a wine bottle.

Ron Winkleheimer म्हणाले...

Oh, and the air dryers in public washrooms, they spread germs. Who would have thought that blowing air at high speed on human hands would propel germs into the air.

Wince म्हणाले...

"Wash off the soap. That's right, wash it off. Oh, God, I wish I was a loofah!"

Jeff Weimer म्हणाले...

And he said oh!

Ron Winkleheimer म्हणाले...

Spare a thought for Ignaz Semmelweis, who in the 1840's advocated hand-washing to prevent disease

Specifically, he advocated that physicians wash their hands between assisting in child births to prevent childbed fever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

FullMoon म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
tcrosse म्हणाले...

Specifically, he advocated that physicians wash their hands between assisting in child births to prevent childbed fever.

More specifically, he advocated that physicians wash their hands between cutting up cadavers for med students and assisting in child births. The maternity wards staffed by midwives had much lower incidences of puerperal fever.

ALP म्हणाले...

YoungHegelian: But, what about the most important thing -- can you make a soap that'll make a Man smell like a Man at the end of a shower?

**************

Oh yes but that is the job of the fragrance or essential oils. I currently have one scent (Birchwood Oud) that absolutely NAILS the scent of fragrant smoke coming from a campfire in the forest in winter. Sticks to the skin with a nice woodsy/smoky scent.

Dust Bunny Queen म्हणाले...

Inga said Everyone’s personal hygiene should be so much better when this is all over...hopefully.

Ain't that the truth. More attention to hand washing, not touching everything and cleaning all surfaces. My friend who is house bound because of the virus and especially because she is receiving treatments for cancer has gone into a house cleaning frenzy. She is bored out of her mind. Washing all the things!!!

Cleaning cupboards. Washing baseboards. Taking a toothbrush to the kitchen cabinet handles. Rearranging the closets. I have decided that's a pretty good idea too.

By the end of this our houses will be spic and span too.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

Nearly half of all the cases in the U.S. are in three states: NY, CA, & WA, and almost all of those are concentrated in three metro areas: NYC, San Francisco, & Seattle. The virus is obviously a Russian plot to reelect Trump, via voter suppression.

Michael K म्हणाले...

Right about Semmelweis. It was almost 1900 before English surgeons would accept antisepsis.

There was so much resistance in New York City that Halsted erected a tent on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital to use antiseptic surgery. That was 20 years after Lister showed it worked.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

Just came back from Walmart. There are empty shelves, but it's very isolated and specific to just some isles. Most of the shelves are normal, but there is absolutley nothing on the shelves in hand sanitizers, rubbing alcohol, feminine hygiene, toilet paper, canned soups etc, and for some reason no dry pasta at all. The booze sections and pet products are fully stocked, which was all I really needed.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

""Soap is made of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head — it readily bonds with water — and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to link up with oils and fats.""

Great. Now I have to worry about soap giving me rabies.

chickelit म्हणाले...

You can make soap at home from used motor oil and still smell like a man.

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

@Lurker21,

Great. Now I have to worry about soap giving me rabies.

You thought soap "lathered". Actually, it "foams", as in "at the mouth".

tcrosse म्हणाले...

A blast from the past for those who are old enough to remember it:
Grandma's Lye Soap

Rory म्हणाले...

"...and pet products are fully stocked, which was all I really needed."

My German Shepherd has grown used to fresh chicken breast mixed in with his meals. There could be trouble if I don't find a supply soon.

FullMoon म्हणाले...

A big girl, I'm talking over 6 feet and at least 250 pounds, was trying to get something from the bottom shelf and an old guy was giving her grief about blocking the aisle. She stood up and told him, "I will hurt you." I turned my cart around and left. I wanted no part of that. I don't need to be on the local news as one of the guys that got stabbed with a wine bottle.

I wonder if people are more polite in open carry states?

Inga म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Inga म्हणाले...

My grandmother used to save used cooking oil and fat and once a year she made soap in our kitchen basement. It was vile. The smell of the fat rendering and the lye, disgusting. We knew when it was soap making day because when we got home from school the house reeked, but that soap could get any stain out of anything. My grandmother and mother would let it dry out and grate it up and add it to the white laundry. When my mother died we still had a trunk full of those square bars of homemade soap, no one wanted it. We had to dump it.

jim म्हणाले...

Wow, New York Times. More fake news.

Narayanan म्हणाले...

@Blogger bagoh20 said.

The virus is obviously a Russian plot to reelect Trump, via voter suppression.
______&&&&&&
Putin must have finally figured out that road to Washington DC goes through Beijing.

Known Unknown म्हणाले...

Mike DeWine helping but not helping. Take about fearmongering.

"In an ominous Sunday news conference, Gov. Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton not only closed restaurants and bars in the state, but said "people will die," "children will die," and the National Guard will be setting up tents to house sick children. Acton is the director of the Ohio Department"

Chest Rockwell म्हणाले...

My local Kroger in metro Detroit was emptied yesterday, but fully replenished today. And Sunday is it's busiest day. They had adjusted hourly signs out front and they're hiring for stockers. So I'm not really worried about food supplies.

The economy worries me more. The Dow futures are currently down 1000 points after the Fed announcement of 0% interest rates. The economy is going to be the biggest loser in all this. The effects are going to be worse than 2008 and given the utter ineptitude of our political class, I think the solutions are going to be terrible.

We may not get Bernie in 2020, but 2024 is looking more probable.

boatbuilder म्हणाले...

So perhaps the end times are upon us, and perhaps the US healthcare system will be overwhelmed with more than the few hundred very sick people currently hospitalized in the places where the virus is "raging."

Could happen. What do I know?

What I do know is that while I was returning from playing golf by myself (because the ski trip I was supposed to be embarking on this morning was cancelled because the Vail Corporation closed all of the mountains) today, I turned my car radio to NPR, because I can no longer listen to my stupid sports talk stations which get really, really stupid when they talk about science! and politics. I was looking for perhaps a smidgen of actual concrete information.

In any event, what NPR had was a piece about women (always) in Washington state whose 93-year old mothers are patients in the Life Care Center--yes that Life Care Center--who haven't died, and another woman who took her 93 year old mother out who also hasn't died. The women were going on about how unfair and hard this all is.

And they are right, of course--life (and certainly, death) is often hard and isn't fair.

(The health of the women whose mothers were and are residents of the Life Care Center wasn't mentioned).

My cynical, hopeful thought--If this is all that NPR can come up with.... Cheer up! We are actually all going to die. But not all of us or most of us very soon.

walter म्हणाले...

Ron,
Was she pissed because they were all out of Skinny Girl wine?

walter म्हणाले...

There's no debate.
Oh wait..the debate!

FullMoon म्हणाले...

Restaurant and bar workers rely on tips. Un employment not gonna make up for losses.


Now Is Not The Time to Forcibly Close Restaurants…

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil म्हणाले...

Inga said...
I’m so happy I bought a huge bottle of liquid hand soap two weeks ago."

You're in danger of breaking your wrist, you've been patting yourself on the back so much. Well, you get little love here so I suppose someone has to supply it.

I make a big Costco run every month and stock up on bulk essentials - everything from TP and Kleenex to detergent. So I'm not only set for this current emergency, we could comfortably survive a Yukon blizzard. But that's because that I now have ample pantry and storage space (unlike apartment dwellers) and I hate buying boring stuff like TP and paper towels so I do it as little as possible.

I don't issue myself a medal and crow because I'm well-prepared. I'm just grateful I missed the rush.

Michael म्हणाले...

No bread. No rice. No soup. Economy in tatters. As usual only the poor will be hurt by this fiasco. The well off will take this dow thrn in stride and will make a shitload of money by buying right and buying cheap. The poor fucked. Again.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

Full Moon asks: I wonder if people are more polite in open carry states?

Arizona is open carry and concealed carry, no permit necessary. But I've heard about two freakouts in supermarkets here in the last couple of days. Both women. Luckily, neither seemed to be armed.

Ralph L म्हणाले...

My YMCA just sent an email that they're closing tomorrow for at least 2 weeks. I brought my exercise shoes home yesterday, since I had a feeling they wouldn't give us any warning.

M Jordan म्हणाले...

When a society refuses to deal with its core issues, God steps in. Sodom wouldn’t deal with sin ... God brought down fire from heaven. At Babel they wouldn’t deal with core issue of intellectual arrogance ... God divided the people. In Noah’s day they wouldn’t deal with violence and perhaps genetic tampering ... God stepped in big time.

We are at a similar point. Progressivism has built its Tower of Virtue and God has decided it’s time to dissemble it. I hate being in the moment of it but here we are.