Question about How Do Viruses React To Soap? activity

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Meenav
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Question about How Do Viruses React To Soap? activity

Post by Meenav »

1. In the activity, there is no scrubbing of the virus balls still the soap molecules react. I want to understand why does CDC insists on scrubbing while washing hands. If I dip my hands into a soapy water solution and just swirl the solution around (and not scrub) will the soap still take away the virus?
2. If I cover my hands with soap lather and not scrub anywhere and leave the lather on hands for 20 seconds, will the soap still react with the viruses and dislodge/kill them?
3. In the activity it took 2 minutes for the soapy solution to break the virus membrane but CDC suggests to wash hands only for 20 seconds. Can you please explain this.
4. "The simple answer is that the mechanical action of hand washing dislodges and carries away most of the virus. But soap also plays an important part in killing some viruses." Can you please explain the difference in dislodging and killing.
5. In the activity it took 2 minutes to kill the virus whereas CDC recommends only 20 seconds hand washing. How does it work in 20 seconds?
6. Can running water alone dislodge/kill the envelopes viruses? Not using soap.






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The activity can be viewed at: How Do Viruses React To Soap?
AmyCowen
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Re: Question about How Do Viruses React To Soap? activity

Post by AmyCowen »

Meenav - In the "How do Viruses React to Soap" activity, students create a simple model to help better understand what happens with a real virus. The butter- and sprinkle-coated virus is just a model. It only approximates what happens with a real virus.

I talked with our science team to address the specific questions you had.

1. You asked about scrubbing. The scrubbing allows for more thorough cleaning of the hands. When we scrub our hands, we are mechanically removing lots of microbes from our hands. In the activity, we don’t simulate the mechanics of hand washing but instead look at what happens to the virus when it comes into contact with the soap. This is why we don’t scrub the virus in this activity. (It does not mean that scrubbing is not an important part of handwashing.)

2. If you just left the soap lather on your hands and did not scrub, you might find that some of the viruses would be killed. However, scrubbing helps the soap get everywhere on the hand and into the cracks of the skin, and it also helps to remove viruses mechanically. This means you can dislodge and kill more viruses with scrubbing than without scrubbing.

3. Again, this experiment uses a model. The butter that represents the outer wall of the virus takes much longer to dissolve than the actual virus wall. The virus model we use in this student activity is also much much bigger than an actual virus, so the scales are very different. You cannot compare these times 1:1.

4. Dislodging means removing the virus from your skin. It can still be alive when it is removed and washed away. Killing means deactivating the virus. Even if it is still on the hand, a "killed" virus cannot infect you anymore.

5. See answer 3.

6. Water alone can also dislodge or remove the virus from your hands. However, soap makes it easier to remove the virus from your skin, and it also can inactivate the virus by destroying it, as described in the activity.

I hope this helps.

Amy
Science Buddies
Meenav
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Re: Question about How Do Viruses React To Soap? activity

Post by Meenav »

Thank you very much for the answers, Amy. Much appreciated.

Here are few more doubts based on the answers you have mentioned.

1. I understood that scrubbing is important. The question is how much scrubbing is important. Is it 3 strokes in each hand washing step mentioned by CDC? Or more. For example - 3 strokes over the palms, 3 in the back of hands 3 in the fingers...will 3 (or whatever you suggest) be enough to trap the bacteria and viruses.

2. Let's assume 3 strokes are enough in each step. But the catch is I rub my thumbs in the end step and so the lather will remain on the thumbs only for 2 to 3 seconds. Will that be enough to dislodge the germs from thumbs and I should wait for another 20 seconds for the soap to work.

3. How many seconds does soap lather take to trap dirt particles and make micelles..
AmyCowen
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Re: Question about How Do Viruses React To Soap? activity

Post by AmyCowen »

Hi - These questions are beyond the scope of this student activity, which serves as a model to understand how viral membranes and soap interact.

Are you working on a student project? These forums are for questions related to hands-on science projects for K-12 students.

We do have an activity on handwashing (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-act ... nd-washing) - it is a simple way of visually understanding how the mechanics of handwashing work. However, based on your questions, it sounds like you are looking for something that is beyond the scope of either our handwashing activity or our covid model activity.

For more in-depth research about viruses and handwashing, we recommend diving into additional literature. For example, you could start with this or similar queries: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e ... uses&btnG=

Amy
Science Buddies
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