Why Soap Is Effective Against Viruses

And while good ol’ soap and water has been proven countless times to be really effective, what makes it work in the first place? Why is it supposedly better than wipes, gels, creams, disinfectants, sanitizers and alcohol?

Here’s some quick science behind it.

The Science Of Soap

It’s actually quite simple. First off, viruses are biological agents that are usually made up of three important building blocks. This includes lipids, proteins and their RNA, which contains the information they need to reproduce. Strangely enough, there are no strong covalent bonds whatsoever that hold these three key units together, which means that, one, they can easily be taken apart and, two, you don’t need any harsh chemicals or agents to do so. Interestingly enough, a virus’ weakest link is its lipid bilayer, which means that dissolving this fat membrane would make viruses fall down like a house of cards.

So despite being rather deadly, it’s actually quite simple to take down viruses.

But why does washing with soap and water protect us from contracting them?



Theoretically, washing with water may be effective in washing the viruses that are sticking on our hands. Unfortunately, viruses usually have glue-like interactions with our skin, making them hard to take off. As such, water alone isn’t enough, and this is where soap comes in.

Simply enough, water with soap contains amphiphiles, which are fat-like substances that are structurally similar to virus lipid membranes. This makes the two substances compete against each other, which is how soap itself takes away any dirt from our hands. In fact, soap not only loosens the “glue” between our skin and the virus, but also takes off the other interactions that hold the virus together, killing them in the process.

This is how soap water protects your from COVID-19, and this is why you should use it over alcohol-based products that are more commonly used.