Why soap works so well on most viruses

I thought it was cells that had a bi-lipid membrane and that viruses had a capsid instead (made of proteins).<p>Wikipedia says &quot;Some viruses are enveloped, meaning that the capsid is coated with a lipid membrane&quot; - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Capsid" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Capsid</a><p>I find the article confusing:<p>1. Why does removing the lipid layer destroy the virus if most viruses don&#x27;t have one in the first place?<p>2. How can soap be effective against &quot;most viruses&quot; (as the article claims) if only &quot;some viruses&quot; (as wikipedia claims) have a lipid layer?<p>3. Why doesn&#x27;t TFA mention the capsid at all? I would have thought it should be on the diagram at least.<p>Edit: A simpler explanation that doesn&#x27;t have these problems and agrees with all the facts I know is that soap destroys proteins, which is what viruses are made out of. See <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.quora.com&#x2F;How-do-detergents-denature-proteins" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.quora.com&#x2F;How-do-detergents-denature-proteins</a>

&gt; The soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and &quot;dies&quot;, or rather, we should say it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive.<p>I always presumed that viruses, similar to other microorganisms, are alive. Until reading the above quote, I had never considered the idea there was any question about this. I was intrigued by the concept that they many not really be alive so looked up the Wikipedia article [1] which says that<p>&gt; Viruses are considered by some to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection, although they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as &quot;organisms at the edge of life&quot;, and as replicators.<p>One of the Wikipedia references is <i>Are viruses alive? The replicator paradigm sheds decisive light on an old but misguided question</i> [2] which looks at different replication mechanisms as a continuum rather than a simple “life vs non-life” dichotomy.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Virus" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Virus</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC5406846&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC5406846&#x2F;</a>

The author wrote an article for Guardian - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;commentisfree&#x2F;2020&#x2F;mar&#x2F;12&#x2F;science-soap-kills-coronavirus-alcohol-based-disinfectants" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;commentisfree&#x2F;2020&#x2F;mar&#x2F;12&#x2F;scienc...</a>

What I&#x27;d like to understand is why viruses are less prevalent in the summer due to more humid air, but yet they can exist in the moist body and spread from moist spray from coughs &#x2F; sneezes.<p>I haven&#x27;t been able to phrase the question just right to find the answer to what seems like a conflict.<p>I think the spray is just a method of transmission with the virus &quot;hoping&quot; to dry out quickly on a dry surface before it falls apart.<p>But inside the body?

so this explains why 20 seconds, if anyone would explain that at the first place and not just say out of the air wash for 20 seconds I would remember the motivation and understand and do that otherwise I forget what I do not understand. So typical of the shallow news not to explain.

I always wondered why surgeons wash their hands using soap (with extreme attention) before operating and not with disinfectants&#x2F;alcohol&#x2F;etc.

I&#x27;ve always heard a different explanation from the one in the article: that the soap isn&#x27;t actually killing many viruses or bacterial cells, but rather just getting them off your hands and down the drain so you&#x27;re less likely to infect yourself when you inevitably touch your face (I assume I&#x27;m not the only one who has been discovering this week just how hard it is to not touch your face). Is that not correct?

Dupe: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22517397" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22517397</a><p>Original source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;PalliThordarson&#x2F;status&#x2F;1236549305189597189" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;PalliThordarson&#x2F;status&#x2F;12365493051895971...</a>

This is fascinating and great information for a layman like myself. Especially how the virus uses the cell&#x27;s machinery to create the virus&#x27; own components (rna&#x2F;lipids&#x2F;protein) which then self-assemble. incredible.

Detergents always work, unless organisms have a thick layer of stuff other than lipids just like human body. Btw, protein denaturants also work, such as bleach

I wonder if some soaps are better than others at destroying the virus. Dawn is famously good at cutting grease, used for cleaning up oil spills off birds, etc. I wonder if it&#x27;s also better than other soaps at destroying the lipid layer of the virus, or if something like Lava or GoJo would be even better.

Does anyone knows if liquid soap is as effective as soap bars?<p>I have this argument over and over agin with my wife.

I have been washing my hands with the hottest temperature my skin could handle given it is plausible that heat would inactive more of the viruses.<p>I have read studies saying this doesn&#x27;t help.<p>The skin on the back of my hand is becoming irritated, i am applying lotion.

Not that it particularly matters because it sounds like all soap is pretty effective, but I wonder if a grease fighting dish soap would be the most effective of all. Don’t mind me, I’ll just be doing dishes for the next few months.

Does anyone have any advice about using REST or RPC against viruses?

Reading through the thread on Twitter, someone mentioned UV light is very effective in killing viruses. is this true?

Smart people of HN: what are your thoughts on the antiviral properties of flavonoids like kaempferol?

TL:DR Soap (and solvents, and alcohols for that matter) reacts with (and therefore breaks down) the types of molecules that make up oils and fats and the viruses in question are held together by fats.

The use of twitter as a blogging app boggles my mind.

*hydrophobic

Why is this 25 tweets when something like “lipid envelope” would suffice?

Years ago the University of Oregon did research on bacteria and hand washing.<p>Their finding? It&#x27;s not soap, it&#x27;s scrubbing in water.<p>Scrubbing hands under water did all the work. Neither anti-bacterial agents or soap had almost any effects at all.<p>I imagine it&#x27;s not unlike why a stream is safe to drink but a non-moving puddle is not.

I&#x27;m assuming he&#x27;s talking about toilet soap, not liquid soap. Both are surfactants, but I suppose, still behave a bit differently.<p>&gt;Consequently, many antibacterial products are basically just an expensive version of soap in terms of how they act on viruses.<p>In that case, this part would be wrong. You use up toilet soap a lot faster than liquid soap, especially if the dosages of the liquid are managed efficiently.