![]() This is called the hydrophobic exclusion effect. ![]() Instead, the water molecules gang up on the hydrophobes, forcing them into as small a space as possible so that as few as possible water molecules have to interact with them. If a molecule doesn’t have anything to offer the water other than a bland neutral surface, as you get with nonpolar molecules, the water molecules are like “no way dude!” and don’t let those “hydrophobic” molecules into their clique. We call these water-loved molecules “hydrophilic” And if something else tries to get in, it needs to offer up something the water likes as much as or more than another water molecule (like polar parts or, even better, full charges). So water’s H’s are partly positive and its O’s are partly negative, and opposites attract, so water really likes to stick to copies of itself, forming extensive networks of water molecules. This is important because water is super polar because oxygen is really electron-foggy. If you have an even number of protons and neutrons, an atom or molecule will be neutral overall – but if the electrons aren’t shared fairly between the atoms of a molecule, some parts of the molecule can be partly charged while others are negatively charged in an uneven charge distribution referred to as “polarity” Molecules are made up of basic units of elements called atoms (think individual carbons, hydrogens, etc.) linked together by sharing electrons, which are negatively-charged subatomic particles that whizz around each atom’s core “atomic nucleus.” Inside the nucleus are positively-charged subatomic particles called protons that can counterbalance the negative charge of the electrons. What more do you want? An explanation of the science of how it works? No problem!Įverything that “matters” (including soaps and their artificial versions, detergents) are made up of molecules. The classic-est, “boring”-est cleaner of the bunch aces the coronavirus-killing test with some features that make it stand out among the rest! Unlike bleaches and hand sanitizers, although you still shouldn’t drink or ingest it, soap is safe to use on your skin (in fact I highly recommend you do so…), it’s cheap, you can still find it in stores, and it cleans up after itself. I will briefly review a few of these, but the one that gets the bumbling biochemist’s highest rating for combatting this disease – good ole soap and water! Soap – howdya get so dope?! Answer: it has both positive and negative parts, you see, (we call this amphiphilicity) and it can break up germs before they get in you and me!Īs the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, there’s been a lot of talk in recent days about “disinfectants” – many people are talking about dramatic ways to kill the SARS-Cov-2 virus that causes this novel coronavirus disease – from bleaches to alcohol-based sanitizers to UV light.
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