Originally Posted by
Bravo73
Arnie,
We all know by now how serious Coronavirus & C19 are but why are you posting these in the Rotorheads/Helicopter section?
Thanks Bravo73 ...... my motive is to bring (hopefully) (and helpful) info to helicopter pilots to share with friends and family. Hope it works . Pilots are intelligent , observant , tend to be accurate , and in every place in the world.
CONFESSION: ... I thought all soap and water did was wash away germs and viruses .... how wrong I was !!!!
PIZZES ME OFF why media do not share this type of info .... rather than just political sensationalism .... so I decided to do some here. thanks
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(EXAMPLE)
Pall Thordarson is a Professor in Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney
(From the article)
So why does soap work so well on the Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses? The short story: because the virus is a self-assembled nanoparticle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and dies – or rather, we should say it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive.
Washing the virus off with water alone might work. But water is not good at competing with the strong, glue-like interactions between the skin and the virus. Water isn’t enough.
Soapy water is totally different. Soap contains fat-like substances known as amphiphiles, some of which are structurally very similar to the lipids in the virus membrane. The soap molecules “compete” with the lipids in the virus membrane. This is more or less how soap also removes normal dirt from the skin.
The soap not only loosens the “glue” between the virus and the skin but also the Velcro-like interactions that hold the proteins, lipids and RNA in the virus together.
Alcohol-based products, which pretty much includes all “disinfectant” products, contain a high-percentage alcohol solution (typically 60-80% ethanol) and kill viruses in a similar fashion. But soap is better because you only need a fairly small amount of soapy water, which, with rubbing, covers your entire hand easily. Whereas you need to literally soak the virus in ethanol for a brief moment, and wipes or rubbing a gel on the hands does not guarantee that you soak every corner of the skin on your hands effectively enough.
So, soap is the best, but do please use alcohol-based sanitizer when soap is not handy or practical.
• Pall Thordarson is a professor of chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... infectants