Washing with soap and water is an effective way to destroy and dislodge many microbes, including the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19).
-Soap is made of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head — it readily bonds with water — and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to link up with oils and fats
-These molecules assemble themselves into little bubbles called micelles, with heads pointing outward and tails tucked inside.
-A virus like COVID-19 has lipid membranes that resemble double-layered micelles and the membranes contain with important proteins that allow viruses to infect cells
-When you wash your hands with soap and water, the hydrophobic tails from the soap get into the virus envelopes
-Soap molecules disrupt the virus’ chemical bonds that allow them to stick to surfaces
-When you rinse your hands, the damaged and trapped virus is washed away by soap molecules
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/11/science/how-coronavirus-hijacks-your-cells.html
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