The soap saga!

“Ram, please open the door. Mom is back from the supermarket.” Radha called out from the study table as she heard the doorbell ring.

“Hi mom, did you bring the chocolates I asked for?” Ram asked while opening the door for her.

“Oh! sorry Ram, I completely forgot about your chocolates. Today I had to stand in a long queue to get inside the shop and I could only pick a few things. I promise we will buy them next time.” Mom assured him and took off her face mask.

“Wash your hands with soap and water before you touch anything around here.” He told in a serious tone, expressing his anger.

“He is definitely unhappy about the chocolate!” Mom giggled at Radha.

“Everyone asks us to wash hands these days. They say it helps to kill the coronavirus. But, how?” Ram asked himself.

“Radha didi, why do they ask us to wash hands with soap frequently these days?” He curiously asked.

“To stay safe safe from the global pandemic caused by coronavirus!” Radha didi responded without taking eyes off the book she was reading.

“What does the soap do to the virus?” He again asked and seemed unhappy with Radha’s uninvolved reply.

“Soap kills the virus”. Radha’s deliberate fragmented replies added to his existing ‘chocolate’ despair. Radha smirked and tilted her head to look at Ram’s annoyed yet adorable face.

“How can a soap kill the virus? Is soap poisonous? We have been using it for so long. I never heard of people dying after using soap.” He looked baffled.

“Well, do you know what soap is?” Radha closed the book and asked.

“Eh..? soap is SOAP!”. Ram could not think of a better answer to Radha’s question.

Let me make this simple for you. “Tell me everything you know about soaps.” Radha made the question slightly easier for him to think and answer.

“Soap forms lather and is also fragrant. It comes in several colors, shapes, and sizes. We use it for washing, bathing, cleaning, and so on. But my favorite use of soap is for blowing big colorful bubbles.” He stopped and looked at Radha for her appreciation.

“Very good. So you know that soaps are used to remove dirt, oil, grease, etc from clothes, dishes, and our body. A Soap is made of small molecules that are…”

“Yes, yes, I know molecules.!” Hearing the word ‘molecule’, he jumped off the chair as if he just met one of his old friends.

“Please continue, didi”.

“A soap molecule is made of two components. A water-loving part and an oil-loving part. The water-loving component is often called ‘hydrophilic’ end, while the oil-loving segment is called ‘lipophilic’ end. The ''lipophilic' end is also called as 'hydrophobic' since it does not like water. Because soap molecules are composed of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic components, soap is an amphiphilic molecule.”

“Like amphibians which live on both water and land?” Ram anxiously asked Radha.

“Yes, the word 'amphi' means ‘both’, and the word ‘philic’ means ‘loving’. So the word 'amphiphilic' means something that likes both. In the context of soap, the word 'amphiphilic' means the one which likes both water and oil. So we can imagine a soap molecule to be like a lollipop having a head which likes water and is hydrophilic and a long tail that hates water i.e. hydrophobic, but loves oil.” Radha also made a rough sketch of a soap molecule for Ram.

“Oh, this quite interesting. The soap looks like a lollipop. That rhymes! Tell me more.” An exhilarated Ram responded.

“When you put soap into the water, the soap molecules stay together, forming a ball-like structure with all their water-loving heads pointing outwards. The water-hating tails hide inside this ball, to minimize their contact with water. These ball-like structures are called micelles.”

“But how do these balls kill the virus?” The idea of a micelle was brand new to him.

“Well, a virus is made up of some genetic materials such as DNA or RNA wrapped in a shell made from oil-loving materials such as fat and proteins. When soap encounters a virus, the oil-loving part of the soap molecules go and get attached to the external membrane of the virus made of fats and proteins and pulls off its outer layer, thus destroying the outer coating of the virus. The running water will wash off the remnants of the annihilated virus. This is the same process through which soap removes oil and dirt from clothes and dishes.”

“Wow. So soap is a true hero, finding and destroying the tiny viruses within no time!” Ram was truly impressed by the superpower of the soap molecules.

“ Yes, it is! It tares the virus apart. But this process takes some time to happen. To be specific, somewhere around 20 seconds. Approximately the time required for you to sing ‘happy birthday’ twice.”

“Okay, now I get it. That is why it is advisable to wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to kill the virus.”

“Absolutely.” Radha didi placed a gentle pat on his shoulders.

“Didi, there are so many varieties of soap available in the market. Which soap is the best to kill the Coronavirus? I think anti-bacterial soap will do the job better than any other soap, right?” He concluded after thinking for a moment.

“No, Ram. All those soaps are equally good. You could kill the virus with any soap. For instance, even with this!” Radha told pointing to the dishwashing liquid kept near the kitchen sink.

“Really?”

“Yes, because, to kill the virus, we just need a soap molecule with a water-loving and an oil-loving part. Every soap we use has it.” Radha made her point clear.

“Awesome, I can’t wait to kill some viruses.” Ram ran to the washbasin.

“Hello my dear amphiphilic molecule, come, let’s tare some viruses apart.” He told while squeezing a dollop of liquid soap from the bottle.

“Ram, Don’t forget the ‘happy b’ day’ song !” Radha didi reminded.