Corona Daily 326: Soap Story

Agnes Pockels, born in 1862, was an intelligent, hard working German girl. She had a passionate interest in natural sciences, particularly physics. She would have loved to study science at the university, but in those days, girls were not allowed to attend universities. Agnes had to take over the domestic chores, and take care of her parents. Her younger brother Freidrich, being a boy, joined the physics faculty at the university. Agnes would read his textbooks and any other science literature he brought home.

Agnes spent much time in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning with various oils and soaps. While working she stared at the sink every day, and wondered why the grease moved across the dish when she added soap. Without formal training, she conducted experiments on her own, and wrote a paper that she sent to a British scientist. In March 1891, the letter was printed in the journal Nature, with a footnote from the British scientist introducing her as “a German lady, who with very homely appliances has arrived at valuable results.”

Agnes Pockels became the founder of “surface science”, which tries to understand how one thing sticks to another-including viruses. Agnes’s kitchen work contributed to the world’s understanding of how washing and soap work.

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Neither Pears nor Lux will ever tell their consumers that soap is made of ash and animal fat. This combination surprisingly cleanses things. The soap has pin-shaped molecules that look like sperms. The molecule has a water-loving (hydrophilic) head, and a water-hating (hydrophobic) tail. The heads get attracted to water, and the long oily tails to fat and grease. Whenever the soap molecules come in contact with dirt, muck or oil, the tails work like street cleaners that take away the muck, then are easily washed away by the water.

Viruses and bacteria have delicate membranes. The soap molecules’ hydrophobic tails attempt to evade water, in the process they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of viruses and cause them to disintegrate. It does the same to the novel coronavirus. The longer you rub hands with the soap, more complete is the destruction of the virus. People are sometimes worried about sharing soap bars. But the shared soap bars are safe, because they execute the same function of dismembering the viruses.

Mere water can’t do this. Sanitisers are also not as effective as soaps.

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Historically, cleaning has been the preserve of women. Dove, Pears and Lux exclusively used female models. ‘You want to be attractive? Use Lux’ the ads said. Though the soap companies didn’t talk about viruses, the aspirational brands were designed to improve cleanliness and skin complexion.

As you know, the term soap opera describes the serials on radio and television. In the 1930s, they started on radio. Aired in the afternoons, they were enjoyed almost exclusively by housewives working in the kitchen while listening to the drama on radio. Considering the target audience, soap manufacturers were the sponsors of those serials. Hence, soap operas.

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A Canadian health officer has given good advice on the level of care during handwashing. If you have been chopping chili peppers or jalapenos, and after that need to put your contact lenses on, how carefully would you wash your hands? It’s a good habit to always wash your hands like that.

Ravi