Eli5: How do soap and water actually kill microbes?

Question

I broadly understand how alcohol-based sanitizers work, but how do simple soap and water do so? Also, how important is the temperature of the water?

In: 5

Answer 1

Soap is made of a surfactant – a molecule that part of which likes hanging with water and the other end likes hanging about with grease or oil.

The cell membrane of a bacterium or virus is made of two layers of a similar type of molecule (called a phospholipid bilayer) and the surfactant can break apart this layer, destroying the cell and killing the bacterium.