Eli5: Why are we told to wash our hands for 20 seconds to kill all the bacteria etc, but not told anything similar for dishwashing? What makes dishwashing different, if anything?
In: Biology
The main property of soap is that it is a surfactant, not an antibacterial agent. It basically makes it so that things don’t stick together. Washing hands for 20 seconds basically gives the chance for you to get soap on every part of your hands so that it can break the surface tension of everything on your hands, allowing the water to rinse oil and bacteria that would otherwise either separate from the water or cling to the hands.
Dishwashers run for 20-60 minutes at temperatures above 120 degrees F. The soap serves the same purpose. The main difference is your hand’s don’t have charred food residue burnt onto them while baking at 350 degrees.
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