Eli5 why do people say to wash dishes or your hands in warm water when cold slows down bacteria growth?
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The hot water isn’t for killing bacteria, unless you’re washing dishes, clothes or tools in a steam washer.
Soap is an emulsifier designed to break up oils and force them into solution with water, where they can be easily rinsed away. Hot water helps to liquify fats, grease & oils, and is more readily able to hold the soap/oil in suspension.
Bacteria love to live in those oils, so they get washed away too.
Basically, washing isn’t about sanitation. Soap and warm water dissolve fat, grease, etc better, and so they wash away wherever is left on your hands and dishes a little easier. This doesn’t need to kill the germs so much as remove them.
Sanitation, killing all the germs, us a second, separate step. In a restaurant, you’d clean your dishes, counters, etc first and then use a germ killing agent (like bleach solution). For hands, there’s alcohol-based sanitizer lotion.
The hot water isn’t for killing bacteria, unless you’re washing dishes, clothes or tools in a steam washer.
Soap is an emulsifier designed to break up oils and force them into solution with water, where they can be easily rinsed away. Hot water helps to liquify fats, grease & oils, and is more readily able to hold the soap/oil in suspension.
Bacteria love to live in those oils, so they get washed away too.
The hot water isn’t for killing bacteria, unless you’re washing dishes, clothes or tools in a steam washer.
Soap is an emulsifier designed to break up oils and force them into solution with water, where they can be easily rinsed away. Hot water helps to liquify fats, grease & oils, and is more readily able to hold the soap/oil in suspension.
Bacteria love to live in those oils, so they get washed away too.
I have no source for this, but I was told that hand soap uses warm water to kind of activate it somehow and detergent like dawn/clothing detergent doesn’t need the warm water to activate it. If anyone can let me know if this is true that would be awesome 🙂
I have no source for this, but I was told that hand soap uses warm water to kind of activate it somehow and detergent like dawn/clothing detergent doesn’t need the warm water to activate it. If anyone can let me know if this is true that would be awesome 🙂
I have no source for this, but I was told that hand soap uses warm water to kind of activate it somehow and detergent like dawn/clothing detergent doesn’t need the warm water to activate it. If anyone can let me know if this is true that would be awesome 🙂
Also warm water can sit for prolonged periods in a storage tank (usually in the loft) unused for long periods of time. This causes a build up of bad bacteria. I rinse my dishes in cold water before putting them in the dishwasher – and wash my hands in cold water with handwash.
Also warm water can sit for prolonged periods in a storage tank (usually in the loft) unused for long periods of time. This causes a build up of bad bacteria. I rinse my dishes in cold water before putting them in the dishwasher – and wash my hands in cold water with handwash.
Also warm water can sit for prolonged periods in a storage tank (usually in the loft) unused for long periods of time. This causes a build up of bad bacteria. I rinse my dishes in cold water before putting them in the dishwasher – and wash my hands in cold water with handwash.
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