Does it completely dissolve them, poison them or just render them inert?
In: 5
Chlorine kills pathogens such as bacteria and viruses by breaking the chemical bonds in their molecules. Disinfectants that are used for this purpose consist of chlorine compounds which can exchange atoms with other compounds, such as enzymes in bacteria and other cells.
Chlorine when dissolved makes a pretty strong base, this means it really wants to steal hydrogens from anywhere it can get them. Anything alive has a lot of hydrogen in it, so it slowly steals hydrogens from it.
It does this to us humans too, but our skin is a little more resistant to this and can take a bit more damage before it becomes problematic, and in case you swallow it it’s also still in low enough concentrations that it’s not gonna do much damage. Bacteria on the other hand has a higher surface area to volume ratio and has a very thin outer membrane to protect itself so it dies relatively quickly (as soon as you cut a bacterial membrane it’s guts spill out and it’s dead), the low concentrations to be safe for us does mean it takes a bit of time but not too much.
Here’s a good video of chlorine killing germs under a microscope.
Chlorine will abruptly murder all life forms including germs and people. Questions?
Chlorine reacts with everything including us humans. Something reacting with cells like chlorine does will kill eventually. Humans are just more resistant to it than some other micro organisms. Drinking bleach is a terrible idea though.
The chlorine you’re thinking of is something like sodium hypochlorite, also known as bleach.
Chlorine , the element is a gas, an asphyxiant, turns into hydrochloric acid in contact with water and is pretty bad news for us in any significant quantity.
Latest Answers