My dad and I are having a debate about the importance of using washing up liquid and I need your help!!
He proffers that water in itself is clean, so why can we not just use water to clean our plates etc.
He also gave an example of how we would likely feel cleaner after “trudging through the jungle”, if we had a wash in a big jungle waterfall without soap.
I showed him that his glasses come out looking cleaner (no water marks) when he washes them with washing up liquid to prove my point that it is important to use it.
But can anyone tell me the actual science behind why we should use it? Or is my dad right? 😂
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Oily substances repel water. Soap bridges the gap between oil and water allowing the water to wash away the oils that would normally repel it.
Water alone cannot clean oil off of a surface entirely.
Then you get into bacteria and microorganisms that not only aren’t washed away by water, but thrive in it and require it to survive and multiply. Soap is also often a disinfectant, killing those bacteria/microorganisms outright while also also clinging to them like it does oils so water can wash it away.
Sounds like the best way to resolve this is to have your dad should go hike in the jungle for several days, then rinse off and then see if he feels clean. Then use soap and rinse again and see if he feels more clean.
Dish soap envelops particles of oil and allows them to flow with water and avoid sticking back to the plate, the sink or the drain pipe. You could avoid soap if you didn’t have any fat on your plate. Your body also secretes some fatty liquids that you want to partly wash away.
Well your dad would be right, if he had used water that’s hot enough to kill all the bacteria, which would be just slightly below boiling. But I doubt he does that.
So you’d need dish soap, which doesn’t kill the bacteria but it will lift them off the surface so that they can be washed away.
Otherwise you’d have a lot of bacteria, even potentially dangerous ones like salmonella festering on your plates.
Well your dad would be right, if he had used water that’s hot enough to kill all the bacteria, which would be just slightly below boiling. But I doubt he does that.
So you’d need dish soap, which doesn’t kill the bacteria but it will lift them off the surface so that they can be washed away.
Otherwise you’d have a lot of bacteria, even potentially dangerous ones like salmonella festering on your plates.
Oily substances repel water. Soap bridges the gap between oil and water allowing the water to wash away the oils that would normally repel it.
Water alone cannot clean oil off of a surface entirely.
Then you get into bacteria and microorganisms that not only aren’t washed away by water, but thrive in it and require it to survive and multiply. Soap is also often a disinfectant, killing those bacteria/microorganisms outright while also also clinging to them like it does oils so water can wash it away.
Rub some butter on a Tupperware container and tell him to try to clean it with just cold water. It will continue to feel greasy no matter what you do. You might be able to get it clean eventually with extremely high temperature water, but using detergent will make it stop feeling greasy a lot faster.
It’s easiest to demonstrate this with plastic because it holds onto grease, but really this applies to anything. Detergents break grease up into tiny little droplets, stop those droplets from merging together, and suspend them in the water so they can be washed away. The majority of food residue that won’t just rinse off in water is greasy. Dish liquid often has other ingredients besides just detergents that can help with messes other than grease, but really it is mostly just the grease-cutting that is doing the heavy lifting.
Rub some butter on a Tupperware container and tell him to try to clean it with just cold water. It will continue to feel greasy no matter what you do. You might be able to get it clean eventually with extremely high temperature water, but using detergent will make it stop feeling greasy a lot faster.
It’s easiest to demonstrate this with plastic because it holds onto grease, but really this applies to anything. Detergents break grease up into tiny little droplets, stop those droplets from merging together, and suspend them in the water so they can be washed away. The majority of food residue that won’t just rinse off in water is greasy. Dish liquid often has other ingredients besides just detergents that can help with messes other than grease, but really it is mostly just the grease-cutting that is doing the heavy lifting.
soap gets rid of fats and oils and things that won’t come off with water, and it gets rid of bacteria (should any bacteria be on your dishes in the first place)
soap gets rid of fats and oils and things that won’t come off with water, and it gets rid of bacteria (should any bacteria be on your dishes in the first place)
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