system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How exactly does soap wash you hands?
gpt
Soap acts as a detergent. It acts to add a hydrophobic component to water, causing lipids to dissolve more easily in water and wash away. Cell membranes have a phospholipid bilayer, meaning there’s a hydrophilic component sandwiched between two hydrophobic layers. Breaking up those layers can disrupt the cell membrane enough to kill bacterial cells, and may also disrupt adhesion molecules enough to cause those bacteria to detach from the surface of your hands. Warm water increases the solubility of particles in the water as well, which is why we use warm (not scalding) water to wash hands.