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Which is better: Soap or hand sanitizer?

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Your hands, up close, are anything but smooth. With peaks and valleys, folds and rifts, there are plenty of hiding places for a virus to stick. If you then touch your face, the virus can infect you. But there are two extraordinarily simple ways you can keep that from happening: soap and water, and hand sanitizer. So which is better?

Learn how soap and water works like a crowbar to destroy viruses like coronavirus, and how hand sanitizer works more like an earthquake. This TED-Ed animation from Alex Rosenthal and Pall Thordarson, animated by Igor Coric, demonstrates how each works. They also explain why, whenever possible, handwashing with soap and water for twenty seconds is your best bet.

hands diagram
soap vs sanitizer
Related reading from The New York Times: Why Soap Works.

Plus, there are more coronavirus-related videos on TKSST:
• How To See Germs Spread (Coronavirus) with Mark Rober
• Hidden Surprise DIY soap + how to wash your hands
• “Plain old soap and water absolutely annihilate coronavirus.”
• Cell vs. virus: A battle for health
• Social Distancing with mouse traps and ping pong balls

Related: An up-close look at fingerprints and sweat glands.

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