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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
These last few weeks we've all been reminded about the importance of washing our hands. It's not complicated: you just need soap, water, and about 30 seconds worth of effort. In a pinch you can even use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. But what if there was an even better way of killing bacteria and germs on our hands? One that's easy, fast, and doesn't even require you to touch anything. There might be, if you've got a high voltage generator laying around.
In his latest video, [Jay Bowles] proposes a novel concept: using the ozone generated by high-voltage corona discharge for rapid and complete hand sterilization. He explains that there's plenty of research demonstrating the effectiveness of ozone gas [as] a decontamination agent, and since it's produced in abundance by coronal discharge, the high-voltage generators of the sort he experiments with could double as visually striking hand sanitizers.
[...] Despite what appears to be the nearly complete eradication of bacteria on his hands after exposing them to the ozone generator, [Jay] is quick to point out that he's not trying to give out any medical advice with this video. This simple experiment doesn't cover all forms of bacteria, and he doesn't have the facilities to test the method against viruses. The safest thing you can do right now is follow the guidelines from agencies like the CDC and just wash your hands the old fashioned way; but the concept outlined here certainly looks worthy of further discussion and experimentation.
Source: https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/washing-your-hands-with-20000-volts/
[Ed Note - A lot of the comments in the hackaday article express concern about exposure to ozone at the levels that are generated here. Don't try this at home kids!]
(Score: 3, Informative) by HiThere on Thursday May 07 2020, @09:24PM (6 children)
I'm just responding to the summary, but that says that it kills bacteria, not that it deactivates viruses.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by corey on Thursday May 07 2020, @10:01PM (5 children)
Well the reason washing hands is recommended by health professionals is because the virus lives in the residual fats on your hands. Soap is a surfactant and releases the fat, so you flush away all the virus cells. I'd imagine some of the virus cells would be embedded within the fat layer and protected from ozone. I'm not so convinced in the gas sterilisation they claim.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @11:47PM (4 children)
LOL. The surfactants disrupt the lipid layer that forms the cell wall. Nothing to do with "flushing away". I do like the idea of gas sterilization for you, though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2020, @12:29AM (3 children)
Well, except that viruses have no cell walls as such. Only cells do.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2020, @12:53AM (2 children)
Virii have lipid coats that are disrupted by surfactants. The oily skin hypothesis is nullified by the observation that greasy Mexicans are no more likely to get COVID than clean skinned Americans.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 08 2020, @03:33AM
Das racis. Mericans can be greasy too if we want. Ask any mechanic or fry cook.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday May 08 2020, @02:43PM
A funny discussion but worth pointing out that "boomer remover" or "chinese flu" or "bat aids" or whatever its called, actually mostly kills WWII generation people, and the elderly are notoriously dry skinned.
Dry skin around 40 is right up there with ear hair as an indication of age.
Anyway if hypothetically speaking, skin lipids protected the virus, everyone knows some chick who applies a dollop of lotion every thirty minutes and that would imply women in that subculture would drop like flies, but being mostly younger, then tend not to even be symptomatic. I remember having a coworker like that who went thru a bottle of lotion per day, I'd say stuff like "it spreads the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again" every time she greased up, and she found that utterly hilarious. Context matters and you can't just walk into a "Bath and Body Works" and start hitting on chix with that line, of course.