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How does bleach kill bacteria?

Updated: 8/10/2023
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14y ago

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According to the journal articles (see links below) cited, hypochlorous acid - the active ingredient in bleach - kills bacteria by denaturing their proteins. The process is apparently very similar to the denaturing effect of heat on proteins - it causes them to change shape and clump together, leading to the death of the bacteria.

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13y ago

Beach is a generic term for a chemical or chemical compound that removes colors and coloration stains. Usually, this is an effect of oxidation, effected either by chlorine compounds (such as sodium hypochlorite (NaClO)) or oxygen compounds (such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)).

It's the chlorine compounds in chlorine bleach that make it useful as an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, disinfectant, or sterilization tool.

Depending on the concentrations used, chlorine bleach can kill most all microorganisms, and, for that matter, macro-organisms (like pets or people) too.

There are some bleach-resistant bacteria, just as there are bacteria that are resistant to most all forms of disinfectant, and more of them are evolving all the time. The more use we make of anti-bacterial agents, the more resistant strains will evolve.

Chlorine bleach works chemically rather than biologically. Rather than bonding to specific proteins in the target, the chlorine in bleach works by directly reacting with the cell wall causing it to burst, usually before there is a chance to alter it to not react with chlorine. This is one reason bleach (especially at high concentrations) is such an effective disinfectant (and also why it is so indiscriminate); it is much more difficult to develop or improve a chemicalresistance.

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10y ago

A leading brand of disinfecting wipes is Germ-X. The Germ-X brand of disinfecting wipes kills about 99.99% of germs found in our world. These wipes can be found at mass retailers such as Walmart, Target, or KMart.

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14y ago

Bleach or sodium hypochlorite is a potent oxidant.

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16y ago

by picking it up

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14y ago

yes it does

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Q: How does bleach kill bacteria?
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How does Pine-sol kill bacteria?

Pine sol actually does not kill bacteria... it doesn't even inhibit the growth of bacteria at all. in a recent experiment conducted. i tested 3 different concentrations of pine sol and compared it to bleach at full concentration, pine sol didn't inhibit growth at all. whereas bleach completely killed it. at 44% dilution, pine sol still hadn't stopped bacterial growth, whereas bleach still managed to kill of bacteria. at 12.5% concentration, pine sol, had actually allowed the colonies of bacteria to grow even closer together to mimic the "lawned" streaks. bleach had still managed to kill bacteria at 12.5% it should be kept in mind that in a standard lab, 10% bleach is used to sterilize and kill bacteria. i hope that answers your question, pine sol, actually doesn't inhibit the growth, nor kills it, but allows it to grow