‘We are Clowns!’ is a fun science series for girls and boys made by Big Van Ciencia, a team that carries out scientific dissemination activities for all types of audiences. Here Orilo and Arlequino will explain hilarious scientific stories and very scientific home experiments, always with a lot of humor and fun.
Why, if there have always been viruses, now we have to be confined and cannot go to school or to the movies? This virus, called SARS-CoV-2, is totally new and unknown. It is called coronavirus because of its appearance: round and has a kind of crown of thorns. Our immune system is not used to this new virus, because it did not know it before, and on top of that we do not have drugs to cure the infection or vaccines to protect us against it.
How do we avoid getting infected with the new coronavirus?
For now, the only thing we can do to fight the virus is not to get infected. And for this you have to go out less, hence the confinement, and have very good hygiene. If, for example, you go to places where there are many people, there are more chances of getting it, because the virus travels through the droplets of saliva that we expel when we cough or sneeze.
In addition, it is absolutely impossible to all stay locked at home. Since we sometimes go for a walk or buy food and other products in stores, it is very important to wash our hands a lot to avoid getting infected. In addition, you have to wash your hands properly, it is not enough to do it in any way.
Instructions to wash our hands well
It is not enough to wash with water, you have to use soap. The coronavirus is wrapped in a kind of layer of fat, and water is unable to dissolve it. That is why we use soap. To demonstrate this, Arlequino and Orilo do an experiment using water with food coloring (to make it look better). The coronavirus would be a drop of oil. When we pour the oil into the water, it is seen that they cannot be mixed: the water cannot dissolve the oil and, therefore, attack the virus.
However, when we add soap, things change. Oil has two parts: one likes to be with water, and another with oil. When mixed well, the two layers of oil and water no longer form, and this is because soap can dissolve it. That is why soap helps kill the virus.
Also, it is not enough to wash your hands with soap and water in any way. It is not instantaneous: you have to rub between the fingers, the tips, and spend a good time washing, without forgetting the thumbs or the palms! At the end of the process, Arlequino has his hands free of oil.
