Lotion

To understand what is needed to achieve effective cleaning, it is helpful to have a basic knowledge of soap and detergent chemistry.

Water, the liquid commonly used for cleaning, has a property called surface tension. In the body of the water, each molecule is surrounded and attracted by other water molecules. However, at the surface, those molecules are surrounded by other water molecules only on the water side. A tension is created as the water molecules at the surface are pulled into the body of the water. This tension causes water to bead up on surfaces (glass, fabric), which slows wetting of the surface and inhibits the cleaning process. You can see surface tension at work by placing a drop of water onto a counter top. The drop will hold its shape and will not spread.

In the cleaning process, surface tension must be reduced so water can spread and wet surfaces. Chemicals that are able to do this effectively are called surface active agents, or surfactants. They are said to make water "wetter."

Surfactants perform other important functions in cleaning, such as loosening, emulsifying (dispersing in water) and holding soil in suspension until it can be rinsed away. Surfactants can also provide alkalinity, which is useful in removing acidic soils.

Surfactants are classified by their ionic (electrical charge) properties in water: anionic (negative charge), nonionic (no charge), cationic (positive charge) and amphoteric (either positive or negative charge).

Soap is an anionic surfactant. Other anionic as well as nonionic surfactants are the main ingredients in today's detergents. Now let's look closer at the chemistry of surfactants.

SOAPS

Soaps are water-soluble sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids. Soaps are made from fats and oils, or their fatty acids, by treating them chemically with a strong alkali.

First let's examine the composition of fats, oils and alkalis; then we'll review the soapmaking process.

Fats and Oils

The fats and oils used in soapmaking come from animal or plant sources. Each fat or oil is made up of a distinctive mixture of several different triglycerides.

In a triglyceride molecule, three fatty acid molecules are attached to one molecule of glycerine. There are many types of triglycerides; each type consists of its own particular combination of fatty acids.

Fatty acids are the components of fats and oils that are used in making soap. They are weak acids composed of two parts:

A carboxylic acid group consisting of one hydrogen (H) atom, two oxygen (O) atoms, and one carbon (C) atom, plus a hydrocarbon chain attached to the carboxylic acid group. Generally, it is made up of a long straight chain of carbon (C) atoms each carrying two hydrogen (H) atoms.

Suntan lotion is a liquid or cream applied to the skin to prevent sunburn while achieving a tan.

The word sunscreen (or sun block) is more often used today, indicating that some degree of ultraviolet radiation is prevented from affecting the skin. Various ingredients from PABA to zinc oxide may be used, along with oils to keep it on the skin and moisturize against the drying effects of sun, water, and wind. The Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of a sunscreen indicates its relative effectiveness, either by scattering or absorbing UV radiation.

The answer is an unequivocal NO. The alcohol used in these products is either ethyl or isopropyl alcohol. While ethyl alcohol is what is in your booze, the purity, concentrations, and other ingredients in hand sanitizer makes wholly unsuitable for consumption. isopropyl alcohol is unsafe for ingestion at any concentration, and will cause a wretched death faster than ethyl alcohol could ever hope to...if ethyl alcohol was sentient.

If you were foolish or desperate enough to drink it, you would, at best, get nauseous and vomit or at worst sink into a coma and suffer irreversible brain damage. In a recent case study, test subjects Robert J Ford and Donovan L Anderson from Delaware got addicted to consuming some free samples of Hand Sanitizer (Compliments of Biaxin XL). Unfortunately, the Sanitizer was expired and mutated into Tequila. Both subjects are now in 12-step programs of AA.