• Question: How is bactiria killed?

    Asked by whrhiandchels to Emma on 2 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      Bacteria can be killed in a number of ways.

      Antibacterials (like some soaps you can get) kill bacteria by breaking open their membrane (the bit that goes around the outside of them and holds everything in) and bursting them.

      You can also kill them by heating them to a really high temperature (this is what happens with cooking)

      Freezing them to a really cold temperature can also kill some bacteria.

      And finally, (although I don’t think I’ve covered all the ways they can be killed) if they are inside us our immune system can kill them (they get gobbled up and killed by some of our immune cells). We can also take antibiotics which will kill them.

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