Joy of Sharing Science No 1 new Covid Special Edition

No:1,SpecialCovidEdition
JoSS
JoyofSharingScience
19June2020
AnindependentinitiativeofUskudarAmericanAcademyvolunteerstudents
Editor: FazılOnuralpArdıç
Whatmakessoapsoesenalagainstviralinfecon?
BelizZorbozan,SelinEdaSağnak,EdaToprak,FazılOnuralpArdıç
HowareX-rayscansusedtodetectPneumonia?
FazılOnuralpArdıç,EdaToprak
Howdoescoronavirusaffectthebody?
MehmetEfeKılıç,ElifDemir,SelinEdaSağnak,İrem Yaşa,AyşenazKahveci,CeylinGün

Joy of Sharing Science 2020
This newspaper is an independent initiative of Uskudar American Academy volunteer students.
The Joy of Sharing Science is a weekly newspaper that explores the physics/biology/chemistry
behind interesting real life phenomena in a concise and easily understandable way. Each week,
3 phenomena concerning physics, chemistry, and biology will be published. The aim of this
project is to explore the science hidden in plain sight, evoke curiosity, and elevate scientific
literacy.
Advisor: Yasemin Sarıhan, Head of Science Department UAA
Editor: Fazıl Onuralp Ardıç, Senior student
Issue Authors:
Fazıl Onuralp Ardıç,
Elif Demir,
Ceylin Gün,
Ayşenaz Kahveci,
Mehmet Efe Kılıç,
Selin Eda Sağnak,
Eda Toprak,
İrem Yaşa,
Beliz Zorbozan,
Senior student
Junior student
Junior student
Senior student
Junior student
Junior student
Junior student
Senior student
Senior student
For your feedback, suggestions
Contact: uaajoss@gmail.com
Cover art: from free license: <a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/background'>Background
vector created by freepik - www.freepik.com</a>

What makes soap so
essential against viral
infection?
Beliz Zorbozan, Selin Eda Sağnak, Eda Toprak, Fazıl Onuralp
Ardıç
Though water is able to remove most of the macromolecules present on
our skin, due to the crevices that make up our fingerprints and the
nanoparticles that stick that stick to them, water alone proves insufficient
to battle viruses. In order to remove the viruses, we need to employ more
efficient methods of disinfection. Though an old method, soap proves to
be the most efficient method to fight against the Covid-19. How is soap
produced and why is it so effective?

Joy of Sharing Science
F O R M A T I O N O F S O A P
A saponification reaction is composed of an ester reacting with a base to create a
carboxylate ion and alcohol.
The mechanism is as follows:
The Hydroxide from the base performs a nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl
carbon. This produces a tetrahedral intermediate with a negatively charged oxygen
atom.
The electrons from the Oxygen cause the O-R group to leave.

What makes soap so essential against viral infection?
The leaving group and the remaining group rapidly exchange a proton to reach the
final products.
When this mechanism is applied to a triglyceride molecule, common soap is
acquired.
Soaps, like all detergents, have both a nonpolar hydrocarbon tail and a polar head.
This hydrophobic tail is attracted to other non polar molecules such as lipids while
the hydrophilic head is attracted to polar water molecules.
S O A P A G A I N S T C O V I D - 19
The outer layer of the coronaviruses are made up of lipids, and so there is an
attraction between the hydrophobic side of soap molecules and the lipid outer
layer. While hydrophobic tails of soap molecules compete for space with the lipids
that make up the outer shell of the virus, the hydrophilic side of the molecule is
attracted to the water molecules present in the environment. The push and pull
Sayfa 2

Joy of Sharing Science
between these two attractions causes the virus’s membrane to break apart, as the
bonds holding the fatty membranes are relatively weak. This is also why experts
ask for you to wash your hands for 20 seconds, because time is required for one of
the forces to overpower another and break apart the membrane, and to ensure that
you wash every part of your hand.
References:
BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks. “How Does Soap Work?”. Youtube, 13 June 2014,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOKAoNbJkSg.
Cheddar. “The Tiny Compound That Makes Soap A Coronavirus Killer”. Youtube, 13 Mar.
2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRqJaZO5yW8.
Chemistry LibreTexts. “Saponification.”, MindTouch, 14 July 2020,
chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Organic_Chemistry/Supplemental_Modules_(Organic_
Chemistry)/Esters/Reactivity_of_Esters/Saponification.
Chemistry LibreTexts. “Soaps and Detergents.”, MindTouch, 14 July 2020,
chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Organic_Chemistry/Supplemental_Modules_(Organic_
Chemistry)/Lipids/Properties_and_Classification_of_Lipids/Soaps_and_Detergents.
El Camino College. “Saponification and Soapmaking.”,
https://www.elcamino.edu/faculty/pdoucette/7B-Saponification.pdf.
Thordarson, Pall and Alex Rosenthal, directors. Which Is Better: Soap or Hand Sanitizer?
TED-Ed, 5 May 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7KKkElpyKQ.

How are X-ray scans used
to detect Pneumonia?
Fazıl Onuralp Ardıç, Eda Toprak
X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation, which means that they can
knock off electrons when they encounter an innocent atom. The
knocking off electrons is called Photoelectric Effect and is the main
phenomenon that is responsible for absorbing X-rays.

Joy of Sharing Science
T H E M E C H A N İ S M
The X-ray photon most often hits an
electron in the K-shell (lowest energy
shell), knocking it off.
An electron from either the L or M-
shell drops down to K-shell. The
energy difference between the energy
levels is emitted as an X-ray photon.
To fill the newly created vacancy
in the L or M shell, an electron
from higher shells drop down and
release photons. As this process
continues, the energy of the
photons decrease because the
potential difference between the
shells decreases.

How are X-ray scans used to detect Pneumonia?
The crucial point here is that the photons are emitted into random directions.
Meaning that when photoelectric effect occurs, the X-ray is essentially
absorbed because it doesn’t continue in the same direction that it started with
and doesn’t register in the X-ray detector.
The probability of Photoelectric Effect occurring is proportional to Z3 p
E 3 where Z
is the atomic number of the element, p is the physical density of the medium,
and E is the energy of the medium. This relation makes sense because if an
atom has more electrons (a higher Z), photons have a higher chance of hitting
the electrons. If the atoms are closer to each other, the same logic applies.
Finally, as the energy of the photons increases, it starts exceeding the energy
needed to knock the electrons in the K-shell. Then, Compton Effects starts
dominating the interactions. Compton effect is a high energy photon giving
some of its energy to an electron and getting scattered into a random direction.
As the Compton Effect doesn’t depend on the Z of an element and scatters X-
rays in random directions, it causes noise in the x-ray tomography reading.
Photoelectric Effect
Compton Scattering
The reason why your bones seem
white in an X-ray while your lungs
are pitch black is that the Calcium in
your bones has a high Z (20) while
Nitrogen (7) and Oxygen (8) in the air
have low Z’s. That is the same reason
why Iodine (which has an atomic

Joy of Sharing Science
number of 53) is given to patients before a X-ray scan to create contrast.
This contrast between different elements is very useful in detecting
pneumonia. When Alveoli start filling up with fluid (composed of
inflammatory cells as a response to the viral infection), they start absorbing x-
rays more than the environment around them which makes pneumonia
detectable in a chest scan due to the contrast.
References:
“Contrast Material.” RadiologyInfo, 23 July 2018,
www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=safety-contrast.
DerSarkissian, Carol. “What Is Viral Pneumonia?” WebMD, 23 Nov. 2018,
www.webmd.com/lung/viral-pneumonia.
Goel, Ayush. “Photoelectric Effect.” Radiopaedia ,
radiopaedia.org/articles/photoelectric-effect.
Hammer, Mark. “Ray Physics: X-Ray Interaction with Matter and
Attenuation.” Xrayphysics, 2014, xrayphysics.com/attenuation.html.
“Interactions of Photons with Matter.” MIT OCW,
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/nuclear-engineering/22-55j-principles-ofradiation-interactions-fall-2004/lecture-notes/ener_depo_photon.pdf
Lloyd-Jones, Graham. “Basics of X-Ray Physics .” Welcome to Radiology
Masterclass, Mar. 2016, ww.radiologymasterclass.co.uk/tutorials/physics/xray_physics_densities#top_1st_img.
“X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY (XRF).”,
www.bedwani.ch/xrf/xrf_1/xrf.htm.

How does coronavirus
affect the body?
Mehmet Efe Kılıç, Elif Demir, Selin Eda Sağnak, İrem
Yaşa, Ayşenaz Kahveci, Ceylin Gün
When it is said that coronaviruses are RNA viruses, this means that they
don’t contain DNA. The virus’s genetic material, RNA, is protected
within a protein sphere. It is covered by protein spikes and these spikes
attach to the protein ACE2 on the cell membrane.

Joy of Sharing Science
C O V I D - 1 9 A N D C E L L S
ACE2 regulates blood pressure, however, once the spikes are attached, it allows the
membrane of the cell and the membrane of the virus to fuse together. Spike proteins
undergo a conformational change to allow membrane fusion. When membranes
are fused together, the virus releases its contents into the cell, which is RNA. Most
vaccine targets are the spikes on the virus because blocking its entry into the cell is
the most straightforward solution to prevent the virus from spreading.
Typically, DNA of a cell is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA) inside
the nucleus, which then sets off to the ribosome in the cytoplasm. Ribosomes
read out the RNA strand and translate it into amino acids that bind together
and form a polypeptide chain, a protein.

How does coronavirus affect the body?
In the case of coronavirus, released RNA directly goes to ribosomes to
translate its genetic material into new copies of the virus, which are essentially
proteins. Some parts of the virus’s RNA code for specific proteins which
enable it to resist the cell’s innate immunity, prevent the host cell from sending
out signals for immune response, and encourage the host cell to release newly
created copies of the virus.
C O V I D - 1 9 A N D T H E R E S P I R A T O R Y S Y S T E M
When SARS-CoV-2 contacts your mucous membranes and enters your body,
it enters a healthy cell and starts duplicating. As the infection travels the
respiratory tract, immune responses are triggered. Swelling and inflammation
of lungs are common. The respiratory inflammations are detected with chest
CT scans or chest X-rays. The frosted glass-like lung appearance indicates
inflammation.
According to WebMD, 80% of COVID-19 positive patients present with mild
or moderate symptoms like a dry cough or sore throat. In some cases the
inflammation reaches the alveoli and pneumonia-like symptoms are seen. The
leading cause of death in COVID-19 patients is pneumonia and respiratory
failure like ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome). Injury to alveolar
epithelial tissue is the main cause of Covid related ARDS. This is characteristic
to COVID-19 since a dry cough is considered a major symptom with minor
injuries to endothelial tissue resulting in no sputum production.

Joy of Sharing Science
Oxygen index is an indicator for respiratory failure level in COVID-19
patients. People with ARDS can become hypoxic if some part of their lungs
receive oxygen without blood flow or vice versa. These patients may require
mechanical ventilation.
Supportive treatment is important for COVID-19 patients with respiratory
failure or Covid related ARDS like corticosteroids for anti inflammatory
purposes and high-flow nasal oxygen for milder cases. Effects of
corticosteroid usage in COVID-19 treatment is still being researched.
References:
Cimons, Marlene. “SARS-CoV-2 Is Mutating Slowly, and That's a Good Thing.” The
Hub, 10 June 2020, hub.jhu.edu/2020/06/10/sars-cov-2-dna-suggests-singlevaccine-will-be-effective/.
Cruickshank, Saralyn. “Basic Science Study May Help Stop Harmful Viruses in
Their Tracks.” The Hub, 5 June 2020, hub.jhu.edu/2020/06/04/stephen-fried-basicscience-stops-coronavirus/.
Li, Xu, and Xiaochun Ma. “Acute Respiratory Failure in COVID-19: Is It ‘Typical’
ARDS?” Critical Care, vol. 24, no. 1, 2020, doi:10.1186/s13054-020-02911-9.
Patel, Neel V. “How Does the Coronavirus Work?” MIT Technology Review, MIT
Technology Review, 15 Apr. 2020,

How does coronavirus affect the body?
www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/15/999476/explainer-how-does-thecoronavirus-work/.
Pathak, Neha. “Coronavirus in the Lungs: What Does COVID-19 Really Do to Your
Lungs?” WebMD, WebMD, 25 Mar. 2020, www.webmd.com/lung/what-doescovid-do-to-your-lungs#1.
“Updates: Coronavirus and Diabetes.” Diabetes UK, 2020,
www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/coronavirus#affects.
Wang, Hao, et al. “The Role of High Cholesterol in Age-Related COVID19
Lethality.” BioRxiv, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Jan. 2020,
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.09.086249v2.