Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Cells, Microbes & Viruses => Topic started by: Morgenstern, Markus on 17/09/2011 09:30:02

Title: How do bacteria stick to skin?
Post by: Morgenstern, Markus on 17/09/2011 09:30:02

Morgenstern, Markus  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hello Chris,

My daughter Pauline (she is 5) asked me today about how are bacteria able to stick to human skin?

By the way I like your show (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/) very much!

Thanks!

Markus

What do you think?

Title: How do bacteria stick to skin?
Post by: The Penguin on 18/10/2011 19:58:47

As objects decrease in size, the force necessary to adhere to something becomes very low. A drop of water for example will adhere to a surface through electrostatic adhesion alone. Bacteria really don't need to do much other than attract the moisture on our skin in the first place.