surgical instruments are sterelized by heating them,while alcohol is used as disinfectant in cleansing the skin prior to an injection.why are these methods successful in killing harmful microorganism

Question

abb0t · Answer

disruption of their cell walls.

kayne · Answer

Hey @yunis! Welcome to OpenStudy! Alcohol is used as a disinfectant because the latter messes with the proteins of the microorganisms. It denatures the proteins and hence the latter loses it's conformation. Being unable to carry out their functions, the microorganisms die or become inactive. Like @abb0t said, it disrupts their cell walls. It actually messes with the proteins in there.