This Is Why You Never Need To Clean Brass Or Copper Doorknobs

If you've got brass or copper doorknobs in your house, rejoice, you need not worry about picking up people's shitty bacteria off them.

If you've got, say, stainless steel doorknobs, you're enabling those filthy, bacteria carrying guests.

Metals like brass and copper actually have something that is called the oligodynamic effect. This the act of the metals disinfecting themselves.

According to Tested, a study found that within 15 minutes copper had already partially disinfected itself from bacteria, whereas materials like stainless steel (used predominately for cutlery) was basically a rave for germs.

Hospitals and hotels commonly use brass and copper for doorknobs due to the fact that they sterilize themselves after a certain period of time.

A study conducted by National College of Kathmandu in Nepal found out why this happens.

"The exact mechanism of this action is still unknown but some data suggest that the metal ions denature protein of the target cells by binding to reactive groups resulting in their precipitation and inactivation. The high affinity of cellular proteins for the metallic ions results in the death of the cells due to cumulative effects of the ion within the cells," the study found.

Basically, if you have any of these in your house don't bother cleaning them. They'll do it themselves after eight hours.

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Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.