Ohh… I got a sore throat.
The doctor asked me to gargle with warm salt water.
I think when I spit the water out,
all the bacteria will also come out with it.
You think it is a washing process?
Isn’t it?
Like rinsing dirt off a plate?
If it were that simple, plain water would be enough.
Salt is not added for washing.
It is added for physics.
Physics? In gargling?
Yes, when we add salt in water, it splits,
Particles increase.
And when particles increase, something else increases.
Osmotic pressure…
Yes. Osmotic pressure 
is the pressure created when a difference in concentration causes water to move through a semi-permeable membrane.
It is derived using ideas from statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.
Now imagine a bacterium in your throat.
Inside it — water.
Outside it — your salt solution.
Which side has higher concentration?
Outside.
And nature dislikes imbalance.
Water moves from lower osmotic pressure
to higher osmotic pressure
through a semi-permeable membrane.
So water leaves the bacterial cell.
It dehydrates?
It shrinks.
This is like plasmolysis.
Not because you spat it out.
But because equilibrium demanded adjustment.
So when I gargle, I am not washing bacteria away…
You are disturbing their balance. It is thermodynamics.
And the warm water?
Look at the equation again.
A little warmth,
a little more osmotic persuasion.
Strange.
I thought I was just spitting bacteria out.
No.
You were applying
inside your throat.
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