Question

What are antiseptics?

Answer 1

We have heard the term antiseptics several times. As the name is suggested, antiseptic is a chemical which is related to sepsis. Antiseptics comes under the category of drugs. Now we can see more details about it. They are used in skins or surfaces.

Complete step by step solution:
Micro-organisms are the small living things. Most of them cannot be seen with naked eyes, but with microscopes. Some of them include bacteria, virus, fungi, protozoa etc. Some of them make infections and cause diseases in living things. When the infection causes harm to our organs or vital systems, it is called disease.
Antiseptics are the chemicals applied to skin surfaces of living organisms and have the ability to destroy the micro-organisms. It is also applied for dressing on wounds. Some examples are phenol, boric acid cetrimide etc.
Commonly used antiseptics and their uses are given in the table below:

Antiseptic	Uses
Boric acid	Weak antiseptic for eyes.
Bithionol	Used in soaps
Iodine, ${{\text{I}}_2}$	Applied to wounds
Formaldehyde	Preserving biological specimens
Acetic acid	Applied on skin for destruction of warts

Additional information:
Antiseptics are different from disinfectants. They are used for inanimates, i.e. non-living things like urine containers, surgical instruments etc. to kill bacteria. But both are used to kill microorganisms. Some compounds have the ability to act as antiseptic and disinfectant by changing the concentration.

Note: Alcohol is a commonly used antiseptic. It also acts as a cleansing agent and acts by precipitating the properties of microorganisms. It is also used for cleaning the skin before the injection. Within two to three minutes, it kills $90\%$ of the bacteria.