My feet don’t but I bet yours do. Stink. After a day outside, hot sweaty and wearing those sneakers. Take a whiff. Stink! First what makes your feet stink? Microbes? Yes, microbes, bugs, bacteria, fungi. All of these creatures growing happily on your feet especially when things are warm and moist.

What makes your feet stink? Microbes, yes microbes, bugs, bacteria, fungi. All of these creatures growing happily on your feet especially when things are warm and moist. These microbes generally won’t hurt you but while they eat and grow they give off bad odors. Kill the bugs and you prevent the stink.

Some scientists came up with the idea of using tiny particles of silver to kill the bugs. So is the idea of using silver to help kill bugs something new? The result of a big research discovery at some top secret nanotech center? Not really. The ancient Greeks and Romans put silver coins in their water carriers to keep it safe for drinking. The problem was you couldn’t just use silver because a coating of silver was too expensive and weighed too much.

A number of companies are selling socks that have silver nanoparticles that are supposed to keep those stinky bacteria under control. How do these little silver particles work? These tiny silver nanoparticles are only a few nanometers in size which is a lot smaller than any microbes. The silver nanoparticles are mixed into a polymer which makes it easy to apply.

Because they are so small these silver nanoparticles can get into the membrane of the microbes, the outermost coat of many microbes. Once it attaches to the membrane the nanoparticles short circuit the cells so they can’t make energy. When cells can’t make energy they can’t grow and eventually wind up dying. The current estimates are that almost one ton of silver is being used in fabrics to help kill microbes.