What does Dawn dish soap do to yellow jackets?

Dawn dish soap does to yellow jackets what other dish soaps do, it kills them by clogging their breathing holes called spiracles and breaking surface tension of water, causing suffocation, and it is often used as homemade method to kill yellow jackets quickly, though commercial wasp sprays and professional removal are more effective for nests. When you mix Dawn dish soap with water, typically few tablespoons per spray bottle or bucket, and spray directly on yellow jackets, soap coats their bodies and blocks spiracles that they use to breathe, causing them to suffocate within minutes, and it also makes their wings heavy and prevents flight. Soapy water is effective for killing individual yellow jackets and for small nests if sprayed at night when yellow jackets are less active, but it requires direct contact and does not have residual killing effect like insecticidal dusts that kill colony over time. Dawn is effective because it is strong degreaser that removes waxy coating on exoskeleton, leading to dehydration. However, using soapy water on large nests can be dangerous as it may agitate colony and cause many yellow jackets to attack, as alarm pheromones are released, and it may not kill queen deep in nest. For large nests, professional pest control using insecticidal dust that penetrates nest and kills queen is safer and more effective. So Dawn dish soap kills yellow jackets by suffocation and is useful for small numbers, but caution needed near nests.