Science Memes

10905 readers

1493 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

882

Venom vs Poison (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

56 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] AEsheron 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Ah, but we can go even further beyond in pedantry. This distinction is only exclusive when we're talking about a living thing. When talking about the substances themselves, one is a subcategory of the other. A venomous snake is not poisonous, but a venomous venom is a poisonous poison.

[–] CheeseNoodle 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Actually a lot of venom is perfectly edible so long as you don't have a stomach ulcer or cut in your mouth or something.

[–] AEsheron 3 points 1 month ago

This is also true. Poisonous doesn't specifically mean "dangerous when eaten" when talking about the substance. It is an insanely broad category. It basically just means the substance is harmful.

[–] TechLich 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yep, and even when talking about living things it's not a clear distinction.

In biology, poison is a substance that causes harm when an organism is exposed to it. Venom is a poison that enters the body through a sting or bite. In a bunch of medical fields though, poisons only apply to toxins that are ingested or absorbed through the skin and that definition sometimes carries across to zoology.

Venomous creatures are poisonous by most definitions because venom is a poison. But if the distinction is useful in a medical or zoological context then they're not.

tldr: The pedantry of eg. correcting someone who says a snake is poisonous is totally pointless and mostly wrong.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

🤓 ahkschully venom is a poisonous toxin

~/s~