this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025
566 points (98.6% liked)

Science Memes

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top 22 comments
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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Sodium and potassium houses straight up flaming

[–] MataVatnik 21 points 1 week ago

So dramatic πŸ™„

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

But just check out my cesium siding and TURN OFF THAT SPRINKLER RIGHT N

[–] aeronmelon 39 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Iridescence is such a cool word, too.

[–] MataVatnik 23 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Intumescence is another one

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is that when a person eats too much spicy stuff and their tummy starts to glow?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Something that causes anΒ erectionΒ is sometimes referred to as a tumefier (tumefyer) or tumescer

New creepy pickup line just dropped

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

i hate it when i get a congestion and the sticky stuff leaks out

[–] aeronmelon 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If I’m deep underground, the last thing I want to see is rocks expanding in size.

[–] MataVatnik 4 points 1 week ago

That's a terrifying thought

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] GraniteM 33 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] LongLive 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

I am not aware of what is the difference and danger. Could you please inform me?

[–] GraniteM 12 points 1 week ago

Dimethylmercury is an extremely toxic organomercury compound with the formula (CH3)2Hg. A volatile, flammable, dense and colorless liquid, dimethylmercury is one of the strongest known neurotoxins. Less than 0.1Β mL is capable of inducing severe mercury poisoning resulting in death.

I remember hearing the story of Karen Wetterhahn, a chemistry professor who specialized in toxic metal exposure and who was using all of the recommended precautions, who got a couple of drops of the stuff on a glove and died less than a year later.

[–] MataVatnik 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

From what I could find organomercury compounds are a lot more bioavalable and penetrates into places in the body that elemental mercury wouldn't, for instance, the brain. It will not only penetrate the skin, it will also penetrate gloves.Also high toxicity, methylmercury has an LD50 of 20 mg/kg for certain monkeys for acute toxicity. But a single drop can kill you from prolonged mercury poisoning because it just stays in the body. But honestly dying would be better than surviving it.

As chemists were taught early on not to fuck around with organic mercury. Same with HF.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I assume Derek Lowe wrote about it at some point.

He has a running series on dangerous chemicals.

https://www.science.org/content/author/derek-lowe

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

...in 2003, [bismuth] was discovered to be extremely weakly radioactive. The metal's only primordial isotope, bismuth-209, undergoes alpha decay with a half-life about a billion times the estimated age of the universe.

Jesus crust!

Edit= source

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)
[–] MataVatnik 0 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

speaking of... apparently my necklace chain isnt gold plated because my whole neck is going to be stained for like 2 weeks πŸ˜‘