Snerk…

Posted on by July 28, 2025

For you ‘sciency’ types…

Ya know, I really DO wonder about folks sometimes…

Not saying I’m disagreeing, but somebody had way too much time on their hands. And I’m not sure I want to know ‘how’ they determined which was which.

Just sayin…

Comments

Snerk… — 19 Comments

  1. I have a faint memory of an article by Isaac Asimov concerning the deaths/disabling of early scientists who tasted substances they were researching.
    There actually is a Wikipedia article listing inventors killed by own inventions.
    WARNING: STEM research may be hazardous to your health, so always leave a written record of your account passwords.

  2. I see two I disagree with right off the bat. Licking Lithium or Florine will injure/kill you, so they should be under the ‘Please reconsider’ heading.

  3. Lead acetate is also known as “sugar of lead.” Early chemists tasted it and noted its sweet flavor. Not only did they ingest lead, they ingested it in a solvable form. Then there was the “radium girls” who pointed their brushes by licking then when painting radium instrument dials.

  4. This is an ongoing joke among the geologists I work with.
    Like electrical engineers are called Sparkies by non EEs, Geologists are often called Rock Lickers by non Geologists.
    Jonathan
    P.S. And yes, many scientists have been affected by their subjects. For example, Marie Curie is a French heroine but she is buried deep in a lead coffin because her body is still radioactive. Her lab is a national landmark but also a hazardous waste site…

  6. To lick hydrogen wouldn’t it have to be frozen? Double dog dare.

  7. All- Hmmm…I think y’all are onto something(s)… Yes, Marie Curie is a heroine and radioactive… sigh

    • A radioactive heroine sounds like a superhero to me.

  8. Maybe some of the radioactive ones ought to be subdivided into different isotopes? Or can we just assume naturally occurring proportions?
    E.g.: Thorium-232 half life 1.39×10^10 years (i.e. pretty stable); thorium-234 half life 24.1 days; thorium-231 half life 25.6 hours

    • I love his (Derek Lowe’s) ‘Things I won’t work with’ posts. The ones about chlorine trifluoride and CL-20 are especially hilarious.

  11. “And I’m not sure I want to know ‘how’ they determined which was which.”

    Tiktok challenges?

  12. TOS- She never ‘tested’ that side of Xrays…

    Barbarus- Good point!

    WN/DA- Oh yes, HIGHLY recommended!

    TB- 🙂

    Ag- LOL, if only…

  13. My dear NFO, for a second there I was thinking you’d posted negro crime stats.

    I see see it’s something quite different.

  14. Back in the ’70s my quantitative analysis TA told us that his inorganic chem professor, who had recently retired, told him that the could personally verify that, as the books said, “osmium salts have a sweetish taste.”

    I personally can verify that phosphoric acid has a tangy taste, so it’s no wonder that it’s put into soft drinks. Except I wasn’t tasting it on purpose, I was mouth pipetting the stuff, as we did back in the day.

    I also worked with phosgene gas. Current precautions:

    “Level A protection, including a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and a fully encapsulating suit, is recommended for situations involving potential phosgene exposure.”

    Our phosgene reactions were done in a fume hood, we were otherwise unprotected. I was instructed: “If you smell moldy hay, leave the room.”

    That was at a top tier research lab. That will otherwise remain nameless.