746
Can I lick it? (lemmy.world)
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 81 points 2 weeks ago

I have to admit that I absolutely love how licking sodium or chloride individually is very bad for you, but when you put them together, you can lick, eat, and even swim in it all day with minimal ill health effects.

Science. 💙

[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 62 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Sodium reacts violently in water
Chlorine was used in mustard gas
Sodium chloride : I make the soup too salty (yuckyCat.jpg)

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 24 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

swim in it all day

If you submerged your body in table salt in a swimming pool for an entire day, would you come out dehydrated and start to turn cured like beef jerky?

[-] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 11 points 2 weeks ago

(Homer Simpson) Mhh cured beef jerky

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

If it’s anything like pool salt, probably not. I have a neighbor who uses pool salt, and I feel like I come out less shriveled (in my fingers of course 😏) than if it were chlorine water.

[-] Tja@programming.dev 7 points 2 weeks ago

You are taking about water with salt. The question about submerging in a pool full of just salt.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] floo@retrolemmy.com 13 points 2 weeks ago

“minimal”

Tell that to my dad’s high blood pressure

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] pankuleczkapl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 58 points 2 weeks ago

This diagram is way way way too conservative with the "see you on the other side" classification. To name a few: fluorine will literally make you catch fire instantly (if there's more of it, you will basically get burned to a crisp before you can even blink), caesium will violently react with water in your mouth and produce so much hydrogen and heat, the whole mixture will instantly explode (in fact, this will not only be a usual, fire-like explosion, it will in addition to that be a so-called Coulomb explosion, which makes the situation even worse)

[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 weeks ago

I wish to subscribe to more fun chemistry reaction facts!

[-] RandomStickman@fedia.io 51 points 2 weeks ago

It's never occurred to me that I can lick neon

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 25 points 2 weeks ago

Can you lick a gas? Licking liquid neon is very unwise.

[-] knatschus@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 2 weeks ago

Then lick solid neon, duh

[-] bathing_in_bismuth@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 weeks ago

You can lick xenon. Even inhale. Very fancy and very expensive. Show those nitrous plebs that you have the wealth to enjoy real chemical cuisine!

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] PaulBunyan@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago
[-] waterSticksToMyBalls@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago

It just means you can lick them all

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] not_IO 36 points 2 weeks ago
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Exactly.

They could very easily just keep the color for color seeing people, and then add a simple pattern in the background.

Like maybe diagonal lines on one, wavy horizontal lines in another, small dots in another, etc.

Just pretend you are taking a black and white picture or making a black and white copy on an old copy machine. Can you still interpret the data afterwards? If yes, then you did it right.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago

Don't let a stupid chart tell you what you can and can't lick.

[-] Maxxie 37 points 2 weeks ago

Licking most of the transuranium elements would entale sticking your tongue in a particle collider. Which I think is a fun Friday night 🤪

[-] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 28 points 2 weeks ago

Collider? I barely know her!

[-] davidgro@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

...And then they built the super collider.

Thank you, you've been a great audience.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

Why isn't one of those responses

"Yes, you can!" ?

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 weeks ago

Because "Sure, go for it" is just that worded another way.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] whome@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 2 weeks ago

I'm slightly infuriated that green doesn't say: yes, you can!

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] grumpusbumpus@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

Licking Lead is only "not a great idea?" I think it's squarely in the "Please don't do that" territory.

[-] Donkter@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago

You can absolutely lick lead once without any noticeable consequences. You need to be living in constant interaction with lead to get poisoning.

[-] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

The best part is that if you do it enough you will forget what the problem is and an continue to lick lead.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] don@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 weeks ago

Some of those in the actinoid [sic] series are gonna be really difficult to lick simply because of how unbelievably short their half-life is, or those such as mendelevium, that require you to either have access to (and in other cases even have your head inside of) a linear particle collider.

[-] Tower@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 weeks ago

You know, I'm surprised by how much green is on here. I would have expected much more red and purple.

[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

* Under standard conditions for temperature and pressure

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago

So what I get from this: You can probably just lick it. Odds are in your favor

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] teft@piefed.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

I want to meet the motherfucker bold enough to lick cesium.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] SpaceRanger13@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 weeks ago

For the tactile learners out there!

[-] AyuTsukasa@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 weeks ago

The most useful chart 😅

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

Go ahead and lick pure oxygen. Nothing wrong with that, sure.

[-] Siethron@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

You know O2 is pure oxygen right? Unless we're getting into the technicality of if things in there gaseous forms can be licked it's safe.

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] underscores@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 weeks ago

I'll take a pint of the purple stuff to go, please

[-] PrimeMinisterKeyes@leminal.space 9 points 2 weeks ago

Lick mercury? Plenty of people carry lumps of it right in their teeth, 24/7.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] echodot@feddit.uk 8 points 2 weeks ago

See, absolutely no order to the periodic table. Utterly useless.

[-] napkin2020@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago
load more comments (1 replies)

licking uranium is only "maybe not the best idea"?

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 11 points 2 weeks ago

Compared to some of the others it's pretty low in radioactivity (isotope dependent)

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Titanium should not be on a higher danger level than lead.

Edit: Tl != Ti

[-] dmention7@midwest.social 12 points 2 weeks ago

That's Thallium (Tl). Titanium (Ti) is a happy shade of green.

(I'm only replying because I thought that same thing at first glance)

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] nebulaone@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

PlumBum is my favorite flavor.

[-] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago

If chemistry was spearheaded by goats

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
746 points (100.0% liked)

Science Memes

16035 readers
966 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

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

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



Research Committee

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