• Question: have you ever drank chemicals

    Asked by chubbynugget to Adam, Joanna, Louise S, Louise W, Marcus on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Marcus Wilson

      Marcus Wilson answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      well seeing as even simple old H20 (water) is a chemical! Im also a big fan of C2H5OH ( alcohol!), but not the stuff we have in the lab because its really bad for you!

    • Photo: Louise Stanley

      Louise Stanley answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      No! That would be very bad for you – there are lots of chemicals that you have to be very careful with in the lab, some of them even are carcinogenic (can promote cancer).

      I do have to admit to consuming a beer of two which of course contains alcohol but this is not like the alcohol that you find in laboratories – and as Marcus has said water (but not from the lab as that would be weird….)

    • Photo: Joanna Giles

      Joanna Giles answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      I’m drinking some caffeine right now…does that count?

    • Photo: Louise Walkin

      Louise Walkin answered on 17 Nov 2012:

      No… some of the chemicals I use have some very strange smells and you would never think to drink them! Although when it’s hot in the lab on a summer’s day and you are gasping for a drink – it is tempting! We do have some chemicals that are cool colours and they look like they might taste nice – but then you remember what they do and why you are using them!! You wouldn’t want them inside your body!
      Every liquid is a chemical of some sort though – even water. In the lab it would be a big no-no though! 🙂

    • Photo: Adam Paige

      Adam Paige answered on 19 Nov 2012:

      Not lab chemicals no. Far too risky.

      Although…one Australian scientist was convinced that stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria. Nobody believed him because they thought the bacteria would die in our stomach acid. So to prove he was right, he grew the bacteria (called Helicobacteur pylorii) in a culture which he then drank (if you have ever grown a bacterial culture you would know what a disgusting notion drinking it is. Imagine drinking really off milk for example). And worse, he did this knowing it would give him painful stomach ulcers. It did. Then he took some antibiotics and cured his ulcers, finally convincing other scientists he was right. Nonetheless, even though he was right…it was still a stupid thing to do!

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