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. π
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
761 points (98.6% liked)
Science Memes
15929 readers
2187 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
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
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)
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?
load more comments
(4 replies)
βminimalβ
Tell that to my dadβs high blood pressure
load more comments
(3 replies)
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)
I wish to subscribe to more fun chemistry reaction facts!
It's never occurred to me that I can lick neon
Can you lick a gas? Licking liquid neon is very unwise.
Then lick solid neon, duh
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)
Licking most of the transuranium elements would entale sticking your tongue in a particle collider. Which I think is a fun Friday night π€ͺ
Collider? I barely know her!
...And then they built the super collider.
Thank you, you've been a great audience.
load more comments
(3 replies)
Being colorblind sucks
can you see these? π€
Oh wow! I'd give you Lemmy gold if I could π₯
load more comments
(1 replies)
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)
Don't let a stupid chart tell you what you can and can't lick.
Why isn't one of those responses
"Yes, you can!" ?
Licking Lead is only "not a great idea?" I think it's squarely in the "Please don't do that" territory.
You can absolutely lick lead once without any noticeable consequences. You need to be living in constant interaction with lead to get poisoning.
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)
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.
OH BOI, HERE I GO LICKING RADIOACTIVE CARBON ISOTOPES AGAIN!
You know, I'm surprised by how much green is on here. I would have expected much more red and purple.
The most useful chart π
For the tactile learners out there!
So what I get from this: You can probably just lick it. Odds are in your favor
load more comments
(3 replies)
Go ahead and lick pure oxygen. Nothing wrong with that, sure.
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)
I'll take a pint of the purple stuff to go, please
Lick mercury? Plenty of people carry lumps of it right in their teeth, 24/7.
load more comments
(3 replies)
licking uranium is only "maybe not the best idea"?
Compared to some of the others it's pretty low in radioactivity (isotope dependent)
load more comments
(2 replies)
If chemistry was spearheaded by goats
See, absolutely no order to the periodic table. Utterly useless.
PlumBum is my favorite flavor.
Titanium should not be on a higher danger level than lead.
Edit: Tl != Ti
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)
view more: next βΊ