# Dihydrogen monoxide: dangerous?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 28, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229 "2000-02-28T01:06:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/1 "2000-02-28T01:06:00Z")
I almost started this in GD to see how many people I could get into a fierce debate, but I knew some party pooper would spill the beans.
Never the less, have a look at these sites:
DHMO, your all-natural friend:
[http://www.armory.com/~crisper/DHMO/](http://www.armory.com/~crisper/DHMO/)
Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide!:
[http://www.circus.com/~nodhmo/](http://www.circus.com/~nodhmo/)
This was the best laugh I have had in a long time. I almost feel like taking the CON side and starting an email chain letter hoax.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/2 "2000-02-28T01:14:00Z")
It’s dangerous only when it’s been [distilled](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/006038.html).
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/3 "2000-02-28T01:57:00Z")
I almost posted this in that thread, once **for** and 2nd time **against** , but I felt it was deserving of its own thread.
So _you_ would have been the party pooper, eh?
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### Author:  [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/4 "2000-02-28T09:15:00Z")
I see people die from this substance all the time, and it is more prevalent than people think; it’s down right ubiquitous
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### Author:  [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/5 "2000-02-28T10:03:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> …it’s down right ubiquitous
You ain’t kiddin’. Where I live, the stuff actually **falls out of the sky** on occasion, if you can believe that. (This has been pretty well documented, in fact).
Not to mention it seems to be extraordinarily addictive; I’ve met several addicts whose very life depended on this insidious chemical.
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### Author:  [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/6 "2000-02-28T13:38:00Z")
Of course it’s dangerous; it’s responsible for literally millions of deaths in China. In fact, it’s killed more there than Stalin and Hitler combined. And yet, people jump into it with reckless abandon, consume it liberally, and even give it to their children!
Stop the madness!
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/7 "2000-02-28T14:26:00Z")
I’ve seen this stuff solidify into small pebble-sized chunks and then fall from the sky!
* * *
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
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### Author:  [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/8 "2000-02-28T15:44:00Z")
AWB-I understand this is more dangerous when in its flake form. It piles up, remains for WEEKS sometimes, is responsible for car accidents and can even cause AVALANCHES!
* * *
If it jams, force it; if it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/9 "2000-02-28T15:56:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Cabbage:
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > …it’s down right ubiquitous
>
> You ain’t kiddin’. Where I live, the stuff actually **falls out of the sky** on occasion, if you can believe that. (This has been pretty well documented, in fact).\*\*
We rarely have that problem here. In fact so little of falls from the sky we have to ship in DHMO from out of state in dangerous canals.
* * *
Be quiet Fortunato and hand me another brick.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/10 "2000-02-28T16:50:00Z")
Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and
odorless chemical compound, also referred to by
some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide,
Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydroxylic acid.
Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the
components of which are found in a number of
caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such
as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl
Alcohol.
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### Author:  [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/11 "2000-02-28T17:51:00Z")
and don’t spill any on your Gremlin.
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### Author:  [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/12 "2000-02-28T22:11:00Z")
I saw a study on this a long time ago. They were giving megadoses of it to lab rats to see the effects. 1000ml given to a lab rat was universally fatal.
* * *
[http://www.madpoet.com](http://www.madpoet.com)
Clerks - Just because they serve you doesn’t mean they like you.
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### Author:  [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/13 "2000-02-29T00:20:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> In fact so little of falls from the sky we have to ship in DHMO from out of state in dangerous canals.
So there are a lot of unfortunate souls addicted to this substance in your area, eh? I suggest spearheading an effort to set up rehabilitation centers immediately.
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### Author:  [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/14 "2000-02-29T00:33:00Z")
We almost had a severe DMHO problem here in the Ohio Valley. Due to heavy percipitation, the stuff actually started seeping _out of the river and into some low lying residential areas!_ Whole neighborhoods were evacuated! Geez!
* * *
_When someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles to frown. But it takes only 4 muscles to extend your arm and whack them in the head._
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/15 "2000-02-29T00:44:00Z")
In 1975, when the debate about chlorofluorocarbons began, an article in _Chemical & Engineering News,_ commenting on the ban of CFCs in the state of Oregon, pointed something out:
Whereas the CFCs are accused suspects, this compound is a convicted offender. The compound has been responsible for 11% of the ozone decomposed nonphotochemically, and has been produced and consumed in a volume more than a thousand times greater than the CFCs. Furthermore, the chemical has been the direct cause of 1100 known deaths each year [from 1966 to 1975]. The article concluded:
"Surely the people of Oregon–if no one else–will agree that the rampant use of this chemical cannot continue and it should be banned in the state every much as any chlorofluorocarbon.
“What is the sinister substance? Water.” 😃
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### Author:  [@Carl\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Berry)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/16 "2000-02-29T14:36:00Z")
More lives, human & animal have been lost to it than to any other chemical!
* * *
Zymurgist
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### Author:  [@Carl\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Berry)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/17 "2000-02-29T14:49:00Z")
However, as a zymurgist, it is the major ingrediant I use. But, I am very careful when using it! I once had a major spill, it took a long time to neutralize, & I still find evidence of it! Thank goodness no lives were lost!
* * *
Zymurgist
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/18 "2000-02-29T17:46:00Z")
**Alarming Update:**
Recent studies reveal that ill informed consumers who are unlucky enough to have experienced DHMO spills in their homes have no emergency plan to deal with it. Hapless consumers sometimes resort to ordinary paper towels as a last resort.
Several interested parties have teamed up with the McDonalds Corporation to look into the possibility of a huge class action lawsuit. One spokesman for the McDonalds Corp was overheard exclaiming “It was our fault that one small, flavoured container of hydroxylic acid causes a little discomfort to one of our patrons, but hundreds die every day from exposure to the chemical. Where is the justice in that?”
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2000, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/19 "2000-02-29T17:49:00Z")
**Alarming Update:**
Recent studies reveal that ill informed consumers who are unlucky enough to have experienced DHMO spills in their homes have no emergency plan to deal with it. Hapless consumers sometimes resort to ordinary paper towels as a last resort.
Several interested parties have teamed up with the McDonalds Corporation to look into the possibility of a huge class action lawsuit. One spokesman for the McDonalds Corp was overheard exclaiming “It was our fault that one small, flavoured container of hydroxylic acid causes a little discomfort to one of our patrons, but hundreds die every day from exposure to the chemical. Where is the justice in that?”
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dihydrogen-monoxide-dangerous/14229/20 "2000-03-01T19:42:00Z")
In my earlier post I said that the “sinister chemical,” water, was produced about a thousand times in the upper atmosphere more than chlorofluorocarbons. Mea Culpa. It’s a _billion_ times more. :o
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