I left it in the yard and I think someone may have sprayed it with a dangerous chemical.
Why do you think that? What kind of “dangerous chemical”? That’s rather vague. You’ll have to narrow it down a little. Wouldn’t it just be easier to buy a new volleyball?
You could just wash it with soap and water… that should remove any residue (pesticide or fertilizer presumably?) that you might be worried about.
taste test?
yea i did a cursory check but I played with it afterward, now I’m worrying that I’m already infected with it.
Maybe the person sprayed something harmful to the eyes or ears–after playing with it I had a sudden, acute pain in my ear that has not recurred.
In theory, if you knew what type of chemical to look for (either a specific one or one of a common class of pesticides or whatever) then you could swab the volleyball and run appropriate analysis (HPLC, GC, maybe MS or UV-VIS or FTIR) and determine whether the suspected chemicals are present. In practice, this costs a lot of money and requires appropriate equipment (ISTR HPLCs starting in the $80000 range) as well as either suspected chemical standards or a complete library of their spectra. Contract labs might be able to do this.
Or just wash the volleyball with soap and water, or rub it down with alcohol if you feel it’s necessary. Wash your hands, and see if any other ear pain symptoms occur, and see a doctor if they do. It’s more likely to be a coincidence, but then again, I don’t know your enemies!
Do you have a specific reason to suspect that someone has sprayed a dangerous chemical on your volleyball, or was this simply the first conclusion you leaped to?
Do you have a specific person in mind, or a specific chemical? Type of chemical? Are you worried this is a lawn-care chemical of some type?