I assume that a “10% (or whatever percent) pepper spray concentrate” means that 10% of the contents of the container is oleoresin capsicum. The other 90% is solvent (water?), inert materials and gas to eject the contents of the container.
The Scolville rating of the particular OC doesn’t seem to be mentioned. Compare 5 million Scolville at 2% concentrate and 500,000 Scolville at 10% concentration. They’ll both make your eyes burn and your nose run. Unloading the entire contents of a 2oz container, the 2% concentrate would have twice the “burn power” of the 10% concentrate.
*THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 328 of 1931
750.224d Self-defense spray or foam device.
Sec. 224d.
(1) As used in this section and section 224, “self-defense spray or foam device” means a device to which all of the following apply:
(a) The device is capable of carrying, and ejects, releases, or emits 1 of the following:
(i) Not more than 35 grams of any combination of orthochlorobenzalmalononitrile and inert ingredients.
(ii) A solution containing not more than 10% oleoresin capsicum*.
I notice that the article says the kids “ingested” the pizza, not that they “ate” the pizza. According to Merriam-Webster: “ingest: to take in for or as if for digestion”.
So it seems to me that when it says they “ingested” the pizza, that could simply mean they put it in their mouths, even if they immediately spit it back out.
Here, enjoy Sydney Scoville visiting her favorite Thai restaurant (and notice the names of the various hot sauces): Grrl Power #28 – Go go Tiger Mom! – Grrl Power (read that comic and the next two).
It could mean a lot of things. It would be quite disingenuous to assume that all initial news stories are 100% accurate in every detail, including the fine grammar and word definitions.
If the news article says something happened at 2 o’clock, it would be silly to doubt the veracity of the entire article if you know it really happened at 2:10.
Please note that this is not a scientific test, and may be subject to many biases, one of which is the particular brand & formula of pepper spray used. Maybe cops have stronger ones and/or they spray a different color.
Nevertheless,** I conclude that the news story is plausible.** In more detail (these conclusions are also at the end of the video):
**1. Spraying pepper spray on a pizza is likely to be dangerous to the sprayer and it’s hard to avoid the bounceback and attendant choking.**But someone who knows how to use the sprayer might be able to avoid the effects by using the pizza box to shield the spray.
**2. The pepper chemical is nearly undetectable on a pizza by smell alone after a few seconds have elapsed.**This lends credence to the claim that the teens didn’t detect anything until they got home.
**3. Keeping sprayed pizza in a box for a few minutes doesn’t accumulate an obvious odor.**Not only does it not accumulate, it seems to dissipate.
**4. Pepper spray can be seen on pizza, but it may look like cheese or sauce.**So the appearance is not a dead giveaway on a pepperoni pizza, but might be on a white sauce pizza.
**5. A mouthful of pizza with spray added is detectable by taste and can be intolerable. But your nose won’t warn you first if you’re not expecting it.**I feel this is critical. You can’t smell the pepper spray and the first hint of trouble might be your first bite or chew.
**6. Very small amounts of residual pepper spray may be indistinguishable from other spicy food.**So if the pepper spray isn’t evenly distributed, some slices might have little or no effect at first.
**7. The possibility exists (not tested) that the chemical taste effects on a sprayed pizza dissipate further with time.**Which would make it more likely that no one noticed until too late.
My opinion is that the news story is entirely possible. Whether it is true or not, I don’t know, and I invite anyone to duplicate or refute my results.
I apologize for the crudeness of the video – I had no assistance and had to be both the subject and the camera operator!
Nice experiment. Very interesting that you could hardly smell it after a short time. I was really rooting for you to prove the dissipation theory by eating the whole piece of pizza, though, especially after you repeatedly lamented wasting such good pizza.
Would you believe I sprayed the bug on the ground with a direct hit of pepper spray, and although he went around madly in circles, was still alive a few minutes later? Bugz rule!
I haven’t detected any delayed effects, and now I feel silly for all my caution. A REAL man would have wolfed the entire slice down, called 911, and posted from the hospital.
I saved a whole pepperoni pizza from Papa Murphy’s (uncooked) for last. It was my emergency supply. Maybe I’ll cook it tomorrow.
Maybe the bug didn’t care about being pepper sprayed because they don’t feel the capsaicin? It’s supposed to be fairly mammal-specific. Even birds don’t have the same reaction to it that mammals do. Seems like bugs would be even less likely to feel it … but I’m not sure.
ETA: Oh, and you keep saying that this isn’t a scientific test, but I gotta say, I think this is what science is all about: performing experiments and finding out what happens. Zombie Feynman agrees with me. So in that spirit, thanks for doing the experiment so the rest of us don’t have to.
That had to have been the most awesome vid I’ve ever seen. It would be too much of a bother to get divorced right now, but I’d still like to have your babies
(If you ever do this again, have some crushed ice handy. It works better than water because the ice helps scrub your tongue.)
(Also, you made me get cold. Shorts and bare feet when its only 74F? No wonder you were willing to try this, you are Ironman!!!)
Ooo, really sorry…I should have warned you about that one. Avoid it at all costs. Lullaby-City it is, but videos like this pay the bills, so to speak. Check back on my YouTube channel tomorrow and you should see a blues concert I recorded tonight. Slightly more enjoyable, you bet!
Thanks to everyone who blew me a compliment. Twern’t nuttin’ but all in a day’s work. Maybe a tiny piece of ignorance was fought.
Again, I apologize for the video presentation; not up to my usual standards. I planned to have a friend help me, which would have provided better camera angles, etc., but he couldn’t make it this week and I didn’t want to keep everyone waiting.
BTW, I left the remaining pizza pieces, pepper-sprayed and not, on the patio. I was curious if the night visitors – foxes, deer, raccoons, porcupines and possums – would partake. The night is only half over, and some of it is gone already. Of course I will never know if some fox grabbed a piece, choked, cursed me and threw it in the bushes, but that’s a job for another day and another video.
So what’s next for the SDMB Mythbusters and Investigative Truth Team?
Well, that was interesting. I certainly didn’t expect the pepper spray to be visible, but it does sort of blend in with the other ingredients. Thank you for volunteering your taste buds. Let us know how it comes out the other end.
And now I want some pizza, dammit! No pepper spray on mine, thanks.
