# Smallest thing that can kill you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179 "2013-11-18T15:07:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/21 "2013-11-21T00:06:12Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > 1 cosmic ray hitting the right cell and causing cancer. In the end, most radiation-induced cancers probably start with that one chance encounter/mutation/'toma. > > So does your friend really have some lethal allergy or was it an excuse not to drink? (Your post isn’t quite clear.) > > Frankly, I would have said (accurately), “Well, I’ll toss this down to be sociable if you insist, but I hate even the smell of tequila so much I will likely projectile-vomit all over y’all. Bottoms up…” I’ll award this as the winner. Chicken dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/22 "2013-11-21T00:49:50Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > What, no Lilly of the Valley? Whoo - not bad! > [@](#): > > All parts of the plant are highly poisonous, including the red berries which may be attractive to children.[19] If ingested—even in small amounts—the plant can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, and a reduced heart rate.[20] > Roughly 38 different cardiac glycosides (cardenolides) have been found in the plant, some among others: > convallarin > convallamarin > convallatoxin > convallotoxoloside > convallosid > neoconvalloside > glucoconvalloside > majaloside > convallatoxon > corglycon > cannogenol-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside > cannogenol-3-O-β-D-allomethyloside > cannogenol-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-β-D-glucoside, > cannogenol-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-rhamnoside, > strophanthidin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-rhamnoside, > strophanthidin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-arabinoside, > strophanthidin-3-O-α-L-rhamnosido-2-β-D-glucoside, > sarmentogenin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-rhamnoside > sarmentogenin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-guloside > 19-hydroxy-sarmentogenin-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside, > 19-hydroxy-sarmentogenin > arabinosido-6-deoxyallose > lokundjoside > The plant also contains saponins. Although deadly, the plant has been used as a folk remedy in moderate amounts,[21] and is currently used by herbalists as a restricted herbal remedy. It also contains the unusual, poisonous amino acid azetidine-2-carboxylic acid. Okay, that’s _definitely_ in the running for the most deadly thing you can grow in your back yard! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/23 "2013-11-21T01:16:51Z")
Don’t forget Yew Bushes @ 4oz to kill 150 pound animal. Most common sign of toxicity: “Found dead” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/24 "2013-11-21T05:03:13Z")
> [@oft\_wears\_hats](#): > > A single virus can’t kill a human on its on, not without reproducing. Can it? As any virus kills\* by\* reproducing, I fail to see how this disqualifies it. Indeed, nothing very small will kill you unless its presence in your system has snowballing consequences of some kind. I would lay long odds that that amoeba that you mentioned would have to reproduce itself into many, many amoebae before it could really do you any harm either. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/25 "2013-11-21T05:08:09Z")
A proton: [What would happen happen to my hand if I put it in the beam of the Large Hadron Collider](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lVefgfmFg9o#!)? Okay, technically that video is about a whole beam, but from most of the answers that would be overkill–a single well-aimed, well-accelerated proton should do it (especially if you account for the halo). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/26 "2013-11-21T05:48:40Z")
Obviously not going to happen IRL, but if somehow your body wound up playing host to a pinprick-sized black hole, you’d get sucked in after awhile. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/27 "2013-11-21T06:49:12Z")
> **[Anatoli Bugorski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoli_Bugorski)** > > Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski (Russian: Анатолий Петрович Бугорский; born 25 June 1942) is a Russian retired particle physicist. He is known for surviving a radiation accident in 1978, when a high-energy proton beam from a particle accelerator passed through his brain. > As a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Russian SSR, Anatoli Bugorski worked with the largest particle accelerator in the Soviet Union, the U-70 synchrotron. On 13 July 1978, Bugorski was checking a m... He survived exposure to a proton beam in a particle accelerator. But the LHC is much higher energy so maybe a single particle from that really could kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/28 "2013-11-21T07:08:46Z")
A prion is good but it only works by converting normal proteins into more prions so I think that’s out. The photon/laser beam discussion is probably the winner but since it would take such effort to contrive a situation where it did kill it seems lame. Polonium is our next bet, and how timely - it was discovered on Yassar Arafat’s properties - and was also used to poison Alexander Litvinenko. Secret agent style stuff, to be sure. But it does seem to lack a certain organic charm. I’d always heard botulism, as mentioned, was the nastiest microscopic for a human. The anaerobic part always scared me. I also regarded the castor plant, as another posted stated, as the deadliest (most toxic?) plant. THe [Blue-ring Octopus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ring_octopus), at 5-8 in., will kill you. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/29 "2013-11-21T07:27:45Z")
Maybe a single errant prEon? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/30 "2013-11-21T07:50:57Z")
Actually, a high powered laser gun like the Navy has or maybe even a medical laser could easily be used to kill you. With that, it’s just photons killing you, and since photons don’t have mass\* or volume\*, that’s pretty damn small, wouldn’t you say? \*mumble mumble more or less, let’s not get too technical shall we? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/31 "2013-11-21T09:49:54Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Don’t forget Yew Bushes @ 4oz to kill 150 pound animal. … However, the “berry”, the bright red [aril](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aril#Aril_development_in_Taxus) surrounding the seed, is edible. CMC ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/32 "2013-11-21T10:28:59Z")
**Cat Whisperer** You probably would not want to go into your back yard and suck any part of one of these, [http://www.vincelewis.net/monkshood.html](http://www.vincelewis.net/monkshood.html) Around 2 to 2.5mg will likely kill you > **[Aconitine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aconitine)** > > ethanol: 35 mg/mL > Aconitine is an alkaloid toxin produced by various plant species belonging to the genus Aconitum (family Ranunculaceae), known also commonly by the names wolfsbane and monkshood. Monkshood is notorious for its toxic properties. > Biologically active isolates from Aconitum and Delphinium plants are classified as norditerpenoid alkaloids, which are further subdivided based on the presence or absence of the C18 carbon. Aconitine is a C19-norditerpenoid, based on its presence of thi... Problem is, that it is quite a common garden plant, you are not advised to handle the corms with bare hands. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/33 "2013-11-21T12:10:10Z")
I fail to see why the need for some things to reproduce rules them out. You put one virus in your body, and later you are dead. The mechanism seems rather irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/34 "2013-11-21T12:25:43Z")
Current Reddit thread: [If something as small as an atom shot through your body would it be detrimental? Or even a string of atoms being passed, at fast speeds, horizontally through your body.](http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1r2gwb/if_something_as_small_as_an_atom_shot_through/) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/35 "2013-11-21T16:11:04Z")
What ever it is, I’m sure it comes from Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/36 "2013-11-21T16:27:13Z")
Does the vacuum of space count? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/37 "2013-11-21T18:16:55Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > What ever it is, I’m sure it comes from Australia. For certain. The national motto of Australia is\*: “Everything here can kill you.” - - not really, but it should be. ---
**Author:** ![brettster55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brettster55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brettster55)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/38 "2013-11-21T19:03:59Z")
When cleaning your grill with a wire brush, if one of those wires come loose, and you eat it. Goodluck ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/39 "2013-11-21T19:26:37Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > And you don’t even need to be in the water … > > [Man stung by irukandji jellyfish while fishing from bulk carrier](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/6964636/Man-stung-by-irukandji-jellyfish-while-fishing-from-bulk-carrier.html) Yet another reason why I do my swimming under water instead of on top of it. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/40 "2013-11-21T19:28:21Z")
> [@brettster55](#): > > When cleaning your grill with a wire brush, if one of those wires come loose, and you eat it. Goodluck Fucking _ow_! :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179.md?page=3)