# Smallest thing that can kill you?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179
**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:** 6
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/41 "2013-11-22T01:05:59Z")
The thread makes me think of this case
> **[Karen Wetterhahn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn)**
>
> Karen Elizabeth Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 – June 8, 1997), also known as Karen Wetterhahn Jennette, was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, who specialized in toxic metal exposure. She died of mercury poisoning at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the extremely toxic organic mercury compound dimethylmercury (.mw-parser-output .template-chem2-su{display:inline-block;font-size:80%;line-height:1;vertical-align:-0.35em}.mw-parser-output .template-ch We...
but it was a few drops so I guess it doesn’t qualify.
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### Author:  [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/42 "2013-11-22T08:25:44Z")
Mozzies have killed millions (malaria)
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2013, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/43 "2013-11-22T09:02:42Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> 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/)
Wow. So, I guess the moral of the story is: [Don’t stick your head in a particle accelerator.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoli_Bugorski) It might not kill you, but still… just don’t.
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### Author:  [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2013, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/44 "2013-11-22T09:32:20Z")
Damn, and I was all set to run up in here and say, “My teacup.” Oh, well. As you can see, it didn’t stop me.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/45 "2013-11-22T17:09:25Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> [Anatoli Bugorski - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoli_Bugorski)
>
> 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.
Ha! Wikipedia says this about him:
> [@](#):
>
> Bugorski survived and even completed his Ph.D. There was virtually no damage to his intellectual capacity, but the fatigue of mental work increased markedly.
…but that’s obviously a cover story; in reality, after the accident, he was fatigued from spending his nights fighting aliens and supervillains.
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#):
>
> Mozzies have killed millions (malaria)
Yes, mosquitoes have killed orders of magnitude more humans than any other multicellular animal.
My own nomination:
Misplaced decimal point, if you’re a Mob accountant.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smallest-thing-that-can-kill-you/674179/46 "2013-11-22T23:19:17Z")
> [@brettster55](#):
>
> When cleaning your grill with a wire brush, if one of those wires come loose, and you eat it. Goodluck
I actually wound up with one of those wires in my meal once at a restaurant. They apologized profusely, remade my meal, and comped it.
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