# Street Fighting with Acetone **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 25, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131 "2012-12-25T19:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/1 "2012-12-25T19:20:28Z")
Is this a realistic scenario? I wrap my knuckles with cloth dipped on acetone. I press my wrapped hand against the opponent’s face for a few moments, as if I’m giving him a thumb to the eye. The opponent is dazed and I manage to knock him out. The problems I can think of are: 1. Will acetone damage my skin to a great extent? 2. Will the acetone evaporate too fast for it to have any effect by the time of the actual fight? 3. Is the amount of acetone enough? Replies from posters with street cred appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/2 "2012-12-25T19:29:04Z")
The acetone will evaporate very quickly, the fumes from superglue in the face would render him helpless if you gave him a strong enough whiff I would think. I use it for gluing feathers on arrows when I get a direct hit from about a foot away it nocks me for a loop. You have several minutes before it evaporates. You will also be committing a felony if you do this. ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/3 "2012-12-25T19:35:15Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > You have several minutes before it evaporates. So a couple minutes of getting the crap pummeled out of me. But I do think I can get my hand pressed against his face, given a few minutes. > [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > You will also be committing a felony if you do this. Duly noted. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/4 "2012-12-25T19:42:03Z")
The super glue will hit him instantly and he will be unable to fight the moment he inhales this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/5 "2012-12-25T19:42:13Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > The acetone will evaporate very quickly, the fumes from superglue in the face would render him helpless if you gave him a strong enough whiff I would think. I use it for gluing feathers on arrows when I get a direct hit from about a foot away it nocks me for a loop. You have several minutes before it evaporates. You will also be committing a felony if you do this. Superglue and acetone are different things; although acetone will dissolve Superglue, Superglue itself doesn’t work by drying, there is no acetone in it. As for knocking somebody out with acetone, I have doubts that it would ever work the way you want it to, unless you had them drink it; acetone is of [very low toxicity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone#Safety) (not surprising since your body naturally produces it, especially if you are on a low carb diet or pregnant) and isn’t considered to be a nervous system depressant except in very high concentrations: > [@](#): > > Acetone has been studied extensively and is generally recognized to have low acute and chronic toxicity if ingested and/or inhaled. Inhalation of high concentrations (around 9200 ppm) in the air caused irritation of the throat in humans in as little as 5 minutes. Inhalation of concentrations of 1000 ppm caused irritation of the eyes and of the throat in less than 1 hour; however, the inhalation of 500 ppm of acetone in the air caused no symptoms of irritation in humans even after 2 hours of exposure. Acetone is not currently regarded as a carcinogen, a mutagenic chemical or a concern for chronic neurotoxicity effects… > > …These studies demonstrate that although exposure to high doses of acetone may cause transient central nervous system effects, acetone is not a neurotoxicant. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/6 "2012-12-25T19:47:18Z")
If the guy has no training and is pretty much average in most respects punches just don’t hurt that much. Avoid direct hits to the nose or vitals but hits in the head, back etc, aren’t that bad when you are in close, not enough leverage. If he gets the glue on his hands then hits you in the face you will be in extreme distress immediately. I don’t think I would want to take that chance. If the guy is not the type to commit mayhem and just wants to kick your butt you might be best off to just give it your best shot win or loose and hopefully it will be settled. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/7 "2012-12-25T19:48:21Z")
I use acetone every now and then. If even the tiniest drop touches my skin, it produces an intense burning sensation and I have to wash it in cold water. Wrapping your hands with it would be incredibly painful and self-defeating. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/8 "2012-12-25T19:51:54Z")
You’d be better off using Mace. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/9 "2012-12-25T19:55:17Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > I use acetone every now and then. If even the tiniest drop touches my skin, it produces an intense burning sensation and I have to wash it in cold water. Wrapping your hands with it would be incredibly painful and self-defeating. I wash parts with acetone almost daily, I should wear gloves but don’t. It has no affect on me other than minor redness and a slight burning if I have cut. I have splashed drops in my eyes many times. It burns for awhile and then just goes away. The fumes don’t bother me all that much at arms length. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/10 "2012-12-25T20:17:17Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I wash parts with acetone almost daily, I should wear gloves but don’t. It has no affect on me other than minor redness and a slight burning if I have cut. I have splashed drops in my eyes many times. It burns for awhile and then just goes away. The fumes don’t bother me all that much at arms length. Yeah, acetone has about the same toxicity and hazard profile as ethyl alcohol. Even ingesting acetone is not all that dangerous. The LD50 is 5.8g/kg, not much lower than ethanol (6.3g/kg) (Of course, bad things may happen to you way before you get anywhere near the lethal dose, so you probably shouldn’t try it.) Don’t snort it, or squirt it in your eyes, but you can spill it all over yourself and about the worst it will do is dry out your skin. The fumes alone will do very little to deter an assailant, and you’d probably cause more eye pain with lemon juice, vinegar, or even dish soap, which stings like the dickens. I have very little street cred, but I do have some degree of laboratory solvent cred. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/11 "2012-12-25T20:53:14Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > I use acetone every now and then. If even the tiniest drop touches my skin, it produces an intense burning sensation and I have to wash it in cold water. Wrapping your hands with it would be incredibly painful and self-defeating. > [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I wash parts with acetone almost daily, I should wear gloves but don’t. It has no affect on me other than minor redness and a slight burning if I have cut. It’s also used in most nail polish removers. I’ll admit, I don’t know if it’s at 100% concentration or cut with something. I’m guessing you [solosam] might be hypersensitive to it if getting even the tiniest drop on your skin causes that kind of reaction. As I recall from the last time I removed nail polish from someone’s fingernails, it just made my hands really dried out for a little while where I was holding the cotton ball that was soaked in it. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/12 "2012-12-25T21:05:25Z")
Nail polish remover is generally about 70% acetone according to a couple of sources. The rest is deionized water, colorings, fragrances, oils which they claim are good for the nails, etc. One ingredients list: > [@](#): > > Acetone, Deionized Water, Flaxseed Oil, Black Currant Oil, Fragrance, Apricot Kernel Oil, Denatonium Benzoate, FD&C Yellow 11, FD&C Blue 1, FD&C Red 4. [http://harmondiscount.com/096986670139.html](http://harmondiscount.com/096986670139.html) One wonders how much good the flaxseed oil, etc, could do for you in a 70% acetone solution. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/13 "2012-12-25T21:28:20Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Nail polish remover is generally about 70% acetone according to a couple of sources. The rest is deionized water, colorings, fragrances, oils which they claim are good for the nails, etc. One ingredients list: > > [http://harmondiscount.com/096986670139.html](http://harmondiscount.com/096986670139.html) > > One wonders how much good the flaxseed oil, etc, could do for you in a 70% acetone solution. I’d imagine it counteracts the drying. It might even help keep (at least some of) it from being absorbed into your skin. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/14 "2012-12-25T21:42:05Z")
Oh, whoops. I took a look at my paint stripper and it’s not acetone after all. I was mistaken. Please disregard. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/15 "2012-12-26T02:16:02Z")
There’s also the issue of keeping one’s hands far enough away from your own face so as not to inhale the cheating fumes. You’d look pretty strange fighting with your arms straight out like a movie mummy. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/16 "2012-12-26T02:34:40Z")
Painting contrator here. Acetone [evaporates so quickly](http://news.thefinishingstore.com/?p=357) and is GRAS so it’s a relatively safe alternative to cleaning solvent-based coatings of skin, plus it’s water-soluble and washes off easily. So I don’t see it as being real useful in the OP scenario. Mineral spirits or turpentine are much slower-drying and not water-soluble: they’d be much more effective options for the OP scenario. Please don’t do this in real life though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/17 "2012-12-26T03:22:54Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You’d be better off using Mace. An obvious distinction being, that Mace comes in a spray can that you can aim. Where, OTOH, a acetone-soaked cloth-wrapped fist can’t be aimed. That is, the fist can be aimed, but the spread of the fumes, not so much. For this, you (the person with the acetone fist) want to be sure you are in the upwind position. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/18 "2012-12-26T03:27:53Z")
A similar scenario (ether on a boxing glove) was featured in [an episode of M_A_S\*H](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_a_Lightweight). ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/19 "2012-12-26T04:46:11Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > There’s also the issue of keeping one’s hands far enough away from your own face so as not to inhale the cheating fumes. You’d look pretty strange fighting with your arms straight out like a movie mummy. Cotton balls up one’s nose. Ostensibly to help with nose bleeds; actually to help with acetone exposure. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131/20 "2012-12-26T04:47:18Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > … > Mineral spirits or turpentine are much slower-drying and not water-soluble: they’d be much more effective options for the OP scenario… Don’t bring acetone to a turpentine fight. Noted. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-fighting-with-acetone/645131.md?page=2)