# Very pure water dangerous to drink?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 17, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706 "2022-02-17T22:32:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/121 "2022-02-22T00:05:04Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#):
>
> In other words, the higher purity stuff is bad for you, but not because of the purity itself, but rather how that purity was achieved. It’s possible some people applied the same ideas to water even though it’s inappropriate in that case.
The high purity stuff is contaminated because it’s pure. Got it. 😉
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### Author:  [@Mark\_Myers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Myers)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/122 "2022-02-22T13:29:03Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> pure water would burn your insides if you drank it. Can this be true
Water, which we typically consider to be pure, really includes a lot of salts and carbohydrates, making it slightly hypertonic. They also contribute to the flavour of water. The cytoplasm in your body’s cells has a tonicity as well. As a result, when cells are exposed to hypertonic solutions, they lose water and shrivel up. When they’re in hypotonic liquids, they absorb water and swell to the point where they burst like a balloon. The most hypotonic solution is absolutely pure water with no contaminants. As a result, if you consume enough of it, your cells will begin to absorb water. This upsets the electrolyte (electrically conductive ions) balance in your body. This is a particularly dangerous issue in the brain, where water toxicity can lead to death.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/123 "2022-02-22T14:12:15Z")
> [@Mark\_Myers](#):
>
> Water, which we typically consider to be pure, really includes a lot of salts and carbohydrates
If by ‘a lot’ you really mean ‘a very, very small amount’
There is no meaningful difference between tap water and pure water, in terms of tonicity vs cytoplasm, which is orders of magnitude more salty than both.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/124 "2022-02-22T14:16:18Z")
Also, _carbohydrates?_
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/125 "2022-02-22T14:33:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> If by ‘a lot’ you really mean ‘a very, very small amount’
At Burning Man I bring the electrolyte salt for the camp. It’s kept in a box by the water cooler with the instructions
_1/4 tsp. per liter, 1 in 3 liters is sufficient_
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/126 "2022-02-22T14:55:13Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#):
>
> In other words, the higher purity stuff is bad for you, but not because of the purity itself, but rather how that purity was achieved.
When I worked in a lab, we didn’t call that “pure”, we called it “anhydrous”. Being free of water but loaded with benzene isn’t really pure in any useful sense.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/127 "2022-02-22T15:31:45Z")
Don’t forget to add the carbohydrates!
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/128 "2022-02-22T15:33:50Z")
This thread is doomed to be periodically resurrected by people not reading the previous conversation and just saying the explodey osmosis thing. Mark my words.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/129 "2022-02-22T15:40:42Z")
Wasn’t “Explodey Osmosis” an animated series?
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/130 "2022-02-22T15:45:35Z")
No, he exhorted us to Look on his works and despair.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/131 "2022-02-22T16:02:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Wasn’t “Explodey Osmosis” an animated series?
[https://i.imgur.com/Hznz3QJ.mp4](https://i.imgur.com/Hznz3QJ.mp4)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/132 "2022-02-22T16:04:57Z")
See? Those spherical people drank the Olympic Ice, then exploded.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/133 "2022-02-22T16:07:42Z")
Just don’t drink distilled D2O (heavy water), because you’ll become radioactive _and_ explode.
> **[Can You Drink Heavy Water? Is It Safe?](https://sciencenotes.org/can-you-drink-heavy-water-is-it-safe/)**
>
> Learn what happens if you drink heavy water or deuterium oxide, how it tastes, and whether drinking heavy water is safe or not.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/134 "2022-02-22T16:31:21Z")
Screw spontaneous human combustion. I wanna see some spontaneous hunan fusion.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/135 "2022-02-22T16:59:40Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> hunan fusion
Hunan food plus isotopes = fusion cuisine
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/136 "2022-02-22T17:00:25Z")
Dammit. I guess I really am hungry for Chinese food.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/137 "2022-02-22T17:05:40Z")
I heard that all copies of the alternate ending to _Big_ were destroyed by explodey osmosis.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/138 "2022-02-22T18:04:35Z")
Oh, yeah. I forgot _Add sweetener to taste_ because Gatorade powder is also brought in (not by me) and, used to the bulk of the sugar, people would dump an ounce or two into their liter bottle then complain how salty it was.
“Well, yeah, it’s settling a quarter inch high on the bottom. Read the directions!”
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/139 "2022-02-22T22:30:32Z")
Deuterium won’t make you radioactive, no matter how much of it you consume. You’re thinking of tritium.
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### Author:  [@Fozzie\_Dabear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fozzie_Dabear)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-pure-water-dangerous-to-drink/959706/140 "2022-02-22T22:54:27Z")
At truly extreme levels of purity, it does need to be handled with care; see e.g. [https://www.bioind.com/media/documentation/msds/01-866(3).pdf](https://www.bioind.com/media/documentation/msds/01-866(3).pdf)
Fundamentally H2O is pretty reactive. The stuff we normally meet already has a lot of things dissolved in it which does tend to reduce its reactivity - not sure why.
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