Considering how corrosive stomach acid is, why isn’t it fairly common to hear of, say, first or second degree burns caused by vomiting incidents (say, vomit all over one’s shirt?)?
seems like most people vomit on the ground or into a sink.
What can happen is the vomit ends up in the windpipe and the person dies because they cannot breathe. That’s how Jimi Hendrix died.
Wikipedia says that gastric acid has a pH of about 1.5-3.5. It also says that lemon juice, vinegar and soda are in that range. Most people manage to avoid burns when coming in contact with those substances.
it’s only about 0.5% HCl. it’s enough to irritate soft tissues (thus heartburn) but not damage skin.
Well I would think that if it could cause 2nd degree burns then it would probably easily burn the hell out of your stomach.
The stomach has a special mucous lining that protects itself from the acid that it produces itself. I understand that there are some complicated mechanisms that balance the maintenance of the mucous lining with the production of acid. When this goes haywire the acid does attack the stomach and you get gastritis. Other tissues, like your throat, don’t have this protection which is why it burns like hell when you vomit or have acid reflux.
–Mark
Bulimia will destroy a person teeth if they keep forcing their self to vomit a long time .
Indeed. It’s called the gastric mucosal barrier.
The integrity of this layer is critically dependent on a class of chemicals called prostaglandins. When they are deficient the barrier breaks down. Aspirin, and all other NSAIDS (e.g. ibuprofen, naproxen, . . .), inhibit prostaglandin production and that explains their tendency to cause stomach ulcers.
Here is a meticulously detailed (and VERY long) reference discussing the gastric mucosal barrier and its relation to, and dependence on, prostaglandins.
Plus, by the time you sing dinner, your food and drink has diluted some of the acid. Yes, but it DOES burn the esophagus, throat and, if you’re not lucky, the windpipe (Last time took me about 5 months to totally heal).
But if lemon juice and vinegar can’t break down a 12-ounce steak in four hours, then why can stomach acid?
Stomach acid does very little in terms of breaking down food. That’s the job of enzymes. Stomach acid gives the right pH for the enzyme work and kills off pathogens.
Teleologically at least, another ‘purpose’ for stomach acid is to keep the upper digestive tract relatively bacteria free. So, for example, people who take the acid-suppressing medications known as PPIs (such as Prilosec) are at increased risk of C diff infection and even bacterial pneumonia* (although the latter remains somewhat contentious).
*with the idea being that most pneumonias are due to (micro)aspiration of gastric contents
Also, IANA chemist, but I recall that when it comes to corrosiveness, pH is far from the whole picture.
You can’t say that since the pH of this substance is higher than another substance that’s harmless, it too must be harmless.
A friend just celebrated her birthday, and along the way she managed to get vomit all over her car, inside and out.
It wasn’t good for her car’s finish, carpet, or upholstery. The detailer charged extra.
C’mon, we all know that was you and she was too drunk to catch on…
Oops. :eek:
Chronic exposure of your esophagus to stomach acid can be very bad. A guy I knew who was around 30 had gastric reflux so bad, he developed esophageal cancer and died at 30 years old.
Interesting. Can enzymes cause chemical burns on skin? That seems logical, if it can digest a steak.
I believe KarlGauss, can correct me on the exact mechanism but I recall from taking Anatomy that the precursor to the protease enzymes reside in the Pancreas and can be prematurely “turned on” and start breaking down peptide bonds of the Pancreas itself, leading to Pancreatitis.
Well, probably not peptide bonds so much as activation of pancreatic lipase, i.e. fat digestion. In other words, in pancreatitis, the pancreas starts digesting itself (or the fat elements within in it).
I missed the edit window and wanted to say that alcohol for mysterious reasons DOES seem to activate the zymogens (peptide enzymes precursors) and that, too, can lead to pancreatitis. I have NO understanding of the processes but have read that typsin is a key culprit enzyme. I should NOT have emphasized lipase in my first post although it does play a role.