752
Can I lick it? (lemmy.world)
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[-] echodot@feddit.uk 8 points 1 day ago

See, absolutely no order to the periodic table. Utterly useless.

[-] pankuleczkapl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 points 2 days ago

This diagram is way way way too conservative with the "see you on the other side" classification. To name a few: fluorine will literally make you catch fire instantly (if there's more of it, you will basically get burned to a crisp before you can even blink), caesium will violently react with water in your mouth and produce so much hydrogen and heat, the whole mixture will instantly explode (in fact, this will not only be a usual, fire-like explosion, it will in addition to that be a so-called Coulomb explosion, which makes the situation even worse)

[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago

I wish to subscribe to more fun chemistry reaction facts!

[-] whome@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 2 days ago

I'm slightly infuriated that green doesn't say: yes, you can!

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[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Flourine should be the darkest purple. Injesting or inhaling any amount is serious bad news.

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 85 points 2 days ago

I have to admit that I absolutely love how licking sodium or chloride individually is very bad for you, but when you put them together, you can lick, eat, and even swim in it all day with minimal ill health effects.

Science. 💙

[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 64 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Sodium reacts violently in water
Chlorine was used in mustard gas
Sodium chloride : I make the soup too salty (yuckyCat.jpg)

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[-] BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 26 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

swim in it all day

If you submerged your body in table salt in a swimming pool for an entire day, would you come out dehydrated and start to turn cured like beef jerky?

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[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 day ago

So what I get from this: You can probably just lick it. Odds are in your favor

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago
[-] ExploitedAmerican@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I follow the same rule with my wife.

[-] Wolf@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

When a problem comes along, you must lick it

Before the cream sets out too long, you must lick it

When something's going wrong, you must lick it

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

OH BOI, HERE I GO LICKING RADIOACTIVE CARBON ISOTOPES AGAIN!

[-] PaulBunyan@lemmy.world 40 points 2 days ago
[-] not_IO@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 2 days ago
[-] echodot@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

I love that the colour blind compatible version to just incompetentible to everyone else.

[-] waterSticksToMyBalls@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago

It just means you can lick them all

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[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago

Don't let a stupid chart tell you what you can and can't lick.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Exactly.

They could very easily just keep the color for color seeing people, and then add a simple pattern in the background.

Like maybe diagonal lines on one, wavy horizontal lines in another, small dots in another, etc.

Just pretend you are taking a black and white picture or making a black and white copy on an old copy machine. Can you still interpret the data afterwards? If yes, then you did it right.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago

What you're supposed to do with this stuff is design it in grayscale first, conveying information through shading, and then just add colour afterwards while maintaining the shade.

[-] RandomStickman@fedia.io 53 points 2 days ago

It's never occurred to me that I can lick neon

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 28 points 2 days ago

Can you lick a gas? Licking liquid neon is very unwise.

[-] knatschus@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 2 days ago

Then lick solid neon, duh

You can lick xenon. Even inhale. Very fancy and very expensive. Show those nitrous plebs that you have the wealth to enjoy real chemical cuisine!

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[-] ExploitedAmerican@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Are you sure this isnt just a seasonal calendar of my wife?

[-] Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 39 points 2 days ago

Licking most of the transuranium elements would entale sticking your tongue in a particle collider. Which I think is a fun Friday night 🤪

[-] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 30 points 2 days ago

Collider? I barely know her!

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[-] underscores@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago

I'll take a pint of the purple stuff to go, please

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Jokes on you, it'll decay before you reach the car.

[-] underscores@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago

thanks, I'll take it all to stay then

[-] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago

Why isn't one of those responses

"Yes, you can!" ?

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 days ago

Because "Sure, go for it" is just that worded another way.

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[-] grumpusbumpus@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

Licking Lead is only "not a great idea?" I think it's squarely in the "Please don't do that" territory.

[-] Donkter@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago

You can absolutely lick lead once without any noticeable consequences. You need to be living in constant interaction with lead to get poisoning.

[-] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

The best part is that if you do it enough you will forget what the problem is and an continue to lick lead.

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[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

* Under standard conditions for temperature and pressure

[-] davidagain@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah, if it's possible to have a normal licking experience with something that's gaseous at room temperature, it's not going to go well if you do lick it.

[-] don@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago

Some of those in the actinoid [sic] series are gonna be really difficult to lick simply because of how unbelievably short their half-life is, or those such as mendelevium, that require you to either have access to (and in other cases even have your head inside of) a linear particle collider.

[-] Tower@lemmy.zip 13 points 2 days ago

You know, I'm surprised by how much green is on here. I would have expected much more red and purple.

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Go ahead and lick pure oxygen. Nothing wrong with that, sure.

[-] Siethron@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago

You know O2 is pure oxygen right? Unless we're getting into the technicality of if things in there gaseous forms can be licked it's safe.

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this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
752 points (98.6% liked)

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