In the hypothetical, if one were able to lick elemental hydrogen in its atomic, rather than molecular form, it would have a few potential effects. The one that would concern me most would be its aggressive reactivity, ripping hydrogens away from anything that it could in order to achieve stability. This would potentially cause tissue damage both from the deprotonation and shift in pH.
It would be more likely a secondary or tertiary effect. That is, H• radicals ripped away from their parent molecules would leave •OH, •R, and •RNH radicals. These are unstable and highly reactive, “desiring” to have that stable electron configuration. Likely, this will result in electrons being shifted to bring in more stable species, like OH-. Overall, we’re looking at effectively a deprotonation of the saliva, with extra intermediary steps to stabilize the radicals.
Interesting. Given that H• is a neutral species, what would cause the preference for the creation of stable negative species (freeing up H+) over the creation of stable positive species (freeing up OH-)?
Neutral as far as pH is concerned, yes. However, radicals tend to be very reactive due to their valance not being full. I am a bit rusty, TBH, as I’m about a decade and a half out of uni but, the best way to predict the products of the reaction is to look at the high-level of the equation:
All of the products of the initial reaction here are radicals except for the H2 molecules. They all are going to further react to form more stable species with full valances, with possible exception being the molecular hydrogen. Because the elemental hydrogen is introduced as a radical rather than protons (H+ ions) in the solution, the final products are likely to be more negatively charged, neutral, and/or have some interesting hydrogen additions, especially in the hydrocarbons and amino acids.
For example, there could be reactions like: R• + •OH + •N-R -> R-OH + HO-N-R
Overall, however, the amount of free hydrogen/protons is likely to be reduced as they are effectively removed from solution as hydrogen gas.
I think the assumption with the chlorine is that you end up inhaling it and dying fairly quickly. Licking uranium isn’t a great idea, but you might not ever have noticable effects, even long term, if very little comes off onto your tongue. I know people who have accidently tasted plutonium in solution.
I did check thallium pretty toxic definitely don’t want to lick that, but gallium on the other might be ok. Plus you could probably rob a a bank with gallium. Gallium is my favorite element
Gallium is absorbed by other metals. Even steel. And it makes them crumble. You could walk up to a door, squirt some gallium into the lock and the lock would fall apart.
I fully agree with it being yellow. By far, the most common isotope of uranium is uranium-238, which is indeed radioactive, but not dangerously radioactive. In this list, lead is listed as a yellow because it can give you heavy metal poisoning. In this scenario, the uranium would cause more damage to your body by damaging it as lead would (heavy metal poisoning affecting brain, kidneys, liver, etc) before the radiation would ever have an impact on your body.
But would it be elemental prior to licking or oxidized as usual? Because one is still significantly worse than the other and looking at lithium very much suggests elemental uranium!
Lithium, Sodium etc. need to be upped to “please reconsider.” Calcium and all the lanthanides are also metals I would not advise licking because theyre very reactive. Promethium is especially dangerous due to its radioactivity with its longest lived isotope having a half life of around 17 years. So not only is it reactive, youd die to the radiation too.
Lithium is just gonna be a little fizzy like pop rocks. No explosions, thankfully. The LiOH produced would not be fun for you, but probably won’t hurt anyone else.
Lithium salts are used to treat bipolar. The metal isnt just reacting with the water on your tongue to create a very strong base (and lots of heat), you are also going to be ingesting that Lithium (as a lithium soap as it reacts with oils and fats) which can have different (unpleasant) effects on you depending on how much was ingested. If your kidney function is impaired, it gets worse.
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