I have always been concerned about sulfites in wine but now I have learned
that wine contains varying amounts of a substance called DHMO (Dihydrogen
Monoxide). I have heard that this substance is a constituent of many known
toxic substances, dieases and diease-causing agents, enviormental hazards
and can be leathal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
I am somewhat concerned. Your take on this will be helpful to the group.

"zara" > wrote in message
...
> I have always been concerned about sulfites in wine but now I have learned
> that wine contains varying amounts of a substance called DHMO (Dihydrogen
> Monoxide). I have heard that this substance is a constituent of many known
> toxic substances, dieases and diease-causing agents, enviormental hazards
> and can be leathal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
> I am somewhat concerned. Your take on this will be helpful to the group.


"DHMO" is a synonym for "H2O," the scientific name for water. Replace every
instance of "DHMO" and "dihydrogen monoxide" in the message above with the
word "water," and you'll get the joke (if you didn't already).

>
>

"zara" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> I have always been concerned about sulfites in wine but now I have learned
> that wine contains varying amounts of a substance called DHMO (Dihydrogen
> Monoxide). I have heard that this substance is a constituent of many known
> toxic substances, dieases and diease-causing agents, enviormental hazards
> and can be leathal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
> I am somewhat concerned. Your take on this will be helpful to the group.
>

YOU ARE RIGHT!!
look at this one
http://www.dhmo.org/

;-)

Luk

Mike Tommasi wrote:

> Wine will kill you

Dulce et decorum est pro vina mori

Life will kill you

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton wrote:
> Mike Tommasi wrote:
>
>> Wine will kill you
>
>
> Dulce et decorum est pro vina mori
^^^^
Ack!! OK, so wine is neuter in Latin, but it'll always be feminine to me :P

Mark Lipton

zara wrote:
> I have always been concerned about sulfites in wine but now I have learned
> that wine contains varying amounts of a substance called DHMO (Dihydrogen
> Monoxide). I have heard that this substance is a constituent of many known
> toxic substances, dieases and diease-causing agents, enviormental hazards
> and can be leathal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
> I am somewhat concerned. Your take on this will be helpful to the group.

Oh, DHMO is fine stuff. No problem at all. I just consumed
32 ounces of it this morning, and I think I'll have another
quart of it now. Gotta be careful, though - there's some DHMO
out on the street that's not pure, that can be very bad.

Dana

"zara" > in
...
>
> ... a substance called DHMO (Dihydrogen Monoxide). ...
> Your take on this will be helpful to the group.

My take on it is that people do not read as widely as they used to. If they
did, they wouldn't desire to coin unnecessary and clunkily literal jargon
like Dihydrogen Monoxide. (I'm not talking about the original author of
that posting, whenever it was, but of whoever introduced the phrase
"Dihydrogen Monoxide.")

Instead they'd use real jargon from older books, such as Hydrogen Protoxide.
Or more likely -- since it was 1800s -- Protoxide of Hydrogen. (IANMTU -- I
Am Not Making This Up).

That was one of the venerable, unique, glorious, and (alas, since IUPAC)
obsolete specialized chemical names in English. Others I remember from
Older Sources are Muriate of Potash, Corrosive Sublimate, Calomel, Realgar,
Orpiment, Sugar of Lead (with its suggestion of ancient Romans, their wines
in lead cups and, of course, their orgies). Aqua Regia (the famous acid
mixture -- would dissolve gold, I recall). Sesquicarbonates would vie with
Protoxides to balance the numbers of atoms per molecule. (Along with all
this came the inevitable conversion tables for the three old measure
systems: Avordupois, Apothecaries', and Troy. So many minims of this, so
many grains of that. Mix well.)

If you go back further to the Alchemists you have more theoretical structure
with its own jargon; Hermes Trismegistus and so on. But I'm quoting
relatively modern times -- late 1800s when a lot of basic chemistry was
already known, yet they still kept the cool names for things.

-- Max


--
"Pure Hydrogen has been often respired by different philosophers,
particularly by Scheele, Fontana, and the adventurous and unfortunate
Rosier." -- Humphry Davy, _Researches Chemical and Philosophical,_
Division 1, 1799.

Mike Tommasi wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:15:32 -0700, "Max Hauser"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>That was one of the venerable, unique, glorious, and (alas, since IUPAC)
>>obsolete specialized chemical names in English. Others I remember from
>>Older Sources are Muriate of Potash, Corrosive Sublimate, Calomel, Realgar,
>>Orpiment, Sugar of Lead (with its suggestion of ancient Romans, their wines
>>in lead cups and, of course, their orgies). Aqua Regia (the famous acid
>>mixture -- would dissolve gold, I recall). Sesquicarbonates would vie with
>>Protoxides to balance the numbers of atoms per molecule. (Along with all
>>this came the inevitable conversion tables for the three old measure
>>systems: Avordupois, Apothecaries', and Troy. So many minims of this, so
>>many grains of that. Mix well.)
>
>
> Max (hey, I just mentioned you in my last post, coincidence)
>
> you dont have to go back to Alchemists' time to find such terms. As a
> kid I used to leaf through my parents Pears' Encyclopedia, a british
> compact reference that is still in print, and theyreferred to
> Corrosive Sublimate, Blue Vitriol, some ither colour of vitriol, etc..

Indeed you don't, Mike. Speaking as one of the group's resident
(al)chemists, I can tell you that I have used Calomel electrodes in a
student lab, I have made aqua regia for my own use (water spots on your
Riedel? A brief immersion in aqua regia will solve *that* problem) and
anyone who's owned a pool has likely shopped for muriatic acid in pool
supply stores. OTOH, I have no freakin' clue what orpimar is -- though
I am certain that a minute's Googling can solve that problem.

Mark Lipton

"Mike Tommasi" > wrote in message
...
> you dont have to go back to Alchemists' time to find such terms. As a
> kid I used to leaf through my parents Pears' Encyclopedia, a british
> compact reference that is still in print, and they referred to
> Corrosive Sublimate, Blue Vitriol, some other colour of vitriol, etc..

Probably green vitriol, which would be ferrous (ferric?) sulfate. A couple
of others come to mind: oleum (sulfuric acid), and how could we forget
phlogiston? ;^)

Tom S

Mike Tommasi wrote:

> What on earth is phlogiston??? Sounds like a name of a band, a heavy
> metal one of course ;-))))

Kewl, Mike! R0x on!!! Phlogiston was the fifth Aristotelian element
(after earth, air, fire and water), believed to be required for
combustion. It was known that substances that burned would often lose
weight, which was attributed to the loss of phlogiston. The loss of all
the phlogiston was also used to explain why ashes wouldn't burn any
more. It was Lavoisier who finally put an end to the idea of phlogiston
and renamed "dephlogisticated air" as oxygen (Gr. acid maker, from the
mistaken idea that all acids contained oxygen), thankfully before the
Terror put an end to Lavoisier.

Mark Lipton

"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
...
thankfully before the
> Terror put an end to Lavoisier.

??? Was Lavoisier murdered by a bunch of Terroirists?

Tom S