Cyanide...

Heliospherez · 3 Mar 2006 at 17:32

We use Gold Cyanide at work.... no big deal really. Weve all been trained on the dangers of it... and it isn't half as quick acting as they make out in the movies.
The biggest danger is the cyanide gases. If they are inhaled in very minute quantities will cause very bad pains / teeth to fall out etc etc.

Cyanide poisoning is very easy to treat - and we have a number of antodote kits onsite - that can be used at any stage of poisoning.... so its not that good a killer

i could think of far worse things to take if you wanted to die quickly (and most would available in my work )

robmiller · 3 Mar 2006 at 17:51

Hitler shot himself in the head after biting the cyanide capsule, which I think is as good a way as any to guarantee your death.

Otacon said:
Vegetarian

Only out of necessity.

Spanker · 3 Mar 2006 at 17:56

AJUK said:
Cyanide aside, what did you think of Downfall? I thought it was excellent and quite harrowing in parts.

To be fair, it was probably the bullet in the brain rather than the cyanide that did for Hitler.

Not wanting to take the thread of topic, found it very touching, even felt for Hiltler to a certain extent even though i shouldn't

: Confused : why though? :confused:

ElvisFan · 3 Mar 2006 at 18:01

I used to work in the waste industry and used to come across a lot of badly packed cyanide when doing surveys on customers sites.. Many's the time I've opened a 45 gallon drum and the inside would be full of ripped bags of Sodium Cyanide powder. My colleagues would run a mile.

I'd be there going (sniff) "Aaah. Bisto."

Heliospherez · 3 Mar 2006 at 18:09

If you drank a glass of Cyanide, or a glass of

this stuff

Which do you think would kill you first ? Very easy to make the acid - Reasonably difficult to make the Cyanide.

William · 3 Mar 2006 at 18:10

divosuk said:
If you drank a glass of Cyanide, or a glass of

this stuff

Which do you think would kill you first ? Very easy to make the acid - Reasonably difficult to make the Cyanide.

The acid.

As has been said, CN would take a while to kill you, it would have you dead in about 45 mins.

The acid would leave a very nasty mess, you would die in a load of bloody convulsions as you melt from the inside. Sort of an extreme version of what happens when you get shot in the stomache. (I think that is about 8M HCl)

phykell · 3 Mar 2006 at 19:22

I have plenty of palytoxin available to me in my marine tanks' zoanthideans. Now *that's* a toxin and is significantly more toxic than just about anything else. There's the story of the guy who almost croaked after simply squishing a tiny worm against the glass of an aquarium. It just so happened the worm fed on zoanthideans so squishing it was a *really* bad idea...

pyro · 3 Mar 2006 at 19:29

divosuk said:
i could think of far worse things to take if you wanted to die quickly (and most would available in my work )

I could use some of these, actually! Where do you work by the way?

valerian · 5 Mar 2006 at 16:00

no he's duke leto atreides, remember the tooth, the tooth the tooth

Edinho · 5 Mar 2006 at 16:37

Cyanide ions bind to the iron atom of the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase in the mitochondria of cells. This deactivates the enzyme and breaks the electron transport chain, meaning that the cell can no longer use the oxygen which is available to it.

Cyanide inhibits enzyme cytochrome c oxidase, so basically halts respiration.

Cyanide isnt all that toxic, in the form of KCN anyway. There are other more or equally nasty things about molten phenolics have a similar toxicity to KCN.

phykell · 5 Mar 2006 at 16:41

Palytoxin

Palytoxin is an incredibly complex marine natural product containing 71 stereochemical elements. Palytoxin, isolated from soft coral, is considered to be the most toxic non-peptide substance known. Professor Yoshito Kishi of Harvard University synthesized palytoxin in 1994. This synthetic feat is still considered today by many to be the greatest synthetic accomplishment ever.

Palytoxin targets the sodium-potassium pump protein by binding to the molecule such that the molecule is locked in a position where it allows passive transport of both the sodium and potassium ions, thereby destroying the ion gradient that is essential for most cells.

Typical symptoms of palytoxin poisoning are angina-like chest pains, asthma-like breathing difficulties, tachycardia, unstable blood pressure, hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), and an electrocardiogram showing an exagerrated T wave. The onset of symptoms is rapid, and death usually follows just minutes after. Antidotes for the toxin include vasodilators, such as papverine and isosorbide nitrate, if injected into the heart immediately (Source: CBWInfo).

Edinho · 5 Mar 2006 at 16:46

Im getting a headache trying to remember my Biochemistry.

fatiain · 5 Mar 2006 at 16:52

phykell said:
Palytoxin

I thought Tetrodotoxin off of pufferfish and botulinum toxin off of Clostridium botulinum were the most toxic toxins. Aflatoxin is another favourite of mine.

Rich1988 · 5 Mar 2006 at 17:02

8M !! the strongest I have ever used is 3M and that stuff was pretty strong

phykell · 5 Mar 2006 at 18:36

fatiain said:
I thought Tetrodotoxin off of pufferfish and botulinum toxin off of Clostridium botulinum were the most toxic toxins. Aflatoxin is another favourite of mine.

Clostridium botulinum is widely agreed to be the most toxic but Palytoxin and maitotoxin have potencies around 100 times that of TTX (Tetrodotoxin) :eek:

. The button polyps it comes from are so mundane looking as well!

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/ttx/ttx.htm