[ELI5] If a poison is expired, is it more poisonous or less poisonous?
In: Chemistry
Depends. Arsenic compounds might degrade into other arsenic compounds that are still as poisonous. It really depends on what the “expiration” means, how the substance changes over time and what the products of the change are.
It really depends on two things 1) what dows the expiration mean, is it a reagent with a specific purpose? It may be expired but still quite lethal 2) what does it break down into?
Usually less poisonous, prolonged exposure to moisture or oxygen or UV light has started to break down or react the active poison molecules into something else. That new material can be more dangerous, but that’s uncommon.
In biodegradable foods “expired” typically means “covered in mold”.
In chemical supplies, “expired” usually means contaminated with moisture or oxidized. Some complex molecules degrade on their own even in sealed containers.
When a object is expired, its purpose has decreased to below the level of usability.
For food it is how edible it is. For chemicals it’s how effective they still are.
For poisons it is similar to chemicals: It’s how effective they still are. So it would be less poisonous.
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