How are chemicals like Isopropyl Alcohol and Sodium Hydroxide highly toxic on their own, but are safe when in a solution like Gaviscon?

Question

How are chemicals like Isopropyl Alcohol and Sodium Hydroxide highly toxic on their own, but are safe when in a solution like Gaviscon?

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Answer 1

There is an old saying, [the dose makes the poison](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dose_makes_the_poison). This is because anything is toxic in high enough amounts, and anything can be considered nontoxic in low enough dose. You can literally drink too much water and die (it’s called water intoxication, or hyponatremia), and there is an amount of cyanide you can consume and be fine. Basically, the answer to your question is there isn’t nearly enough of either the isopropyl or the NaOH to be worrisome.