For example, I read that 5g of cyanide is enough to kill 35 people. What does that even mean? If I could somehow split 5g of solid cyanide (is that a thing?) into 35 parts and put it in 35 peoples’ Dr. Pepper they would all die? And how could you possibly test that?
In: 62
One of the most common ways of measuring lethality is [LD50](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_lethal_dose), which is the amount for a substance that kills half of patients administered. It’s not a perfect measurement, but sodium cyanide has an estimated LD50 of [4-15mg/kg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_cyanide). Splitting 5g 35 way gives you a dose of about 14mg, and considering the average person weighs ~70kg, I’d say what you read is off by quite a bit. At the most deadly estimated LD50 of 4mg/kg, a dose of 280mg would kill half of people; splitting 5g into 280mg portions would kill about 9 people.
Latest Answers