What is it about, let’s say arsenic atoms, that makes it so much more deadly than gold for example. And please expand this to molecules too.
In: Chemistry
With most things, it is how reactive they are, or if their presence disrupts other processes in the body.
Put sodium chloride (table salt) in water, no reaction. Put sodium in water, it violently explodes. Sodium is very reactive. Its valence electron wants to react to something (other metals in the same row on the periodic table can do the same thing, like Potassium.
Chlorine is the same way. Chlorine wants to react. It can asphyxiate us very easily. It combines with sodium to make something mostly harmless.
It’s always about the dose. Water can kill humans if we drink too much of it.
Latest Answers