A friend told me a funny science related story the other day and so I cross checked it on the internet and I thought "why not blog about it."
The story is kind of funny, it was related to chemistry and so I expect a good REACTION. The story is about the taste of Potassium cyanide.
First let me introduce you to Potassium cyanide(molecular formula - KCN). It is highly toxic and it is a cellular respiration inhibitor. And the main point here is that its lethal dose is 200-300mg, yup!, only 0.3g can kill you!
So the story goes like this - A scientist was almost dying and had got not many days to live. So as a final contribution to science he told that he would taste cyanide and let people know about its taste. So he brought a pen and a paper, tasted cyanide and then he wrote the letter 'S' and he died. He died before he could write more than "S"!
What does the 'S' stand for? Sweet? Salty? Sour? So much for nothing. Wow great story, isn't it? I really dont know if this story is a myth or a super myth. But people have tasted very diluted KCN and they said it tastes bitter and it smells like almonds.
So now you know this kind of thing happened and if you or one of your friends decide to give some contribution to science and taste potassuim cyanide then first write down these on a piece of paper:
- Sweet
- Salty
- Sour
- Something else?
