Deadly Chemicals
European aristocrats were afraid of tomatoes because the acidity of the tomato juice would leach this element from their pewter plates, causing many of them to die.
What is lead?
This chemist won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of polonium and radium. Additionally, she also coined the term "radioactivity".
Who is Marie Curie?
This common medicine was discovered by chance when Alexander Fleming observed fungal contamination of a bacterial culture seemingly killing the bacteria.
What is penicillin?
What is NaCl?
This element was named for a prominent college town in California.
What is berkelium?
This chemical became popular in the Middle Ages due to its lack of color, odor, and taste, receiving the nickname "King of Poisons" due to its prevalence.
What is arsenic?
This chemist had a dream that revealed the structure of the first periodic table to him.
Who is Dmitri Mendeleev?
This compound was discovered by Constantin Fahlberg, who noticed a sweet taste on his hand while working in a laboratory in 1879 and is commonly used as a calorie-free sweetener. (C7H5NO3S)
What is saccharin?
The spicy flavor of hot peppers come from this compound, C18H27NO3.
This element was named for the asteroid, Pallas.
What is palladium?
In the early 1900s, female factory workers would use this element to paint watch faces, using their lips to point the tips of their brushes. Eventually, many of them fell fatally ill, with one woman's jaw even falling from her skull.
What is radium?
This chemist discovered the principle of pasteurization, which was named after him.
Who is Louis Pasteur?
The only element to be first discovered in space, rather than on Earth.
What is helium?
The effect of this reaction turns non-starchy foods like nuts or meat brown.
What is the Maillard reaction?
The meaning of this element's name is "I beget water".
What is hydrogen?
During the Prohibition in the United States, bootlegged alcohol made with improper distillation techniques produced this chemical, causing blindness, organ failure, and death.
What is methanol?
This chemist discovered the proton and is known as the father of nuclear physics.
Who is Ernest Rutherford?
This element has the earliest recorded "discovery" through Hennig Brand's experiments with urine in an attempt to create the philosopher's stone.
What is phosphorus?
Carrageenan gum, an anionic polysaccharide, commonly used in ice cream, is isolated from this plant.
What is seaweed?
This element was formerly named "wolfrahm", but its current name means "heavy stone".
What is tungsten?
Former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, was assassinated using this radioactive isotope after accusing Russia of being a "mafia state". He was buried in a lead-lined coffin due to lingering radioactivity.
What is polonium-210?
This chemist is the 2024 recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their advancements in protein structure prediction.
Who is Demis Hassabis?
This element was discovered by a chemist burning seaweed collected from the coast of France who noticed a distinct cloud of violet vapor.
What is iodine?
The effect of lycopene,
C40H56.
Due to being commonly confused with a lead ore, this element gets its name from the greek word for "lead".
What is molybdenum?