How many silica packets would I need to eat in order to absorb all the water in my body?
Okay, so you know those silica packets they put in shoeboxes and bottles of vitamins? Well silica is actually silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is the same material that makes up quartz. It’s essentially really porous sand and capable of absorbing 40% of its weight in moisture. While technically harmless to eat, eating one of those packets would give you a serious case of dry mouth.
So how many packets would you have to eat to absorb all the water in your body? Let’s say for example that I weigh 195 pounds. (Hypothetically speaking of course.) Since the human body is 70% water, there is 136.5 pounds of water in my hypothetical body. Therefore, it would require 341.25 pounds of silica to absorb all the water. Since a single packet of silica weighs 0.1 ounces, that means I would have to eat 54,600 silica packets.
It doesn’t exactly sound like the best way to do yourself in if you ask me. Something tells me I wouldn’t make it past packet #2. And who has the money to buy 54,600 pairs of shoes to get all those packets in the first place?
Source: What If…?: 75 Fascinating Questions and Answers
Thanks Michelle!
NOW TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW!
I always thought the DO NOT EAT warnings were a little overkill, sort of like the “This is not a toy” warnings on plastic bags.
Something you may not have known: The longest undisputed reign is that of Sobhuza II of Swaziland who ascended to the throne on December 10, 1899 at the age of four months and ruled until his death on August 21, 1982, a reign of 82 years 254 days.
I’d like to add beating Sobhuza II’s record onto my dream list from yesterday.
Craig: That dream will absolutely come true. The dream of adding it to the list, I mean. The *actual* dream…most likely not.
Something you may not know: The oldest continuously-occupied city in the world, though consistently claimed by the the city of Damascus in Syria, is actually Jericho, which was established no later than 8,000 BC — 6,000 years prior to the days of Abraham.
Awesome… I have always wondered this exact same thing, or at least what Silica gel tastes like
Well, eating 2X your weight in silica would be a challenge. You’d have to keep drinking water to get it down which would only necessitate an increase in the quanitity of silica. Good luck with that.
Ran across this little tidbit this morning. DYK, that in the early 1800′s there were over 100 euphamisms for the male genitalia? You can google this but the author in question who writes in this period did it for us. Some of the more colorful examples are: gaying instrument, lobcock, pego, plug tail, rascal, tickletail, whorepipe, arbor vitae, hair splitter and stretch. Try and use one in a conversation today and see if you can get away with it. Ask a coworker how his rascal is doing today and see what he says.
There is my contribution to the perversion of all Puntabulous readers on this cold windy Tuesday morning.
I LOVE whorepipe! That is awesome!
Gaying instrument, inDEED!
In the original Star Trek series, there was a creature called the Horta, which, if I recall correctly was a silicon based lifeform, until us carbon based ones. So I wonder, how much of a horta would you have to eat to absorb all the water in your body. Unless of course, my recall is faulty and the Horta was made from something else. In which case, my contribution to “Teach Me Something Tuesdays” would be that I’m an idiot with the memory of a fruitfly.
HUGS…
The Horta (which I made reference to in my sex with magical creatures post) was made of silicon. you can read all about that episode here and see pictures for those who aren’t familiar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_Dark
You can lead a Horta water, but you can’t make it drink?
(With apologies to Dorothy Parker)
I love the word “pego.” It totally doesn’t sound like slang for a lobcock. More like a children’s game:
“Play Pego, the new fast-paced game from Hasbro! Quick! Stick the pego in before the hole disappears! Get four pegos in [children laughing] and you score the Pego Four-Play! It’s wacky fun for the whole family!”
When I wrote “until” I totally meant “unlike”.
Thank you Tam for confirming the accuracy of my memory. So I suppose my contribution to Teach Me Something Tuesdays is that I type really fast and don’t proofread my comments.
HUGS…
Polt: “Teach Me Something” implies something we don’t already know…
I’m not familiar with the Horta, (I thought it was a Jewish dance). However, my father at one time was dating the actress (Kathryn Hays) who played the Empath on an episode of Star Trek,
It would take 20 Imelda Marcoses to accumulate that many pairs of shoes (and silica packets).
Imelda had 2700 pairs of shoes when she left office (no, strike that)… when she left the public eye. That yields just enough silica to absorb 7 pounds of water.
Now, “a pint’s a pound the world around” (unless you try to buy a pint in a London pub with only a pound — all that gets you is a trip to the sidewalk on your bum), so 7 pounds of water is 7 pints, or just under 2 gallons.
Could losing 2 gallons of water be fatal? According to the compendium of all that is good and true, dehydration levels over 15% are usually fatal. Sadly, Imelda’s shoe closet only can account for 5% of your body’s water.
Looks like you can’t easily do this from the consumer end of the pipeline. Gotta go to the source: either a silica gel manufacturer, or possibly just get a job at Foot Locker in the mall.
With a job selling shoes in the mall, you just might decide that “death by silica” is a tempting way out. Or at least it makes a cool name for a band.
Two Pi: For a band name, how about just “Dessicant”?
FDot: Your dad is suddenly very cool.
Of course, this whole calculation assumes that the silica is itself completely dessicated at the outset. Since it’s actually fairly hygroscopic, you’d realistically need to eat a whole lot more packets than that.
I wonder what the normal water content of a Horta is, and do they expand when they go swimming?
Today’s post is ironic, because I was passing the restroom in the hall on the way to my office this morning and I thought to myself, “Gosh, I really need to desiccate…”
FDot: a Jewish dance! BWAHAHAHA…..love it.
And your dad dated them empath??????? So you were like what, two degrees away from Captain Kirk??? You, sir, are now my idol!
HUGS….
DaveS: I’m not sure I’d want to be the guitarist in a Death Metal band whose name sounded like a brand of diaper ointment.
TwoPi: Well I wouldn’t want to be the guitarist in a Death Metal band whose name sounded like a brand of diaper ointment, either.
But I would consider being their drummer…
(I wonder what the graphic on the drumhead would be…?)
Dave: The graphic would be a shrivelled dried up corpse (or just head perhaps).
You know how KISS did that thing with fake blood on stage… (Now it sounds more like GG Allin. Sigh.)
Tonight, at CBGB: Desiccant, with special guests Twelve-hour Colic, and The Pasifiers.
Double-bass drum, with lots of white ointment filling the gap between the drum heads. The graphic would be red, perhaps with images of blisters….
Tam: Bloodhound Gang’s Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo has a lot of euphemisms.
Twelve Hour Colic FTW! That is hysterical! Would there be a drag show to follow? Chiquita Pox and the Mumps perhaps?
Chiquita Pox!!! With Ru Bella, doing a special cover of Fergie’s “My Mumps”
RU BELLA!!!! TwoPi you are my hero! I was trying to think of childhood diseases and all I could think of was Fifth’s Disease. The cover of “My Mumps” is fantastic! I’m totally stifling outrageous laughter in my office!
Budget propositions are confusing.
Those are AWESOME drag names! better than a lot of real drag queen names! Ru Bella….Chiquita Pox…..BWAHAHAHAHA….
HUGS…
You’re too funny. Needed a good chuckle.
I want this shirt.
And this one.
This one’s funny too, but I could never wear it out of the house.
Craig: I like the bacon one.
YAY Tam!: http://www.noisebot.com/the_eh_team_t-shirt.htm
I love this: http://www.noisebot.com/love_is_mix_tapes_t-shirt.htm
BUNNY!: http://www.noisebot.com/for_love_or_bunny_t-shirt.htm
Ahhh, i LOVE the Canadian t-shirt, john! Awesome!
HUGS…
I think this shirt is one of my favorites: CLICK HERE
If you eat too much desiccant you might want some Gatorade:
The Gators football coach was frustrated with the performance of his players during the hot summer football practices, and asked the team doctor for his insight. His research team came across the unique mix of water, sodium, sugar, potassium, phosphate, and lemon juice that is now known as Gatorade in honor of the football team, the Gators. The football team credited Gatorade with their first Orange Bowl win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 1967, and the drink became an instant phenomenon. The Yellow Jackets coach Bud Carson, when asked why they lost, replied: “We didn’t have Gatorade. That made the difference.”
Those shirts are cute : ). I like this one, but it’s sold out:
http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=4704
Xi_Heather. That shirt makes my brain hurt. Is there a bigger version so we can read it?
Michelle M: That shirt totally made me LOL!
Nevermind Heather. Found the zoom
Xi_Heather (by the way, I need a nickname for you, I always type the wrong dash): that’s a fantastic shirt. Perfect for the zombie apocalypse. Also, it reminds me of a cheat sheet (which was allowed, by the way) I used in a chemistry class.
john – wasn’t the bunny shirt your avatar once upon a time?
Tam – I like this one for you: CLICK HERE
Craig – my husband was just talking about “receive bacon.” Weeeeiiiirrrrd.
Michelle M.: Yes it was my avatar, good memory.
Michelle: I WANT that shirt. Love it.
Craig – the one you can’t wear out of the house is totally something my friends would buy me. It reminds me of this one.
I think this one is funny.
And this one (which I think was posted here before).
Oh, and this one of course, since Britney loves saying it at her concerts!
Oh, and I don’t like this one.
Tam: Is this true??
Here are three of my faves:
I’d love to wear this one to work, but fear no one would get it.
I’d ESPECIALLY love to wear this one to work, but I KNOW no one would get it, and once they did they’d be offended and I’d be in trouble. Sigh.
And I’m tempted to get this one for Tam as a special gift. (Thank goodness she has a phenomenal sense of humour!)
Two Pi – I love the Darfur one. Geez – what kind of people do you work with?
The Canda one made me laugh (sorry Tam).
Snickerdoodle – I found some shirts for you:
http://www.zazzle.com/pure_perfection_tshirt-235472078764174158
http://www.zazzle.com/still_a_virgin_tshirt-235065289416732996
and here’s one for the future:
http://www.zazzle.com/virgin_tshirt-235050658278616688
Lol! I love the ‘still a virgin’ one.
I love this one and I want to buy this for a friends wife, but I think I would get hit for it. The science geek in me wants this one, yet the unix geek in me wants this one, and I would love to wear this one but I would spend all day explaining it to everyone. Not to pick on Tam, but I want to get her this one.
Oh! And if someone I know is having a baby I am so buying this one! Wow, I really am all kinds of geek…
Craig, I wanted to mention that I was so happy when I saw that Teach Me Something Tuesday is back. Yay! And the fact that you’ll need lots of t-shirts to go with all your shoes means we’re not really off topic. Not too much, anyway.
M. Nicodemus: But what is the question?