this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
85 points (94.7% liked)

Chemistry

597 readers
12 users here now

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Don't we "lick" oxygen whenever we open our mouths?

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago (2 children)

you lick O2, diatomic oxygen. If you could 'lick' monoatomic oxygen, it would be about equivalent to licking something like fluorine.

Oxygen just really really really wants electrons. It's up there with fluorine in this regard.

[–] remotelove@lemmy.ca 10 points 6 months ago

Oxygen is a beast.

O wants to join with everything so bad, it sticks to itself first. O2 is still hungry enough to spontaneously eat iron. O3 can start breaking down some plastics and is extremely effective at sterilization.

Oxygen is extremely underrated and is the honey badger of all the elements.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Ah, I see. I assumed that this meme referred to licking a macroscopic "lump" of each element, rather than a single atoms.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I think you are free to interpret it however you like.

[–] remotelove@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 months ago

My As licking days are over, it seems. That's what I got out of this.