“Dihydrogen monoxide”
“Dihydrogen monoxide” (DHMO) is a scientific joke that describes common
properties of water using its systematic name, which sounds “dangerous” and “hides” the
actual compound. The main purpose of this joke is to illustrate how lack of basic knowledge
may lead to panic.
There are so many contexts to use this name followed by some terrifying fact. Many
people were fooled by this jape. For example, in 1997 a 14-year student Nathan Zohner
managed to present dangers of DHMO to 50 ninth-grade students in the way that most of
them favored the DHMO ban. His presentation included statements that accidental inhalation
of DHMO causes thousands of deaths every year; it leads to the physical dependence, and
withdrawal certainly means death; all lakes, rivers and oceans contain huge amounts of this
dangerous compound. This 14-year young man also mentioned that DHMA is added to foods,
used as fire retardant and in different fields of industry, but still remains legal (Mikkelson,
1999). David Murray, research director of the non-profit Statistical Assessment Service in
Washington said that if the same survey took place among Congress members, the results
could likely be similar (about 86% of ban-supporters) (Glassman, 1997). There is even a
website dedicated to DHMO. It contains structured and detailed information about its
dangers, uses, as well as numerous scenarios where this compound is involved. For example,
it is discussed how DHMO improves athletic performance, symptoms of its overdose,
chemical analysis, and more. Frequently asked questions are represented in question-answer
format (Dihydrogen monoxide).
In general, DHMO is an extremely fair demonstration of people’s inattentiveness and
lack of the simplest knowledge. The moral of this story is that DHMA is not the only
example of such “cheating”. The more educated the society will be, the less false
information, fakes and unjustified panic will spread among people.
“Dihydrogen monoxide” (DHMO) is a scientific joke that describes common
properties of water using its systematic name, which sounds “dangerous” and “hides” the
actual compound. The main purpose of this joke is to illustrate how lack of basic knowledge
may lead to panic.
There are so many contexts to use this name followed by some terrifying fact. Many
people were fooled by this jape. For example, in 1997 a 14-year student Nathan Zohner
managed to present dangers of DHMO to 50 ninth-grade students in the way that most of
them favored the DHMO ban. His presentation included statements that accidental inhalation
of DHMO causes thousands of deaths every year; it leads to the physical dependence, and
withdrawal certainly means death; all lakes, rivers and oceans contain huge amounts of this
dangerous compound. This 14-year young man also mentioned that DHMA is added to foods,
used as fire retardant and in different fields of industry, but still remains legal (Mikkelson,
1999). David Murray, research director of the non-profit Statistical Assessment Service in
Washington said that if the same survey took place among Congress members, the results
could likely be similar (about 86% of ban-supporters) (Glassman, 1997). There is even a
website dedicated to DHMO. It contains structured and detailed information about its
dangers, uses, as well as numerous scenarios where this compound is involved. For example,
it is discussed how DHMO improves athletic performance, symptoms of its overdose,
chemical analysis, and more. Frequently asked questions are represented in question-answer
format (Dihydrogen monoxide).
In general, DHMO is an extremely fair demonstration of people’s inattentiveness and
lack of the simplest knowledge. The moral of this story is that DHMA is not the only
example of such “cheating”. The more educated the society will be, the less false
information, fakes and unjustified panic will spread among people.
