quote:

---

Hoax Soaks Aliso Viejo
City officials fall for an Internet prank and draft a law to curb the risks of dihydrogen monoxide.

By William Wan, Times Staff Writer

In large quantities, dihydrogen monoxide can cause medical problems in humans and even destroy property. But in Aliso Viejo, it's only causing red faces.

Officials of the south Orange County city were embarrassed to learn Friday that they had tripped over an Internet hoax about dihydrogen monoxide — commonly known as water — in an effort to be environmentally correct.

A proposed law that was scheduled to go before the City Council next week would have banned foam cups and containers at events requiring city permits.

A staff report cited environmental concerns, including the danger posed by dihydrogen monoxide, described as a chemical used in production of the plastic that can "threaten human health and safety."

"It's embarrassing," said City Manager David J. Norman. "We had a paralegal who did bad research."

The American Plastics Council has seized on the case as an example of how "junk science" can cause unfounded environmental fears.

"The plastics industry has always been a favorite target of environmentalists," said spokesman Robert Krebs. "But we dream about instances like this when our opponents do something foolish."

Regardless of the hoax, the Sierra Club argues that the ubiquitous white foam — made of polystyrene — can cause environmental harm.

It's not biodegradable, said spokesman Eric Antebi, and, if ingested, can damage the digestive tracts of marine animals.

Aliso Viejo officials are not the only people who have fallen for the hoax.

Seven years ago, four teenagers in Pittsburgh were reprimanded by police for passing out fliers that caused a neighborhood-wide panic about dihydrogen monoxide.

Weeks later, the hoax took on a life of its own after a junior high school student in Eagle Rock, Idaho, used it in a science fair project to prove how gullible people can be.

The student conducted a survey of residents about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide and found that 86% favored banning the substance — without knowing what it was.

The hoax inspired a small tongue-in-cheek movement on the Internet, with "national coalitions" formed to ban the substance. One of them, the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division, maintains an extensive, if satirical, website detailing the harmful effects of the chemical — from tissue damage caused by prolonged exposure (wrinkly skin after soaking in the bath tub) to death by overdose (drowning).

Despite their embarrassment, officials in Aliso Viejo may still ban polystyrene.

"Our main concern is with the Aliso Creek watershed," Norman said. "If you get Styrofoam into the water and it breaks apart, it's virtually impossible to clean up."

After some Internet research on Friday, the city manager decided to pull the item from the City Council's agenda.

"We're going to rework it — with better research — before it's taken back to the council," Norman said.

---

quote:

---

Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today.

---

Perhaps we should be more worried about what is in the streams, lakes and reservoirs without dihydrogen monoxide.
 

---

Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
 
Scientists even think that Mars, now a completely dead planet, was formerly contaminated with large quantities of dihydrogen monoxide.

[ March 15, 2004, 09:46 PM: Message edited by: aka ]
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
See! The stuff is so toxic it killed off all the Martians!
 

---

Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
 
rivka, makes you think, doesn't it? <knowing nod>
 

---

Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 


(You two should go on the road.)
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
*eyes CT suspiciously* But will we be able to access Hatrack while on the road?

Well, will we?


 

---

Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
 
Actually, Penn & Teller did the dihydrogen monoxide trick on their show last year. It was hilarious - they got people at Earth Day in DC to sign a petition to ban it. Everyone signed.

One woman was especially funny. When the Penn & Teller actress (posing as an environmental activist) started to give the spiel about how dihydrogen monoxide is put in pesticides, this woman interruped her and pompously declared, "I'm familiar with it," as she signed her name on the petition.

Here's the Penn & Teller show site. The title is a cuss word, for those of you who have filters, etc.

http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/topics.do?topic=eh
 

---

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
Reminds me of the petition to end women's suffrage. Lot's of people signed because they didn't want women to suffer...
 

---

Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
 
And, of course, this reminds us all of "Talking to Americans." Which just goes to show that if you stick a camera in people's faces and badger them they're going to say stupid things.
 

---

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
*cries*

These are the people that decide our president!

*resumes crying*
 

---

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
These are the people who DECIDED our president.
 

---

Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
 
I've seen this hoax played out many times, each time lots of stupid people fall for it.

anyway, I was wondering, shouldn't it be called hyrdogen hydroxide?
 

---

Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
 
Does Greenpeace know about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide? Somebody should warn them.

I can see it now. A march on Washington, urging Congress to ban H2O.
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
There are multiple possible names for water. Hydrogen hydroxide is one (although that implies that it is a base -- or an acid (both of which are sometimes true)).
 

---

Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
 
Dihydrogen monoxide is produced by the combustion of fossil fuels.
I just call it burnt hydrogen. Combustion is always bad. Everyone knows that.
 

---

Posted by Slash the Berzerker (Member # 556) on :
 
Ummmm...

I am not a chemist. I think I got a C- in chemistry. I am not interested in chemistry. I don't read books on it or look up web sites on it.

And when I read the thread title, the first thing that popped into my head was, "Wouldn't that just be water?"

It amazes me that we have so many people who are able to function at a high level in one certain area, while being totally oblivious to things outside their core competency. What happened to everyone having a solid base of information in a wide number of areas in addition to their specialization?
 

---

Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
 
*Goes into IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists) naming lecture mode.

*thinks better of it

AJ
 

---

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
AJ, that sounded interesting. Go for it!
 

---

Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
 
you really don't want the lecture on naming conventions... I'm sure I can find a link somewhere. It is in the second chapter of every basic chemistry text in existence, right after significant figures in the first chapter.

AJ
 

---

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
OK, well satisfy my curiosity as to what they would actually call H2O.

Please...
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Well, when I teach HS chemistry students about naming binary compounds, I tell them there are two exceptions (at least, two they have to know) to the naming rules.

Water and ammonia. Which are always called "water" and "ammonia."



From here:

quote:

---

COMMON NAMES OF BINARY COVALENT COMPOUNDS YOU SHOULD KNOW

H2O water
NH3 ammonia
N2H4 hydrazine
CH4 methane
C2H2 acetylene

---

quote:

---

Some compounds have been known for so long that a systematic nomenclature cannot compete with well-established common names. Examples of compounds for which common names are used include water (H2O), ammonia (NH3)

---

quote:

---

Sometimes these compounds have generic or common names (e.g., H2O is "water") and they also have systematic names (e.g., H2O, dihydrogen monoxide).

---

 

---

Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
 
Slash,

Dunno. We have a president who insists on using the term nukular despite a Yale education. Sets a good example, though I'm not sure for what.

fallow
 

---

Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
 
*bump* This thread is only two years older than the new one.

[ March 02, 2006, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: JonnyNotSoBravo ]
 

---

Posted by esl (Member # 3143) on :
 
I'm confused. You mean two years newer, right?
 

---

Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
 
You are so very right. I will edit.
 

---

Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
 
Tom and MPH: If they're environmental activists I don't think they decided our president. I think they voted for your guy =)

I think you'd find about as many Bush supporters at Earth Day as you would at Pride.

Pix
 

---

Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
 
Pixiest: are you ignoring the Log Cabin Republicans?
 

---

Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
 
fugu: take it from a bisexual who votes republican.

We're really really really really really really really freakin' rare.
 

---

Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
Okay, ya got me curious, rivka. Why dihydrogen monoxide as a systemic name? I thought that names were chosen to be descriptive of the active groups that a molecule is composed of, decomposes into, eg:
hydrogen sulfide
sodium hydroxide
hydrogen hydroxide
The latter being water, which has a natural equilibrium state of H+ and OH- dissolved in H20 ; with the free hydrogen ion and the free hydoxyl radical being explanation for why water is also known as "the universal solvent".
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Water is generally considered to be a covalent compound. (It's actually polar, but polar compounds get named as covalents do.)

You are thinking of how ionic compounds are named.

More on naming conventions

Oh, and water's polarity has far more to do with its ability to dissolve compounds than the very small concentration of hydrogen and hydroxide ions it tends to have.

Hydroxyl radicals (like all radicals) aren't stable, so I'm not sure what you're talking about there.
 

---