this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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Most of atoms can't be find as a pure form (metal/crystal or pair). You may have licked magnesium oxyde (MgO), but not magnesium as an explosive metal.
Ah, I see I've fallen for the classic ambiguity - I was assuming the vast chemistry arena we were licking things in was not a frictionless vacuum. Yes, it's hypothetically pyrophoric with water; though it would require some prodegious amounts of slobber (or some small amount of effort) to produce that effect just by licking it - and I'm not entirely sure how well human salivary glands operate under vacuum conditions....
Yeah I guess that's true, your salvia probably isn't penetrating the oxide layer with enough vigor to be too much of a concern. Don't eat it though!
https://youtube.com/shorts/Kk9rderPRnE