this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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why is it fine to lick calcium? wouldn't that cause sever burns?
It would, don't do it. There's more than one questionable assignment on the table including magnesium right above it.
Wait, why shouldn't you lick magnesium? I've done that plenty of times (for giant dumbass reasons) and I'm no worse off than before I licked it...
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