The hoax of Monoxide of dihydrogene , or alternatives, consists in allotting to a banal chemical body - water in fact, but one can use others of them - a denomination complexes unknown not initiated, and about it holding a speech solemnly scientific, so as to create at the listener an unjustified concern.

recurring Joke in the chemists, this type of mystification can be interpreted, with the choice:

• as a manner of ridiculing certain environmental activists who use a vocabulary badly controlled to found a climate of irrational fear,
• like a denunciation of certain scientists which, imbus of their knowledge, accumulate the technical terms, making obscure - not always involuntarily - the speeches by which they are supposed to inform their listeners.
• as a denunciation of certain policies which voluntarily found a climate of panic in the population (example of the Avian flu).

A little terminology

Water is a chemical compound of H₂O formula.

• a Oxyde is a chemical compound obtained by action of oxygen on a body ( oxidation ), for example a metal; the rough Formule of an oxide is X_nO_n' form. For the hoax, H₂O is an oxide: the monoxide of dihydrogene (mono and di- to announce that two hydrogen atoms are related to only one oxygen atom).
• In the same way a Hydroxyde has a formula of type R-OH; one can write that of water H-OH, and consequently call it hydroxide of hydrogen , which allows an alternative of the hoax.
• the same H-OH can be seen like a Acide (formula starting with H): the hydroxyque acid (or oxyhydric), from where a third version of the hoax.
• Lastly, one can see it like a alcohol, whose general formula for an acyclic compound is C_nH_2n+1OH . For the value n=0 , water can be regarded as hydrogénol .

Hoax attention!

Risks associated with monoxide with dihydrogene:

• this substance is a principal element of the acid rains;
• it contributes to the erosion of the grounds;
• it can be at the origin of ecological catastrophes various and varied at the time of bad weather;
• its form solid can cause serious disorders, even irremediable accidents, for example for the maritime transport;
• its form powdery, concentrated in particular in unstable plates, can be a obstacle with the harmonious development of the leisures of mountain;
• it causes the Corrosion and the destruction of metals and the electricals appliance;
• it increases considerably the electric risks in the presence of conducting under tension;
• an excessive ingestion can cause many unpleasant side effects, being able to go until resulting in death;
• the contact prolonged with its solid form causes lesions of fabrics;
• its presence in the lungs, even in small quantity, can cause death by asphyxiation;
• its form gas can cause serious burns;
• it was found in the Tumeur S of patients of the Cancer in final phase;
• in vitro , it causes the bursting of the human cells;
• even after prolonged rinsing, it remains about it always traces;
• in spite of all that, the governments and the companies continue to use it with large scales, neglecting its dangers deliberately.

One will connect this history to the thought:

When won't it be any more need to recall that the anti-alcohol ones are patients in prey with this poison, the monoxide of dihydrogene, if solvent and corrodent that one chose it between all the substances for ablutions and detergents, and that a drop poured in a pure liquid, the wormwood for example, the disorder? | Alfred Jarry

External bonds

• an ironic site intended to warn the public of the “problems” of monoxide of dihydrogene
• Monoxide of dihydrogene: facts, translation in French