Dihydrogen monoxide hoax

Dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) is a humorous, scientific-sounding name for water. It is a running joke among chemists, about environmental activists and others, used to illustrate how general ignorance of science can lead to wildly misplaced fears.

The list of "risks" associated with dihydrogen monoxide include:

1. The substance is a major component of acid rain;
2. Contributes to soil erosion;
3. Causes corrosion and breakdown of metals and electrical equipment;
4. Excessive ingestion may cause various unpleasant, though generally not life-threatening, effects;
5. Prolonged contact with its solid form results in severe tissue damage;
6. Inhalation, even in small quantities, may cause death;
7. Its gaseous form may cause severe burns;
8. It has been found in the tumors of terminal cancer patients;
9. Nevertheless, the government and corporations continue using it widely, heedless of its grave dangers.

This joke dates at least to late 1988, when some University of California, Santa Cruz students wrote up and distributed fliers about DHMO and fooled a number of people. Soon after, they put the joke on the Web, which had just been developed. It is not clear whether this was the first usage of DHMO or any similar hoax, but it was the first to go online and draw widespread attention.

Public efforts 'against' DHMO

DHMO or its equivalent has been used for a number of public hoaxes, including:

• Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old, junior high student at Idaho Falls, Idaho gathered 43 votes to ban the chemical, out of 50 people surveyed among his classmates, in 1997. Zohner received the first prize at Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair for analysis of the results of his survey.

• Calgary, Canada high school students Kate Dalgleish and Mikael Sydor circulated a petition to ban the chemical as part of the Western Canada High School film festival. Several high school chemistry teachers and university science students signed the petition, which asked the municipal government to ban the 'dangerous chemical' under a ficticious Hazardous Chemical Act. Their film won the film festival and was circulated through several local high schools.

• The idea was also used for an episode of the Penn & Teller show Bullshit!, where they had self-proclaimed environmentalists sign a petition to ban DHMO.

• A similar hoax was perpetrated in Britain around the idea of an addictive, fattening substance known as 'CAKE', as part of the spoof news show Brass Eye. Some politicians were persuaded to speak out against this menace to society.

Real public action

• In March 2004, Aliso Viejo, California considered banning the use of foam containers at city-sponsored events because dihydrogen monoxide is part of their production. The issue was put on the agenda of the City Council after a paralegal found mention of DHMO online and did not realize it was a joke. It was pulled from the agenda before it could come to a vote, but not before the city received a lot of bad publicity.

Terminology

Water has the chemical formula H₂O, meaning that one molecule of water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

The prefix "di" means two and "mon" is short for "mono" meaning one. Oxide is often used to refer to oxygen. Literally, the term dihydrogen monoxide is "Two hydrogen, One oxygen", refering to the chemical formula.

Water is, however, a combination of H, HO, H₂0, and H₃0; not even counting the inevitable dissolved gasses. The hydrogen atom in constantly changing its bonds. This makes water both an acid and a base and thus great at dissolving things.

Water has a regular scientific or systematic name (hydrogen oxide) as well as an a alkali name (hydrogen hydroxide) and two acid names (hydroxic acid or hydroxilic acid) as discussed in the article Water (molecule).

External links

• Snopes' report (contains Zohner's text)
• A tongue-in-cheek site devoted to alerting people to the "problem" of DHMO
• Coalition in support of hydrogen hydroxide
• How gullible are we when it comes to science? – about Zohner's project
• Kate Dalgleish and Mikael Sydor's DHMO movie
• Aliso Viejo DHMO incident
• Some responses by college students