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Asked by Aaliyah! to Anais, katy, Lauren, Richard, Stuart on 8 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by Tommy/Bailey.
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Katy Kellett answered on 8 Mar 2016:
There are a lot of ways that chemicals can be dangerous. So for example it may be how they interact with the skin if you touch it, or if you ingest it how it interacts with the body may be toxic.
If you mean dangerous to humans then its all to do with how they interact with the body. For example some chemicals if they come into contact with water may explode, or release a lot of heat which given how much water is in the body is extremely dangerous.
Other chemicals are dangerous even if they come into contact with the air therefore they have to handled very carefully. These chemicals are often used as explosive devices.
What makes a chemical dangerous is all about the structure and stability of the chemical which varies for each one. It is in fact a very complex question. Maybe one of the toxicology scientists can shed a little bit more light into the science of it all?
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Stuart Atkinson answered on 8 Mar 2016:
In terms of danger to humans, its because they interfere with or interrupt essential processes in the body. For example, some chemicals can damage genetic information and effect how cells replicate, which may cause problems to the person’s health like cancer, or cause birth defects in children they may have later. Other chemicals may interfere with nerve impulses, or the way the body uses oxygen, for example cyanide interferes with cytochrome c oxidase, an enzyme essential for respiration.
In terms of physical hazards presented by chemicals themselves, you’ll probably know from looking at bottles in the lab that different chemicals have different hazards eg ethanol is flammable (flame symbol) or lead is toxic (skull and crossbones), hydrochloric acid is corrosive (burning metal/hand) and hydrogen peroxide is oxidising (flaming ‘O’).
I think some of the other scientists may be able to help with this one!
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Lauren Laing answered on 8 Mar 2016:
Your body is maintained in a healthy state by complex, but essential processes. Some chemicals interact with these pathways, upsetting their balance and so affecting your health. How poisonous a chemical is depends on many things, this can include how it gets into your body: through your skin? Directly into an open wound? Inhalation? Through the mouth when you eat or drink?
How poisonous a chemical is also depends on the amount of the chemical entering your body, some chemicals are good for you in small doses, but bad for you in very high doses. Also, the rate at which your body can remove the chemical will affect how poisonous it is. Some chemicals are designed to be poisonous, such as pesticides, but many of these are now designed to not affect humans, and to only kill the insect or pest they are designed to kill. Other chemicals can be bad for you, but are not man made, they may be natural. Examples include the chemicals some bad bacteria produce which may cause you to feel ill. -
Anais Kahve answered on 9 Mar 2016:
It’s all about the structure of the compound – the shape of the compound – and how much of the compound you are exposed to. This is called the dose/response effect and structure/function effect. Some compounds in low amounts don’t harm us because they are easily removed from the body. But when you take too much of something your cells can’t cope so the compound stays in your body and affects things in your body like proteins or DNA.
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