- [Narrator] It's a scary thought, but our planet is full of
chemicals that can kill you before you can even figure
out how to pronounce them. Some are so volatile, they'll explode without
even being touched, while others are so deadly, a single gram is enough
to kill a million people. So, grab some protective eyewear and let's check out the
deadliest substances on earth. (upbeat instrumental music) Ethylene glycol. If ingested, ethylene
glycol will kill you slowly and painfully over the
course of several days by systematically shutting
down your internal organs. But, on the bright side, it
reportedly has a sweet taste. Commonly used in antifreeze, when this chemical is ingested,
it reacts inside your body, eventually forming oxalic
acid, which is really bad news. The ensuing chemical combo takes out your central nervous system,
then your kidneys and heart. Several fatalities are
reported as a result of ethylene glycol ingestion
every year in the U.S., mostly in the form of antifreeze. With its bright color and sweet taste, many countries require the
addition of a bitter flavoring to antifreeze to stop kids
mistaking the stuff for soda. (image whooshing) Strychnine. Originally used as a pesticide, strychnine turned out
to be pretty effective at killing human beings as well. If you inhale, swallow, or
even get some in your eyes, it can cause agonizing
muscular convulsions and asphyxiation. It targets the spinal cord, which is the big hub
for nerve communication, and overrides the cells
responsible for muscle control. Signals are sent throughout
your nervous system with no regulation, causing
sudden jolts of activity in the form of spasms. Eventually, all the muscles in your body begin convulsing uncontrollably, like an unbelievably
painful, full-body cramp. Then finally, your lungs
seize up and death occurs. Nasty stuff. (image whooshing) Tabun. Known for being a component
in illegal nerve gas that's been used for various war crimes, tabun disrupts the nervous system and causes constant,
full-body muscle contractions. But its other symptoms are more unusual. The nerve agent causes your
eyes to uncontrollably run with tears and also triggers
excess mucus production, leading to uncontrollable drooling. Tabun can be neutralized
with bleach powder, but that comes at a price. When tabun reacts with bleach, it produces a poisonous gas
called cyanogen chloride, so one problem only shifts into another. In 1993, the creation or
stockpiling of tabun was banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention. As of 2015, all known
stockpiles in the world have been destroyed. But, on the off chance
you encounter tabun, do yourself a favor and run far away. (image whooshing) TCDD. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin,
or TCDD for short, is even less fun to encounter
than it is to pronounce. This chemical was one
of the main ingredients in Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant
used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam war. The military used it to
remove the leaves from trees in the jungles of the region,
increasing visibility. Unfortunately, getting rid of tree-cover is just one of this chemical's abilities. It also caused widespread
birth defects for years in the areas it was used. TCDD can also give you
cancer, not directly, but by promoting the cancer-causing traits of other compounds that
are already in your body. So, it's not exactly killing you itself, it's more like an evil accomplice. (image whooshing) Asbestos. To quote Toby Flenderson,
"Asbestos is the silent killer." This soft, stringy material is likely not what most people think of when they picture buildings materials. And it's certainly surprising to learn that this strange,
synthetic-looking substance is actually mined from the Earth. Asbestos was commonly used
in construction for years, but seeing as it causes
deadly lung conditions, most countries, except
the USA and a few others, have outright banned its use. Asbestos fibers are so tiny
that they're able to wrap themselves around your chromosomes,
making them malfunction, causing tumors to form. Asbestos can also give you asbestosis when those fibers get into your lungs, causing scar tissue and
shortness of breath. Unfortunately, there's no
known treatment for asbestosis, so listen to Toby's
advice and stay well away. (image whooshing) Azidoazide azide. Considered to be the most
volatile and explosive compound in the world, even more so than Christian
Bale before his morning coffee, azidoazide azide does not mess around. Almost anything, heat, radiation, or minimal physical contact
can cause it to explode. It's so sensitive that sometimes scientists don't even
know why it explodes, as there's no obvious stimuli. Even running different tests
on it using nothing but light can trigger it to explode. The reason for this remains
something of a mystery to science to this day. Thanks to its ridiculous explosivity, analysis is almost impossible. (image whooshing) Chlorine trifluoride. If mythical fire-water had
a scientific counterpart, it'd be chlorine trifluoride. The chemical is poisonous, corrosive, and can combust almost anything, even normally non-flammable materials, like glass and titanium, without any source of
ignition like a spark. It's so reactive, when
scientists work with it, they have to immaculately
clean anything it touches because any leftover particles could burn right through their equipment. But it doesn't just react
with things like glass, it also reacts with organic materials, such as human beings like yourself. So, unless you wanna be set alight, exploded and corroded all at once, steer clear of chlorine trifluoride. (image whooshing) Dimethyl Cadmium. If you ever have the misfortune of ingesting some dimethyl
cadmium, buckle up because you're in for a real awful ride. The compound will steal electrons from your cells' molecules, which will cause them to self-destruct, and one by one, your
organs will stop working. There's also a chance that it will have an explosive reaction when it
comes into contact with you. Not only will it ignite,
but the smoke it gives off will be highly toxic too. Should you be lucky enough
to survive this ordeal, you'll most likely later get
an aggressive type of cancer, since dimethyl cadmium is
also extremely carcinogenic. Talk about a buzz kill. (image whooshing) VX. Venomous Agent X, or VX, was
initially sold as a pesticide before people realized how
incredibly lethal it was and how awful your death
would be if you inhaled any. What makes it particularly dangerous is that it stays in the
air where it's been sprayed for so long that it's actually considered an area denial weapon. Just like a land mine. If you inhaled even the
tiniest amount of VX, the networks of neurons in your brain would become overstimulated
to the point of exhaustion. You'd suffer violent,
full-body muscle contractions, seizures, paralysis, and
eventually death by asphyxiation. I think most people would
prefer to step on a land mine. (image whooshing) Amatoxin. Amatoxin is found in the
mushrooms of the amanita family, also known as death caps,
which is an appropriate name, since they're poisonous to
everything except themselves. Amatoxin stops your body from
being able to form proteins, and your cells begin to die as a result. This comes with a
horrible list of symptoms including insomnia, diarrhea,
excessive urination, liver damage, and death. So, unless you want an agonizing death, don't go picking mushrooms in the forest unless you really know what you're doing. (image whooshing) Anatoxin. Not to be confused with amatoxin, anatoxin is a seriously
deadly substance produced by certain cyanobacteria. Because these cyanobacteria
are found in water all around the world, the
risk of them appearing in drinking water sources is very real. Scientists warn that
higher global temperatures could contribute to an
increase in cyanobacteria, and thus an increased risk of anatoxin appearing in our drinking water. Coming into contact with anatoxin leads to your muscular system shutting down, beginning with loss of coordination, followed by respiratory
arrest, convulsions, and later, death. Pretty scary for something
that could be present in the next glass of water you drink. (image whooshing) Thioacetone. This next chemical won't kill you, but it'll certainly cause
some involuntary action in your body. Thought to be the worst
smelling thing on earth, when a factory in
Freiberg, Germany distilled some thioacetone in 1889, the chemical could be smelled
from half a mile away. The scent was so horrible
that people who caught a whiff in the nearby city began fainting and vomiting uncontrollably. But sometimes scientists
just don't know when to leave things alone, and in 1967 some chemists near Oxford gave distilling thioacetone another go. In the process, the cap from a
bottle they were working with briefly came off. Despite quickly putting it put it back on, there were immediate complaints
of nausea and vomiting from people in the building next door. Hopefully, this will put
things into perspective next time you have to use the bathroom after someone else has really let rip. (image whooshing) Nicotine. Everyone knows nicotine is
dangerous because it's addictive, and the tobacco it usually comes with has a lot of nasty stuff in it. But what you probably don't
know is that touching nicotine in its pure form can kill
you within a matter of hours. Indeed, coming into contact with as little as 30 milligrams worth, which is about the same as 6
grains of sand, can be deadly, even if it's only skin contact. Purified nicotine is
even occasionally used as an insecticide. In concentrated amounts,
nicotine can cause a neuromuscular blockade, preventing nerves from
communicating with muscles. Without anything telling
your muscles what to do, you're paralyzed. While the risks from
nicotine are much worse in its purified forms, in rare instances, you can even die from smoking huge quantities of tobacco. Two brothers were fatally
poisoned after smoking 17 and 18 pipes worth of
tobacco, respectively. So if you must smoke,
be sure to keep a tally. (image whooshing) Ricin. A favorite of terrorists, ricin is a naturally-occurring
poison found in castor beans that's effectiveness lies
in its undetectability. Ricin slowly kills you by
stopping the production of proteins in your body,
which are vital for life, and your body very
gradually begins to die. A dose of purified ricin the
size of only a few grains of table salt is lethal, but
even if you did ingest ricin, symptoms can take days to appear. Once they finally show up, your symptoms would be a
lot pain, inflammation, and internal bleeding, and would soon progress to
disorientation, excessive thirst, shock and organ failure. By the time you know you're
ill, it's usually too late. And once your organs fail,
death's not far behind. Castor beans: not even once. (image whooshing) Fluoroantimonic acid. Fluoroantimonic acid is the
strongest acid in the world. It's so strong that it's
actually difficult to study because it'll dissolve almost anything you try and store it in, emitting toxic vapors as it does so. The acid is twenty quintillion, which is 20 with this many zeros, times stronger than pure sulfuric acid. The only way to store the
stuff is in containers lined with polytetrafluoroethylene,
also known as Teflon. Like most strong acids,
fluoroantimonic acid works by rapidly stripping key
components from other molecules to the extent that whatever
the acid is in contact with eventually disintegrates. This gallium-alloy spoon
reacting with water gives a pretty good visual representation of what fluoroantimonic acid could do to even the strongest metals. That being said, you'd
never be able to store it in a standard glass beaker like that. It'd eat through almost instantly. And if you tried to lift up a glass beaker full of fluoroantimonic acid, you could say goodbye
to your hand as well. (image whooshing) Botulinum toxin. When it comes to deadly substances, it doesn't get much potent
than botulinum toxin. Produced by clostridium
botulinum bacteria, this toxin is so deadly that a single, centimeter-cubed droplet like this is enough to kill a million people. If you were to consume a lethal amount, your nerves would stop
being able to communicate with each other. You'd become paralyzed,
and you'd eventually die as your heart and lungs
ceased functioning. But unlike most of the
substances I've mentioned, in minuscule doses, botulinum
has a variety of other uses besides killing people, such as treating migraines and
excessive underarm sweating. One specific variety of botulinum, called botulinum toxin A, also happens to be the
active ingredient in Botox. When used in minute, diluted doses, the toxin can be injected
to relax facial muscles and reduce wrinkles. But if you ask me, willingly injecting the most poisonous substance
known to man into your face seems like playing with fire. Which of these deadly substances
sounds the worst to you? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for watching. (upbeat instrumental music)
at 5:16 they mention something that sounds like a more intense version of what leaked from the safe.
I tried to link it right, but had to create this account to post and this is my first post lol