Silica Gel

[Crow]

I have been wondering what silica does to a living organism for some time now. Silica Gel is a desiccant found in clothes and some electronics for takign moisture out of the surrounding area. They are the little plastic or paper bags full of little clear beads.

I have looked on the web and on this forum but have found nothing. I want to know if it will just make you sick or kill you and how long it takes, whether or not it has any taste to it, if it dissolves in water alchohol or soda, whether it is possible to cook the gel into food... I would like to use this stuff as a handy poison thats free in clothing stores. It would be useful if you want to kill a neighbors dog or a bastard who crossed you. Or if you want to be an asshole and throw it in some food at the deli.

Any help would be nice, a link to another site would be fine too. If you know of any other good poisons that can be obtained free tell me.

[VX]

Here (http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/s1610.htm) is the MSDS for silica gel.

From what it says, silica gel is little more than a mild irritant. In fact it says that ingestion of silica gel would not be expected to cause any adverse effects.

[zeocrash]

from what i remember silica gel is made out of silica (thankyou captain obvious)
silica gel is marked "do not eat", not toxic or poisonous.
swallowing silica gel would be like swallowing ground glass beads, or anti bumping granules.
they dont dissolve in most things.
you could cook them into food for a bit of extra crunch, but the harmful effects would be limited to dental dammage and choking hazards only. if you wanted to kill someone with silica gel i recomend drowning them in a hopper full of beads, or shooting them at high velocity like a shotgun.
silica gel's hazardous properties listed on the msds are due to dehydration of the throat caused by silica gel dust.
summing up i would hardly even class silica gel as dangerous, much less a poison. you'd be better off dumping some labernum berries into a meal.
hope that answers your question

[Leadazide]

I can personnally asure that there are no noticable effects by touching and handling Silica-gel. I work with it every day in large quantaties....I have probably also inhaled quite a bit of the dust with no negative effects.

The biggest hazard with silica gel is dropping the 10 kg bucket over your feet or burning your self on the glass after drying it in the ovnen at 105° C :)

P.S. Hot glass looks exactly like cold glass!!! :)

[tom haggen]

Do any of you guys no a good source of over the counter silica?

[Anthony]

Ingesting a large amount might remove a lot of water from your faeces, giving you constipation?

[Bert]

Do any of you guys no a good source of over the counter silica?

I could suggest a good source for UNDER FOOT silica.

[devilassassin]

I have heard that men take silica tablets to prevent hairloss and regrow so if its pretty similar to silica gel all it will do is make them hairy.

[Dave Angel]

Originally posted by Bert
I could suggest a good source for UNDER FOOT silica.

I don't think tom meant sand type silica, Bert, but rather the silica gel dessicant that this thread is about (I'm guessing it was sand, sandstone, quartz etc you were getting at with the under foot thing, 'no soldier can take that from us')

Not exactly OTC but it's not suspicious stuff to be buying, just expensive:

http://www.camerasupplycenter.com/Catalog/Cleaning-Supplies/Item/1332/Silca-Gel-Desicant-750gram.php

ah but now I've just found it cheaper:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/silcagels.html

Looks easy enough to get hold of. I've just been saving the little sachets from shoe boxes since way back when because the pack said "throw away", I thought 'this must be useful!'

[Blackhawk]

No no, I'm pretty sure that Bert ment that silica gell is in little white bags found in the shoe boxes of expensive leather shoes (although they can be found in other boxes) if you go to a shoestore there are usually tons of the little white packets everywhere, I used to grab a handfull on my way through to use as a desicant for my rocket motor reloads (Aerotech white lightning grains are annoyingly hydroscopic).

[Dave Angel]

Ahhh right of course I get it now, I didn't see that link, despite mentioning the shoe boxes thing in my own post!

Thanks for clearing things up Blackhawk, maybe they can be found in large quantities in the bins at the back of shoe shops too, if one was willing enough to dig through the filth.

[tom haggen]

I was just watching a show on the history channel the other day about how people used to use silica as a binder with nitroglycerin for dynamite in the old days. For some reason that just doesn't sound safe to me unless silica dissolves in nitroglycerin.

[megalomania]

I believe Wal-Mart, and probably some craft stores as well, sells a product meant for preserving plants and flowers so they can be used in decorative arrangements. The preservative is a dessicant which I think is silica gel. The flowers can be dried out and preserved indefinately. There is something like 250-300 g of the preservatant, but I do not know the price.

I think plant stores sell a self watering "gel" which is silica gel that slowly gives up its moisture over time, but is itself non-toxic and inert. That sounds like silica gel to me.

[Mumble]

Silica gel is often sold around gun supplies. I don't know it's purpose exactly, as I'm not much into firearm technology, but I'd assume it keeps gun parts dry, and from rusting.
"Hydrosorbent Silica Gel
Drinks up dampness from within gun safes and other enclosed storage areas, protecting firearms and other valuables from condensation, rust and mildew. Requires no electricity and remains dry to the touch even when saturated. Built-in indicator turns from blue to pink to signal when it's time to reactivate, which is done simply by placing in oven and drying out." That is from a Cabela's magazine.

I'va also seen it as a health suplement. "Dietary suplement for Connective Tissue, skin, hair and nails." I can't be positive this is the desicant however.

Mega, I believe this is the kind of thing you are talking about. http://www.misterart.com/store/view.cfm?popup=Yes&store=001&group_id=1570 5 pounds for $15.34 not to bad. The same amount goes for $60 else where I've found in my little search. Another place sells by the gallon, but a gallon and 5 pounds look to be the same amount(judging by the price and size of container)

[daysleeper]

Silica dust causes a disease called Lupus, alot of miners in the west virginia coal mines would get it after being exposed to large quanities of silica dust. Lupus causes strokes amongst other ailments. Also you can use Silica to kill dogs and such, it will dehydrate their intestines form what i understand.

[orgasmo]

I've heard that down in AZ where they have a lot of harmful spiders and such people Circle newer houses with a glass powder. The powder then gets in the joints causing many timy cuts and the spider or scorpion then bleeds to death. I don't know if silica gel would have the same effect on the intestinal tract if it was powdered, but it might.