Questions tagged [poisons]
For questions relating to chemicals used for causing death and/or illness
77 questions
168
votes
26
answers
35k
views
Can a substance be more lethal in smaller doses?
Yes, I realize this question is a bit ridiculous, and there are no cases of it in reality (that I can find), but with a bit of truth twisting, could it theoretically be possible?
In my fantasy world ...
- 1,311
94
votes
26
answers
27k
views
A poison that only works if you know it is there
In the book He Drank and Saw the Spider, a poison is talked about in a metaphorical way: A person can be poisoned by putting a specific kind of spider into their cup, but the poison only works if you ...
- 34.9k
37
votes
14
answers
10k
views
How can hornets be engineered to kill a human with a single sting?
Asian Giant Hornets are particularly vicious and deliver a dose of neurotoxin to its victims. Generally an average of 59 stings are sufficient to kill a healthy non-allergic man
Given a suitable ...
user10945
30
votes
8
answers
10k
views
Would a 4000-year-old booby trap still be poisonous?
I've got a group of characters exploring an ancient ruin who've just set off a classic "darts flying from the walls" booby trap. In theory, when the trap was first built these darts would ...
user76172
26
votes
10
answers
8k
views
Can the poison from Kingsmen be concocted?
In the movie Kingsmen, there is a poison which behaves differently from most other poisons.
It has to be ingested in order to kill, but that is not enough. It is harmless until a radio signal is ...
- 142k
25
votes
8
answers
3k
views
Rite of Winter: How to Stop Crescian Couples from Mutual Assassination
Crescian Society
In the Crescian society, on alternate Earth, the nobles take to settling disputes with mutual assassination.
The unspoken rule is that assassinations must be carried out directly by ...
- 3,759
24
votes
11
answers
4k
views
A two-thresholds poison: how does it work?
The saying goes "in dose venenum", meaning that it's the dose to make the poison.
This comes from the consideration that any substance, after a certain dose, becomes lethal. However, past ...
- 301k
23
votes
8
answers
9k
views
What is a fast-acting poison that could be applied to an arrow or dagger?
In a book I am writing, I want there to be an mage who magically propels a dagger with a fast-acting, potent poison/venom, which kills one of the main characters. What poison that could be obtained in ...
- 788
22
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Addictive substance without noticeable effects
I want a substance, of which the victim does not notice any effects, except for a very severe withdrawal effects.
Ideally, it could be a natural water contamination. (Fungus?).
I want severe ...
- 397
20
votes
17
answers
6k
views
How can plants reliably intentionally poison those that eat their fruit?
For sake of metaphor, I want to include a plant that bears fruit that is poisonous, with the intent that when an animal eats it, it will walk away and die within a few hours, such that their corpse ...
- 386
20
votes
4
answers
3k
views
What would a corpse of a person who drowned in mercury look like?
I want to use a mercury based golem as a enemy in a murder mystery P&P story. The golem flows through cracks and under doors and envelops its victims until they are dead. Let's assume that the ...
- 17.2k
19
votes
2
answers
2k
views
You eat this plant, it eats you right back. Can it work?
Based on an answer of mine from a few months ago, I've been inspired to adapt the concept to my own Life Ball. Fair warning- this question and some of its links are not for the squeamish. May ...
- 8,605
16
votes
18
answers
120k
views
Does anyone know of a poison that can be ingested and is undetectable in autopsy? [closed]
I am a fictional writer and need info on a poison that can be put in food and is undetectable in autopsy. Symptoms also can't be too messy, no specific time in how long it takes to take effect.
- 225
15
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Substance that counteracts one poison but accelerates/exacerbates the effect of another?
Is there an example of substances interacting with each other in the following way?
A is a lethal substance, killing within minutes to hours when orally ingested;
anti-A is an antidote for A (or at ...
- 153
14
votes
16
answers
3k
views
Evolutionary advantage of a venom compound that makes pain pleasurable
On the world of Ruquelis, the combination of reincarnation and the drug Hialutabu allows the inhabitants to do some truly awful things to each-other and justify it to themselves as good.
Hialutabu is ...
- 66.9k
13
votes
2
answers
387
views
Designing venom glands for an elephant: misting
Laugh all you like, you won't be laughing when it sprays you with its jade trunk of death.
Info
I figured out that I wanted an elephant that sprays poison (not acid) out of its trunk a while ago (...
- 3,246
12
votes
10
answers
15k
views
Are there any real-world ingested poisons with these characteristics?
So, I'm looking to get one of my characters poisoned. However, if they notice that something's up, the jig's likely up as they'll seek treatment for what happened, so this needs to happen "under their ...
- 11.4k
10
votes
6
answers
2k
views
What is my environmental poison?
I have a small number of people (300ish) that live in marshlands/bog/wetlands environment. They are infertile, live about two thirds of a normal lifespan, and have hallucinations, poor memory, ...
- 1,302
10
votes
6
answers
3k
views
What kind of poison can an octopus carry to kill a person via skin contact?
I'm am developing a creature, what I want to create is a giant octopus that is able to utilize poison. I would like it to shoot it from its beak if the poison is in liquid form, or emit the poison ...
- 10.3k
10
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Slow accumulative poison that is detectable in autopsy
I am looking for a number of slow accumulative poisons say over a 6 month period that is detectable in autopsy and would slowly but surely kill the patient. The poison would be hopefully something a ...
- 119
10
votes
4
answers
1k
views
What is the deadliest acid a hypothetical biological creature could utilize as a weapon?
There are a lot of acids in the world, many of them present in biological creatures. Humans, for instance, have hydrochloric acid in their stomachs. What I'm wondering here is just how nasty it could ...
- 7,512
10
votes
1
answer
826
views
Poison in the wine, antidote in the cup?
Probably every reader/viewer of sci-fi/fantasy has at one point encountered the classic bit of trickery: "The poison wasn't in the drink - it was in the cup!" - I am imagining a hypothetical ...
- 7,011
9
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Question regarding plant based poison for a short story
For a story I'm writing, I'm looking for an undetectable plant based poison that if ingested in a miniscule amount, would make a ten year old boy sick: intrinsic muscle weakness, stunted growth, and ...
9
votes
5
answers
491
views
A quick poison with obvious effects
So I have a scene where someone gets poisoned. I want the poison to have a couple qualities:
It works fast, with in the span of a meal be to exact
It can be put in food or drink, either covered up or ...
- 93
9
votes
5
answers
2k
views
What binary poisons could work when ingested?
What are two non lethal substances that will combine to create a strong poison when ingested close together?
Hopefully my character would be able to drink one of the substances mixed in to a wine or ...
- 131
9
votes
1
answer
116
views
Poison Detection Trials
I want to make an assassins competition which would involve players being presented with a number of poisons and having to identify them. I have thought of using Hellebore, Hemlock, Foxglove, ...
- 91
8
votes
8
answers
5k
views
How to make chocolate safe for Keidran? (Basically Dog-people)
Backstory (skip if desired)
Let's take our cute and self-conscious protagonist, Jayden! (For the people that read and responded to the post about the genetics behind keidran and the colonization of ...
- 1,994
7
votes
8
answers
3k
views
Need a suitable toxic chemical for a murder plot in my novel
I need ideas for a chemical or disease which kills the victim upon holding it in the palm for about 4 or 5 seconds. The death isn't necessarily immediate, as it might take days to kill the victim in ...
- 95
7
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Feasibility of poisonous soft bullet
In my story there is a hitman who has at his disposal a slingshot bullet with the following characteristics:
the bullet range is of the order of 10 - 50 meters
it is soft, therefore on impact it ...
- 301k
6
votes
14
answers
1k
views
How can I poison humans over several generations?
So.. I've decided to kill all the humans on Earth. Just a routine fumigation prior to a terraforming job.
Although I don't mind a bit of collateral damage I do want to keep most of the plant life ...
- 873
6
votes
4
answers
737
views
Poison through the skin
Trying to come up with a poison that could be applied during a massage by a person wearing gloves. Ideally the effects are mild and slow acting enough it takes a number of sessions to kill the person. ...
- 79
6
votes
5
answers
246
views
Creating a Poison Deactivated/Activated by Swirling/Mixing
In the Crescian society, on alternate Earth, the nobles have a refined sport of settling disputes with mutual assassination.
The unspoken rules are that they must be carried out directly by the ...
- 3,759
5
votes
3
answers
669
views
How to make a member of the Fae sick?
I have a small character in the book I'm writing who is a member of the Fae. We're talking old school folklore, Horned King, Oberon, changeling level Fae and not Peter Pan teeny tiny wings type.
One ...
- 51
5
votes
3
answers
248
views
What is a poison that can be given to a comatose patient that requires another character to get an antidote?
Basically, I need one main character to be comatose and the other one trying to save him. The antagonist has to give the main character a specific time period to jump through hoops or whatever to get ...
- 51
5
votes
1
answer
243
views
Application of a spider poison to skin
So, spider poison is (at least in case for the most of these little guys) a neurotoxin, and large amounts of it entering your bloodstream would bring TERRIBLE consequences for you and your barbeque ...
- 351
5
votes
1
answer
158
views
Can super-powered poison resistance be tested on tissue samples?
If someone might have super-powered immunity to poison (ranging from you can't be poisoned by anything, to immunity to the bite of the North American cottonmouth, and you live in New Zealand), is it ...
- 30.5k
4
votes
8
answers
3k
views
What gas can I use to incapacitate pesky heroes?
Supposing I have a room currently occupied by Jedi Knights, or some other force that I can't defeat with battle droids and brute strength. I wish to incapacitate the occupants of this room with a gas, ...
- 85.8k
4
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Indium and Gallium Toxicity: Part 1 [closed]
I am making a planet and my crust is rich in gallium and its heavy counterpart, indium from a cosmic fluke (gallium and indium are both at a concentration of about 0.01% in the crust). However, most ...
- 1,550
4
votes
5
answers
219
views
How can I give someone a lethal disease?
I am writing a story in which one character will kill another character by inducing a life-taking disease like cancer so that it will not be shown as a murder to anyone and it will be a slow death. I ...
- 41
4
votes
4
answers
685
views
How could this dragon-killing poison work?
So, dragons are rather large (2 meters at the withers and have a nose-to-base-of-tail length of 5 meters) creatures.
Pic related by: KatePfeilschiefter
They look something like pic related, albeit ...
- 19.5k
4
votes
2
answers
155
views
After the apocalypse, would it be possible to acquire large quantities of toxins from animals?
Question
I'd like to know if after a standard apocalypse [societal collapse, looting and all that], it would be possible to acquire poisons such as batrachotoxin, tetradotoxin, or maitotoxin. I'd ...
user47547
4
votes
3
answers
353
views
Effects of breaking down the oceans plastic within 5 years [closed]
The oceans are full of plastic. In a story about the morals of DNA changes, one scientist meaning well creates a group of super bacteria/microorganisms (afterwards just called bacteria for simplicity ...
- 40.1k
4
votes
2
answers
621
views
Napoleonic chemical warfare
What kinds of chemical warfare agents would be possible to synthesize and store (including binary ones, which are two precursors mixed during or immediately before firing) at an industrial scale with ...
- 1,874
3
votes
3
answers
718
views
Is there a poison that could kill someone with a small dose to the eye?
I am new here so I hope this is the right place to ask this! I'm not a writer by any means, but I am trying to write a little murder mystery for a group of my friends.
The idea is that the victim will ...
- 47
3
votes
4
answers
226
views
How can leaves knock out a dragon-like creature? [closed]
The "hero" of the story is a biologist/botanist that lives in the 30th century. All is fine...high-tech city, lots of flying cars, robots flying around. She works at a big lab, with a room next door ...
- 39
3
votes
3
answers
370
views
How would having toxic hairs affect the everyday/work life of a human?
Due to unknown reasons resulting in a fluke DNA mutation, with an incredibly low probability, a 'human' baby is born who is not quite human, the mutation being that the hairs are mildly toxic. This ...
- 709
3
votes
2
answers
5k
views
I need a poison that in low dose will paralyze temporarily, in high dose will kill
I’m writing a (fictional) story, and at one point the main character is temporarily paralyzed due to poison. Does anyone know of a poison that would, if taken in a very small amount or if it just ...
- 47
3
votes
2
answers
348
views
Could a centaur eat something that is poisonous to humans but not horses?
I know theoretically the human stomach is above the centaur's stomach so the obvious answer would be no.
But seeing as centaurs aren't real and we don't know what their internal biolody would look ...
- 31
3
votes
3
answers
159
views
poison warning on a sonar world
Let's say there was a planet where sonar dominated instead of visual sight. In this case I'm referring to life above the water, walking or flying in the air. This inspires several questions: What ...
- 3,202
3
votes
1
answer
153
views
ancient natural poison
I'm looking for a natural hallucinogen
available in northern Europe in 500 BCE.
I have a bog body that's ingested this prior to death.
i want something not detectable in the bog body in 2020.
Some ...
- 39