[seymour]

Quote

KNO3 is used for preserving fish here in Sweden. I don't have any at the moment, but I think it tastes "salter" than table salt and a bit "cold" like somone said.

That's probably the reaction (KNO3 + H2O = K+ (aq) + NO3-(aq) ) being endothermic. I could list what pyro salts I've tasted taste like, but firstly I do not want to encourage other people (barium, perchlorate and other poisons) and secondly it's a bit off topic

[frosty90]

seymour, on 07 February 2009 - 02:24 AM, said:

I could list what pyro salts I've tasted taste like, but firstly I do not want to encourage other people (barium, perchlorate and other poisons) and secondly it's a bit off topic

Apparently, the swedish chemist carl scheele had a habit of tasting a little of everything he worked with. It apparently killed him, when he tasted 'prussic acid' (cyanide).

Not only that, but wikipedia says in its article on gunpowder http://en.wikipedia....wder#Other_uses : "After the battle of Aspern-Essling (1809), the surgeon of the Napoleonic Army Larrey combated the lack of food for the wounded under his care by preparing a bouillo of horse meat seasoned with gunpowder..."

Cheers,
Jesse

[Mumbles]

It used to be common place for chemists to taste their products and report it just as they would report melting point or an NMR spectra now.

It might just be in movies, but I heard there was a thing where cocaine was mixed with gun powder and snorted somewhere in SE Asia I think.