Talk:Dihydrogen monoxide
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ed Poor (talk | contribs) at 13:52, April 4, 2007. It may differ significantly from current revision.
Can we redirect this to H2O? --Ed Poor 22:49, 3 April 2007 (EDT)
Good idea. MountainDew 00:45, 4 April 2007 (EDT)
Thanks, and I'd like to present something about the science project that popularized the term:
- In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls, based his science fair project on a report similar to the one reproduced above. Zohner's project, titled "How Gullible Are We?", involved presenting this report about "the dangers of dihyrogen monoxide" to fifty ninth-grade students and asking them what (if anything) should be done about the chemical. Forty-three students favored banning it, six were undecided, and only one correctly recognized that 'dihydrogen monoxide' is actually <NOBR>H2O — plain</NOBR> old water. Zohner's analysis of the results he obtained won him first prize in the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair; garnered him scads of attention from newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, universities, and congresspeople; and prompted the usual round of outcries about how our ignorant citizenry doesn't read critically and can be easily misled. (Snopes)
It's important because it illustrates the PR techniques used by environmentalists to whip up citizen opposition to harmless or low-risk chemicals like DDT. --Ed Poor 09:52, 4 April 2007 (EDT)