What happens if you drink acetone?

post by dynomight · 2020-09-14T14:22:41.417Z · LW · GW · 13 comments

This is a link post for https://dyno-might.github.io/2020/09/14/what-happens-if-you-drink-acetone/

Question: Should you drink acetone?

Answer: No.

But, out of interest, what if you did?

13 comments

Comments sorted by top scores.

comment by romeostevensit · 2020-09-14T21:39:15.793Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I wish there was more boggling at simple things like this posted to the internet.

Replies from: jacobjacob
comment by jacobjacob · 2020-09-17T00:57:34.337Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

dynomight (OP) -- if you write more of it, I'd probably read it (subscribed to your posts). 

comment by niplav · 2020-09-14T17:19:32.382Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Thank you, I found this slightly amusing.

Replies from: MakoYass
comment by mako yass (MakoYass) · 2020-09-17T00:17:34.686Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

It's a relief to see that someone is finally speaking the truth about Acetone.

comment by Charlie Steiner · 2021-12-07T00:57:56.601Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

A deceptively awesome example of original seeing.

comment by DanielFilan · 2021-12-08T05:16:52.336Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I drank acetone in 2021, which was plausibly causally downstream of this post.

Replies from: Raemon
comment by Raemon · 2021-12-08T06:20:41.337Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

...what happened to you?

Replies from: DanielFilan
comment by DanielFilan · 2021-12-09T04:06:01.498Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Nothing much? I probably should have consumed more to experience the effect more fully.

comment by Adele Lopez (adele-lopez-1) · 2020-09-16T05:14:16.196Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I think you missed the most interesting effect, which is that ingesting it would put you into some sort of ketosis or at higher levels: ketoacidosis.

comment by Charlie Steiner · 2020-09-15T05:31:33.584Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I'm curious about the comparison to drinking isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) instead, which is gradually metabolized into acetone (the actual psychoactive ingredient) inside the body. If you drink the same amount then gradual seems safer, but I'm not sure if it actually has a bigger difference between active dose and LD50 (or active dose and severe gastrointestinal inflammation).

comment by Mary Chernyshenko (mary-chernyshenko) · 2020-09-14T20:07:09.394Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

You get to play the Probably Somatic Mutation Roulette?..

comment by lb_rv · 2020-09-21T10:22:51.837Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

A breath smelling of acetone can also occur when someone is losing weight very fast (extreme diets or the beginning of an eating disorder). An interesting tidbit.

comment by Andrew Haisley · 2022-02-11T02:48:27.624Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I’m surprised to learn that the answer seems to be nothing much.

https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/acetone.html