Most Harmful Substances Known to Man

What Will Kill You the Fastest?

There are a multitude of poisons and toxins in the world that can kill with ease but just how deadly are the deadliest of all.  Well, here is a list broken down into categories of the most harmful and of course deadly substances on Earth.






Venomous

Golden Poison Dart Frog 

The poison dart frog is native to the northern rainforests of South America.  It is obviously named because natives of that area recognized the frogs highly toxic venom and used it to coat arrow tips for use in blow guns.  The frog is about the size of a paper-clip and the skin only carries approximately 1 gram of venom at any time.  That 1 gram however is enough to kill between 15 to 20 adult humans or 2 full sized male elephants.  It is considered the most deadly naturally occurring venom known to humans.

Toxic

Botulinum

This is the same substance used and marketed commercially as Botox.  To be infected with Botulinum it would have to make it into your bloodstream or through a mucus membrane.  This would result in Botulism.  Botulinum is a highly complex protein.  The lethal dose for humans is rated to be 1.3-2.1 nanograms per kilogram.  To put it into more understandable terms just 80 nanograms is enough to killed a human and 1 nanogram is a billionth of a gram.

Radioactive

Polonium 210

Polonium 210 is an isotope of Polonium which is position 84 on the periodic table.  It gives off a very high amount of alpha particles as it decays.  As little as 1 microgram is enough to kill an adult and is 250 000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide.

Polonium 210 was made famous because it was a favoured form of assassination by the KGB which their newest incarnation the FSB is rumoured to still use today.  One of the more noted times this happened was with the poisoning of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko.

Flammable

Chlorine Trifluoride

Chlorine trifluoride once ignited can burn through and ignite virtually any substance it touches.  It can burn and ignite materials that are actually considered non-flammable including sand, glass, asbestos and concrete.  It goes without saying that it will easily burn though any type of organic tissue with relative ease with the added effect that it will produce hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid as it does.

Trifluoride starts out as a gas which is colourless and is then condensed under pressure into a liquid form.  The main uses of this are in rocket fuel and nuclear reactor fuel processing.

Acidic

Fluoroantimonic Acid

Fluoroantimonic acid is also called Fluoranium and is considered the most acidic substance known the humans.  For obvious reasons it is in a category of acids called "superacids".  On a normal pH scale of 1-14, that everyone is familiar with, 1 being very acidic Fluoranium is a -25.  In other terms when compared to pure undiluted sulfuric acid it is 10 quadrillion times stronger.  Usually acids can be diluted using water but Fluoranium reacts so violently with other substances that to dilute it one must use a high Fluoride solution instead.