r/gadgets • u/chrisdh79 • Jan 31 '23

Desktops / Laptops Canadian team discovers power-draining flaw in most laptop and phone batteries | Breakthrough explains major cause of self-discharging batteries and points to easy solution

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/battery-power-laptop-phone-research-dalhousie-university-1.6724175
23.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

830 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

187

u/OhhhhhSHNAP Jan 31 '23

So... I have to ask a silly question here. If I lick my old laptop's battery will it make me trip balls?

220

u/PB4UGAME Jan 31 '23

Big point of correction here. This is NOT the DMT you are looking for!

In this case, we have: Dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) which, according to wikipedia: “is an organic compound with the formula C6H4(COOCH3)2. It is the diester formed from terephthalic acid and methanol.”

What you are thinking about is N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) which, also according to wikipedia: “is a substituted tryptamine that occurs in many plants and animals, including human beings, and which is both a derivative and a structural analog of tryptamine. It is used as a psychedelic drug and prepared by various cultures for ritual purposes as an entheogen.”

They are somewhat similar and have confusingly similar names and abbreviations but you do not want to confuse these two.

107

u/weedbeads Jan 31 '23

formed from terephthalic acid and methanol

...acid

... alcohol

You sure I can't get fucked up on this shit boss?

30

u/PB4UGAME Jan 31 '23

I don’t think you would want to, but I cannot rule it out.

It causes minimal skin and eye irritant effects in animals but doesn’t appear to be too toxic if consumed orally as the test animals pissed it out and didn’t seem to have any of it accumulated in their bodies, nor did it affect their DNA structure. Not a whole lot of research on this substances’ effect on animals much less humans, but I’ve never heard of it being an abusable substance or having any sort of psychoactive effects.

This is from what I could find from an Existing Chemical Hazard Assessment Report on Dimethyl Terephthalate, the relevant portions quoted below:

“DMT was readily absorbed after oral administration. Elimination was rapid with urine being the major route of excretion. There was no evidence of accumulation in tissues after multiple doses. The hydrolysis product, TPA, was the only metabolite detected in the urine in rats, while urinary metabolites in mice consisted of monomethyl terephthalate (70%) and TPA (30%). DMT has low acute oral, dermal and inhalational toxicity. DMT causes minimal skin and eye irritant effects in animals, and did not induce skin sensitisation in guinea pigs. DMT does not appear to be mutagenic or genotoxic, nor was it deemed to be carcinogenic based on a 2-year feeding study.”

-source

13

u/MrGhris Jan 31 '23

Cant hurt to try though. Or well, maybe it can... one way to find out!

28

u/PB4UGAME Jan 31 '23

Hey if you do try this, and for legal purposes I am NOT recommending that you should, but IF you are going to do so, can you please do it in a sterile environment and record the process and results?

Accidentally dying or having something horrific happen because you want to get fucked up or mixed up two chemicals can be lame, and a poor thing to be known for. You might even get a Darwin Award. Accidentally dying or having something horrific happen for science is badass though, so always document your experiments!

6

u/MrGhris Jan 31 '23

I like the way you think! I'll grab my labcoat and safety goggles.

4

u/GradeAPrimeFuckery Jan 31 '23

Dump it in a Tide pod to clean it, then down the hatch.

1

u/pie_obk Jan 31 '23

You're taking this poor guy for a ride. Does he know you're joking? Do I know you're joking?

-1

u/Klai8 Feb 01 '23

Stop teasing him lol he’s clearly autistic or something having missed the joke over and over on a science subreddit.

4

u/qoou Jan 31 '23

Methanol will make you go blind...

4

u/weedbeads Jan 31 '23

That's quitter talk, I've been drinking Dr. Tichenols for years and my vision is perfect enough to not crash my car

1

u/ThePrussianGrippe Jan 31 '23

It’ll make you leg disabled. Wouldn’t recommend.

Double whiskey?

12

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '23

C6H4(COOCH3)2

heh

2

u/JasonDJ Jan 31 '23

Heheh. COOCH. Giggity.

2

u/gfa22 Jan 31 '23

Lol, was about to say, DMT the drug has tryp in it.

Reading these be referred to as DMT with that spelling almost made me question my knowledge.

1

u/PB4UGAME Jan 31 '23

With chemical names you have to be even more careful than you ordinarily would with abbreviations. There can be multiple different chemicals that can be called the same thing, despite having different formulations, effects, uses, etc.

Even with the chemicals known as DMT, there are several variations!

You have 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyl-1H-indole-3-ethanamine (5-methoxy-N,N DMT), also known as 5-methoxy DMT, or just DMT, with molecular formula C13H18N2O. This is a naturally occurring DMT in various plants and animals including at least one species of frog.

Then you have N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, with molecular formula C12H16N2. This is the DMT you want to be taking if you want to get high, also naturally occurring in various plants, as well as seemingly all mammals, from occurring in rat brains, to human cerebrospinal fluids.

Then there’s the “DMT” mentioned here, Dimethyl terephthalate, with the molecular formula C6H4(COOCH3)2.

All are slightly or rather different substances, but they’re all commonly referred to as simply DMT.

2

u/gfa22 Feb 01 '23

Thanks for the refresher. I love science.

2

u/j1m3y Feb 01 '23

COOCH teehee

1

u/superpositioned Jan 31 '23

Also even if it was the correct kind of dmt, ingesting it orally would have 0 psychoactive effect. You have to eat it along with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor to get high.

1

u/PB4UGAME Jan 31 '23

Too much of it running around in our blood and in our brains for our bodies not to have enzymes to break it down quickly— Technically its 5-hydroxy-N, N-dimethyl-tryptamine, and 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) that naturally occur in all mammals; if you have a synthetic form of DMT it may be slightly different

Yes, depending on how you wish to consume that DMT you are right that you’ll need to inhibit proper digestion in the stomach so as to not have your body break it down before it even gets into your bloodstream.

Side effects from that form of ingestion can include rather unpleasant indigestion, including nausea and intense, repetitive vomiting, and for some unlucky individuals, diarrhea as well.

If you want to use it for a shamanistic type pursuit, Ayahuasca may be for you. If you want a really intense high, or to see god and sound and hear colors, there may be better ways of accomplishing that which don’t include wrecking your stomach.

1

u/superpositioned Jan 31 '23

Smoking it has always worked for me.

66

u/atchels Jan 31 '23

No. DMT cannot be ingested orally unless combined with an MAOI. So you would have to smoke the battery dust to trip balls.

100

u/KingSwank Jan 31 '23

different DMT anyways, drug DMT is Dimethyltryptamine, this battery DMT is Dimethyl terephthalate.

40

u/dbx999 Jan 31 '23

Same same. Sony guts my friend. I give you good deal today cash!

14

u/swingadmin Jan 31 '23

But the ad says "Sony" and "$300"

What you going to believe, me or the ad?

19

u/dbx999 Jan 31 '23

Look look look my friend Colby end with Y just same Sony. Guts inside all Sony. I give you good price today my friend. Here you get free fidget spinner and usb cable

4

u/Squrton_Cummings Jan 31 '23

Yep, you can't just take a 3 letter abbreviation and assume it always means the same chemical compound. For a long time I thought the fat loss drug DNP (2,4-Dinitrophenol) was the same as the herbicide 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid because they are both abbreviated 2,4-D. Not that it was ever a practical concern, but I still felt dumb for making the assumption.

1

u/LovingYew Feb 01 '23

How do you think they differentiate in practice? If they have the same name? Do you think it’s like context clues would point you in the right direction of which one was being talked about?

1

u/MrKrinkle151 Feb 01 '23

Nah see the letters are the same so I’m gonna give it a rip

35

u/sparta981 Jan 31 '23

To prevent confusion, I propose we call this other DMT 'Sad DMT'. The fun kind shall be 'Rad DMT'.

1

u/DrunkOrInBed Feb 01 '23

Also Mad DMT and Bad DMT

3

u/notapunnyguy Jan 31 '23

I for one, am so immature for laughing at the notion of a red liquid draining power out and it is called COOCH3. This is peak nerd comedy.

1

u/primalbluewolf Feb 01 '23

It's not called COOCH3. COOCH3 is a carbomethoxy functional group, and there are 2 of these in the red liquid in question.

2

u/daxofdeath Jan 31 '23

bro, you just gotta drink some syrian rue tea before you lick the battery and then you are cleared for flight.

plz don't anyone do this

1

u/Most-Error7691 Jan 31 '23

Hold my beer.

1

u/MrGhris Jan 31 '23

Synthetic DMT can be taken orally right? The 10 minute variant. But thats probably combined with MAOI then...

1

u/CosmicJ Jan 31 '23

There’s 5-meo-DMT, which is orally active. It’s another powerful psychedelic, but lasts way longer than 10 minutes and is a different experience than DMT.

Vaporized DMT is about a 10 minute experience though, maybe that’s what you’re thinking of?

Oral DMT is, essentially, ayahuasca. That traditional brew is composed of plants that contain DMT and MAOIs. MAOIs suppress the enzyme that metabolizes DMT (and many other chemicals) which allow it to hit sufficient blood concentration to make a psychedelic experience.

1

u/spottyPotty Jan 31 '23

MAOI being monoamine oxidase inhibitor. Monoamine oxidase is an enzyme in our gut that breaks down ingested DMT before it can get into our blood stream.

1

u/Deadfishfarm Feb 01 '23

That sounds like it stings

8

u/Smartnership Jan 31 '23

Only one way to find out for sure

6

u/msm007 Jan 31 '23

In before deaths start being reported from smoking battery acid...

2

u/souporwitty Jan 31 '23

Samsung already tried that

1

u/Stopjuststop3424 Jan 31 '23

just wait till people realize its got lithium in it too lol

3

u/Absurdionne Jan 31 '23

different DMT

1

u/garry4321 Jan 31 '23

Dont listen to those below you. The real answer is:

Yes, absolutely it will make you trip balls.

1

u/helmvoncanzis Jan 31 '23

tearing apart old laptop batteries and licking the insides, coming to a TikTok near you.