Heavy Water. A great lost pub band name I daresay. But also the name of one of the most fun chemical compounds. It is water, with extri neutrons. Deuterium is just fat hydrogen and as such Heavy Water is just water but just a bit lardier.
I was reminded of its existence by the film Bon Voyage which I saw last night. Its a fun little farce with six big water cooler bottles full of heavy water as the MacGuffin. And it is the very purpose as a MacGuffin which probably made the people sitting behind me scoff when the identity of the compound was revealed. It does not sound very scientific. I guess those who had not made it to Chemistry A-Level or have an interest in the development of the nuclear reactor would ask ‘How can water be any heavier?’ Anyway it got me wondering what would happen if you drank heavy water. It is inert in itself, no-one ever made a bomb out of heavy water alone. Luckily, this is what the interweb is for, so here is what happens. Including a judgement on how efficatious it would be as a murder weapon.