1. Before we start, let’s think about ….
Watch the video and answer the following questions.
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What is the king of poison? ____
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True or False? If it is false, please correct it. (1) In arsenic’s chemically pure form, it isn’t much of a threat even though our bodies absorb it well;
(2) It is dangerous when arsenic combines with other elements.
(3) When arsenic reacts with carbon dioxide, it may assume its most common poisonous form: white arsenic, a powder that can be immediately lethal or kill over time.
(4) When white arsenic enters the body, it replaces phosphates, compromising critical processes like cellular energy production.
(5) The symptoms of arsenic poisoning don’t overlap with common illnesses in history.
(6) You can smell and taste the white arsenic. -
In ancient ____ and ____, people encountered arsenic while mining and smelting metals, and came to recognize its powers.
- The first preparation of white arsenic on record is attributed to ____ Golden Age
alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, around the ____ century. Poisoning became prevalent in Renaissance ____, where elites like the Venetian Council of Ten decided who to assassinate and enlisted alchemists, pharmacists, and doctors to prepare the appropriate poison.- assassinate: murther a famous or important person\
- enlist: enroll; engage to help\
- During ____ King Louis XIV’s reign, arsenic ran rampant among ____ high society, earning it the moniker of “inheritance powder.”
- rampant: (especially of something unwelcome) flourishing or spreading unchecked.\
- In ____ , the five-year Affair of the Poisons kicked off with a noblewoman confessing to murdering her father and brothers— and revealing that ____ harbored an extensive underground network of ____ peddling.
- peddle: to sell things, especially by taking them to different places
vs. paddle\
- peddle: to sell things, especially by taking them to different places
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Arsenic became more widespread ____ during the ____. Demand for metals, like iron, skyrocketed.
For example: -
Can forensic arsenic tests proof if the arsenic was used? ____
- In the first truly reliable arsenic test, an arsenic-containing sample would react with______ and ____ to produce ____ . Once ignited, it would reveal a solid arsenic deposit.
Answers:
- Arsenic\
- F - because; T; F - oxygen; T; F - don’t ; F - odorless and tasteless\
- Egypt, Greece\
- Islamic, 8th, Italy\
- French, Parisian\
- 1675, Paris, poison\
- Weapon; Industrial Revolution ;
Demand for metals, like iron, skyrocketed. And as people melted impure ores in furnaces, some byproducts became airborne and accumulated on chimneys— including white arsenic. The powder was scraped off in abundance and sold cheap to city-dwellers, who channeled its powers against pests— and sometimes, people.
In 1775, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele created a copper-arsenic mixture that yielded a brilliant green hue. Scheele’s green soon pigmented paint, textiles, toys, soaps, cosmetics, and food coloring. By the late 1800s, 80% of English wallpaper contained arsenic. But its lethality loomed.
Several children were said to have died from inadvertently ingesting arsenic, and a public campaign finally had it banned from households.\ - No Meanwhile, deliberate arsenic poisoning persisted. And because forensic arsenic tests remained rudimentary, people kept getting away with it.\
- Zinc, acid, arsine gas
