Subject: Re: Skin Suffocation Date: 8 Sep 93 01:52:58 GMT mlitchfield@pimacc.pima.edu (R.

From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: Re: Skin Suffocation
Date: 8 Sep 93 01:52:58 GMT

mlitchfield@pimacc.pima.edu (R. Michael Litchfield) writes:
>A.s.b is being hit with the "if you get comepletely covered in paint you will
>die of skin suffocation" thing again, I looked in the AFU FAQ but it isn't
>there and I know that thing has bee hashed a dozen times

Ok, let's quote Unka Cece again...

>From page 221, The Straight Dope:

Remember the rumours that circulated when Goldfinger first came out?  Well, we
do, and we'd like to know if they have any basis in fact: if your skin is
covered with gold paint (or any other colour paint, for that matter), will you
die as a direct or indirect result?  Why?  -- Columbia, Jackson Park, Chicago.

As I recall, the consensus at the time the movie appeared was that you would
die of asphyxiation, somehow.  There was a notion abroad in those days that you
breathed through your skin.  Well science -- or at least the popular
understanding of it -- has made mighty strides since those early years, and it
is now known that you do not breathe through your skin.  You breathe through
your mouth and nose.  So much for the asphyxiation theory.

Nonetheless it's true that if someone gilded you, you would very likely die.
However, death would result from what amounts to an extreme case of heat
stroke.  Paint would clog the pores, thus preventing perspiration and ruining
the body's principal means of heat regulation.  You'd develop a high fever, and
after a few days of unbearable suffering, you would expire.  Lead or other
toxic substances in the paint might contribute to your demise.

I might mention that anyone contemplating a homicide of this type should take
care to coat the subject as completely as possible, since partial coverage will
result only in an increased rate of perspiration across the unoccluded
surfaces.  Particular attention shold be paid to the palms, armpits, and the
soles of the feet, which contain a great number of sweat glands.  Personally I
think it'd be easier just to hit the guy over the head with a rock, but you
know me.