Dihydrogen monoxide parody

The dihydrogen monoxide parody is a parody that involves referring to water by its unfamiliar chemical systematic name "dihydrogen monoxide" (DHMO, or the chemical formula H2O) and describing some properties of water in a particularly concerning manner — such as the ability to accelerate corrosion (rust) and cause suffocation (drowning) — for the purpose of encouraging alarmism among the audience to often incite a moral panic calling for water to be banned, regulated strictly or labeled as a hazardous chemical.

The parody has also involved other uncommon chemical nomenclatures for water such as "hydrogen hydroxide", "dihydrogen oxide" and "hydric acid", used in many prank shows to scare people into thinking that it is a lethal or corrosive substance.

The motivation behind the parody is to play into chemophobia, and to demonstrate how exaggerated analysis, information overload and a lack of scientific literacy can lead to misplaced fears.

[citation needed] This new version of the parody was created by housemates while attending UC Santa Cruz, in 1990, revised by Craig Jackson in 1994,[3] and was published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in March 1996.

[4] It received widespread public attention in 1997 when Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student, gathered petitions to ban "DHMO" as the basis of his science project, titled "How Gullible Are We?