That pink liquid sloshing around in your medicine cabinet? It's hiding metal. Pepto-Bismol's active ingredient is bismuth subsalicylate, a compound where bismuth—a legitimate heavy metal—is chemically bonded to salicylate. Hit it with enough heat from a blowtorch, and you'll reverse-engineer the pharmaceutical back into its elemental form: a hunk of bismuth metal.

Each Pepto pill contains about 262 mg of bismuth subsalicylate, but only roughly 32 mg of that is actual bismuth. The rest is the organic salicylate component, which incinerates under extreme heat. What remains is either pure bismuth metal or bismuth oxide slag, depending on your technique. It's the only over-the-counter drug that leaves shiny metallic residue after being torched.

The Chemistry Behind the Metal

Bismuth subsalicylate (C₇H₅BiO₄) is thermally unstable. When exposed to blowtorch temperatures—around 1,200°C (2,200°F)—the compound undergoes thermal decomposition. The organic portion burns off as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, while the bismuth either melts into metal or oxidizes into a crystalline slag.

If you want cleaner results, chemists use a different approach: dissolve crushed pills in muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) to create a pink bismuth ion solution, then drop in aluminum foil. The aluminum reduces the bismuth ions into solid metal particles, which you can filter out and melt with a torch into a solid ingot.

What Bismuth Metal Looks Like

Freshly melted bismuth cools into a gray-silver metal with a pinkish tinge. But leave it exposed to air, and oxidation kicks in fast—within minutes, the surface develops an iridescent rainbow sheen of yellows, blues, and purples. If conditions are right, bismuth forms stunning geometric hopper crystals that look like pixelated staircases.

Melting point: 271°C (520°F)—low enough to melt on a stovetop
Density: 9.78 g/cm³—heavier than lead
Non-toxic: Unlike most heavy metals, bismuth is safe enough for medicine

Why Put Metal in Medicine?

Bismuth compounds have been used for stomach ailments since the 1700s. Bismuth subsalicylate works by coating the stomach lining, reducing inflammation, and killing bacteria like H. pylori (which causes ulcers). The salicylate part is chemically similar to aspirin, adding anti-inflammatory effects.

Interestingly, scientists only figured out the exact molecular structure of bismuth subsalicylate in 2022—despite the drug being on pharmacy shelves since 1901. Turns out the compound forms complex networks of bismuth-oxygen clusters, not the simple structure chemists assumed.

Don't Try This at Home (But People Do)

YouTube and science forums are full of DIY bismuth extraction experiments. The blowtorch method is straightforward but messy—you'll get slag, fumes, and maybe some metal. The acid method yields purer bismuth but involves handling corrosive chemicals and flammable hydrogen gas (a byproduct of the aluminum reaction).

Either way, you're decomposing a pharmaceutical into carbon monoxide, metal oxides, and other hazardous byproducts. Proper ventilation, safety goggles, and a fire extinguisher aren't optional. Most chemistry educators use this as a teaching demo rather than a recommended weekend project.

Still, there's something undeniably cool about turning a bottle of pink stomach medicine into a shiny chunk of elemental metal. It's a reminder that chemistry is everywhere—even in your first-aid kit.

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