What Does Plutonium Taste Like?

That question, it turns out, stretches to deadly radioactive metals. People on the Internet have apparently been wondering what plutonium tastes like lately, leading to some perplexing Google search results. According to the screenshot, the answer is that it has notes of sour and sweet, presumably drowning out the umami of "I'm going to die soon".

So, does plutonium really taste like candy? No. The often-cited Google answer appears to have picked up a review from a website for the pear-flavored candy product Plutonium Pear Nuclear Energy Powder.

Unsurprisingly, plutonium has a strong metallic taste, rather than a candy pear flavor. How do we know this? One man, an American chemist by the name of Donald F. Mastick, really did taste it. 

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While working on the Manhattan Project, in August 1944, a vial of plutonium chloride dissolved in acid exploded, with a small amount going into Mastick's mouth. He reportedly said it had a distinctly metallic taste. 

Mastick was forced to swish a liquid solution in his mouth and spit it into a beaker. His first mouthful contained nearly half a microgram of plutonium—then believed to be the maximum amount the human body could retain without harm. After enduring 12 mouth rinses, the unfortunate scientist underwent multiple rounds of stomach pumping. As plutonium is so precious, it was recovered from his stomach contents to be reused in future experiments. Waste not, want not.

Though undoubtedly an unpleasant ordeal, Mastick made a full recovery. He did, however, experience some undesirable side effects. When he opened his mouth, radiation monitors went nuts, and his urine contained traces of plutonium for decades after the accident.

Despite the incident, Mastick continued his career as a chemist, serving in various military and government roles before passing away in 2007 at the ripe old age of 87.