Talk:Acidic blood

Ability Naming Conventions
The following sources are used for determining evolved human ability names, in order:
1. Canon Sources	Episodes
2. Near-canon Sources	Webisodes, Graphic Novels, iStories, Heroes Evolutions
3. Secondary Sources	Episode commentary, Interviews, Heroes: Survival
4. Common names for abilities	Names from other works
5. Descriptions of abilities	Descriptions
6. Possessor's name	If no non-speculative description is possible
Note: The highlighted row represents the level of the source used to determine acidic blood's name.
Source/Explanation
Acidic blood describes the properties of Mary's blood.

Ability name

When I created the name I accidentally put wrong ability name, I changed it to what I thought best described her ability. However if people think this should be changed back please say so. I have added a rename tag just so people can voice their opinions. --posted by Laughingdevilboy Talk 10:33, 14 April 2009 (EDT)

• Perhaps acidic blood would be slightly more appropriate. --Ricard Desi (t,c) 11:15, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
  • That was my other thought, however I thought Bloody acidity sounded more like an ability. --posted by Laughingdevilboy

Talk 11:17, 14 April 2009 (EDT)

• • • Yes, acidic blood sounds as though she just has something wrong with her blood, not that she has a special ability --Mc hammark 11:23, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
      • Acidic Blood definitely. it sums it up perfectly, and tbh mc hammark, if you do have acidic blood there is something wrong with your blood, its not really a useful thing ;P --Lolwut 15:13, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
        • Neither one is perfect... Acidic Blood sounds too medical condition-y and not like an ability while Blood Acidity doesn't really sound like an ability. --Peter 15:17, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
      • It's no worse than puppet master (an occupation), or enhanced hearing or memory (pseudonatural occurences -- people with naturally strong hearing and memory do exist). Correctness of the name is paramount. --Ricard Desi (t,c) 15:43, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
        • Then I'd have to go with Acidic Blood. --Peter 15:46, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
          • Acidic blood matches Impenetrable skin.--Riddler 01:57, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
            • Agreed, though please see the discussion in the below thread about the possibility of it being a condition caused by the drug/CO2 combination that keeps the fugitives unconscious.--MiamiVolts (talk) 02:21, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
              • I also prefer "acidic blood". -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 15:33, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

Acid Blood

no? -- Meteoritu 21:01, 14 April 2009

• surprisingly i like it! --Peter 16:25, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
  • I do not mind this suggestion, as long as it doesn't go back to Mary's ability. --posted by Laughingdevilboy

Talk 17:08, 14 April 2009 (EDT)

• • • I'd prefer the name "acid blood" or "acidic blood" also. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 23:35, 14 April 2009 (EDT)

Most useless ability ever

• Think so? I literally cannot see any practical use for it :D i mean you could escape from a concrete cell possibly if you bled yourself to death... --Lolwut 17:17, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
• Not to death. Just enough to get through the concrete. --BoomerDay 17:48, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
• it still useless if your under combat or ecaping--Cj31094 19:31, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
• It could've been a side-effect of her ability. We only saw her getting shot; maybe if she got the chance she would've done something that would've been more useful. --BardinessBoy 19:41, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
• I'm sorry, i must be slow or something, but i have been looking at the comic, and most specifically the panel where Mary got shot. Which part of that panel even suggests the use of acid blood? If the blood WAS acidic, shouldn't there be some burning effect? or at the very least the "sheesh" or some other sounds to indicate that there was in fact some chemical reaction going on? The guy she fell on and had the blood over was also still, not like what you would expect for someone who is being burnt...
• i didnt see it either --Cj31094 23:29, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
  • Make that 3 that don't see it. "You got some 'splaining to do!"--Anthony Gooch 23:44, 14 April 2009 (EDT)
    • There wasn't anything in the graphic novel that suggested it, as far as I could tell. It was in the iStory. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 00:05, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
      • Ah, I see I need to catch up on the iStories--Anthony Gooch 00:22, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

Ability or condition?

• I favor "acidic blood" as well, but I would rather see this converted to a "medical condition" page... acidic blood can be caused by a number of things, and there is no way for us to be sure this is at all related to her ability unless a writer clarifies it for us. In fact, in this case, I think the most plausible explanation is a high concentration of CO2 in her system from whatever drug they were pumping into her through her nose to keep her unconscious. Scientifically, the condition/process of the blood becoming acidic is referred to as blood acidosis or often just acidosis. The state of the blood being acidic is called acidemia.--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:43, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
  • Sure, this type of thing could exist in reality...but don't you think that they were describing an ability rather than just a medical condition? I mean, if this happened in the online content for a show like The New Adventures of Old Christine or even Chuck, then I can see them describing a medical condition. But in a show where every other person has evolved abilities, don't you think that a woman with acidic blood also has an evolved ability? -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 00:58, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
    • Would the blood of someone with acidemia actually be able to eat through cloth and flesh the way Mary's blood is supposed to have done? Even if high CO2 levels made her blood so acidic, the fact that she could resist having her own blood dissolve her from the inside out implies that she has some other power (like acid resistance).--Theycallmeshockey 01:10, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
    • I definitely think Mary has an ability. I just don't think we know for sure what it is. The effects of long term exposure to whatever treatment is being given to those at Building 26 could be causing her blood acidity. Since drug treatments don't respond the same to everyone, Mary's body could have metabolized the acid in her blood for any number of reasons. In fact, the drug could be affecting Mary differently than everyone else because of her ability. I'll admit the acidity being an ability is a strong possibility given the nature of this show, but to me it's not confirmed.--MiamiVolts (talk) 01:44, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
      • I was thinking it was like Jean Grey as in the terms of that her flesh/blood is acidic maybe her power was acidity ? Gabriel Bishop 07:18, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
        • Her power could be acidity, but we don't normally go by what is possible but by what we know.--MiamiVolts (talk) 10:22, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
          • We know she has blood that is acidic. Do we know anything more than that? -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 15:32, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
            • The iStory said that the blood burned into flesh and sheets instantaneously, and we also know that Building 26 personnel have been administering her an unknown drug/gas through her nasal cavity for an unknown period of time. The instantaneous burning doesn't really tell us much about the acidity level as weak acids can burn rather quickly as well as strong ones depending on what they come in contact with. We also don't know the condition of the sheet and flesh after the burning. Since no fire was shown in the novel, we can assume they didn't mean the sheet was literally burning and just meant an acid burn (though nowhere in the novel or iStory does it call the blood acidic).--MiamiVolts (talk) 16:37, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
          • I think that it does suggest something about the pH level. We know it burns through the sheet straight through to the persons flesh. Now assuming that ph, 7 is neutral, anything above that is alkaline, we know it is 1-6. 5 and 6 are irritants and even 4 would struggle to burn though a sheet and then flesh. Then at the speeds we're talking about, I would assume 1 or 2, mabye bordering on 3 --IronyUTC CH 18:52, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
            • Some weak acids (pH close to 7), such as hydrofluoric acid, can act as fast as many strong acids (pH close to 1). See Wikipedia's articles on weak acids and corrosive substances, or if you would rather check out an official source, see this video from UC Berkeley. As a side note, blood in the human body is normally slightly basic, with an average pH of 7.4. Strong bases (pH close to 14) can be as corrosive as acid (the appropriate term is caustic if it's a base) to substances like sheets and skin.--MiamiVolts (talk) 19:19, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
              • What I'm going on is the fact that it burns through flesh. The cloth is irrelevant as it depends on a lot of factors. Hydrofloric acid, while does damage the skin, but namely the nervous system, and the burns are not painful to start, the impression from the istory that I got was that the acid was a clear burn that the guards could see instantly. As these are guards, I don't think they would be able to identify a burn like that from Hydrofloric acid as it doesn't make a noticable burn "mark", so to speak. As well as this it depends on what concentration of hydrofluric acid you are talking about, it could be a very weak concentration, or it could have been boiled, evaporated and collected thought alembic, then done again, except not boiling completely, which would leave a very, very strong concentration which coul easily brun thought flesh/sheets in an instant --IronyUTC CH 19:30, 15 April 2009 (EDT)
                • Strong bases can burn through flesh just as well as strong acids. My point is that we don't know what we are dealing with. Yes, it's her blood, but that's all the story confirms. PS: The story is from Rachel's POV, we've no idea if the guard's noticed or not. But since she did, there must be some effect for her to notice... however, we've no indication what that was... it could be anything from the sheet and flesh dissolving, to the sheet and flesh fizzling, to the sheet dissolving and the flesh turning color.--MiamiVolts (talk) 19:43, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

Whoa what?!

I never caught onto her ability while reading the graphic novel. Then I saw this page so I went back and reread it... and I'm still NOT catching on haha. I just don't see where her blood is burning through anything. --OutbackZack 11:53, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

• It was in the IStory. Please read the above discussions, as they will explain. --posted by Laughingdevilboy

Talk 11:57, 15 April 2009 (EDT)