Re: Would a mermory card (e.g. from a camera) be usable after being swallowed?

Hello,

This was definitely a tough question to answer! I looked through many sources - one of which claimed to actually have swallowed a microSD card to test a similar theory (forum link).

HowStuffWorks: Flash Memory tells us that typical Flash memory cards have gold contacts and are enclosed in some sort of plastic casing.

If we look at the properties of stomach acid, we see that it has a pH of one to two and contains hydrochloric acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_acid). Gold does not seem to react to pure hydrochloric acid and instead seems to need a combination of acids in order to actually dissolve. It seems that the plastic casing is not affected by the hydrochloric acid either.

Given this evidence and the forum posts above, I think that the SD card could survive within the walls of the stomach given the right circumstances. There seem to be too many factors involved. For example, this forum poster claims that a rolling salt water boil destroyed his microSD card - the human stomach is full of salts as well as various other materials which could potentially damage an SD card in other manners.

On the other hand, if the card was left in the stomach for too long, it could be passed on as part of stool and eliminated from the body completely.

I hope that helps,
--Adil Bukhari