Do not eat.
It's such a simple instruction that we've all read a hundred times or more on the tiny silica gel packets that come in sneaker boxes, shirts shipped from warehouses, and many more fabric and leather goods.
But why shouldn't you eat silica gel? If it's just silica, then it's the same as sand. While eating sand might be unpleasant, it's not necessarily unsafe if it's clean sand.
The increased surface area of the silica gel - one gram of silica gel has more than 700 square meters of surface area according to the video - is the issue. That surface area and its attractiveness toward polar molecules - water, ammonia, and other small molecules - cause it to absorb 40% its weight in water, making it a spectacular desiccant.
In general, the silica gel wouldn't do too much harmful to your body unless it had a cobalt chloride coating.
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