I’m writing a 10-minute monologue. My character is a former Chemistry teacher who thinks she poisoned someone. (She didn’t because he didn’t drink what she’d prepared, but I’d like the chemistry to sound believable.) Here’s the snippet of speech from that part of the monologue: “Strychnine. It’s still found in some rat poisons. Two milligrams will kill a mouse, about sixty for a human. Not very difficult. A little tricky because it’s bitter and it’s an alkaloid. Some of you remember your chemistry classes, some of you don’t. An alkaloid dissolves best in alcohol. Now you remember. . . I prepared the strychnine and put it in Frank’s brandy . . .”
