Acid blood that can eat through metal, but not Drakes bones?

[machines1047]

Guys this question has been bugging me for a while now, enough so to log onto your website JUST to ask it.

      In Ridley Scott's film, the original "Alien", while trying to extract the facehugger from Kane's face, Dallas and Ash cut the aliens skin and a SINGLE drop of blood that comes out, eats through TWO decks of metal flooring and ceiling of the Nostromo space ship.
     In James Cameron's sequel "Aliens", while the marines are leaving the "nest" after their first encounter and battle with the Aliens, Vasquez shoots an alien until it explodes. As it does so Drake receives an ENTIRE array of bloody acid mist, and is only seen being disfigured as if a common burn victim.
         My question for the true fans and professionals of the alien series,as you could probably guess from my subject line, how is it that a single drop of blood from a facehugger in "Alien" can eat through metal, but an entire onslaught of bloody spray on Drake in "Aliens" doesn't eat through his bones??

Thoughts, ideas, comments and questions are always welcome and appreciated!!!

[Xenomania]

We don't see Drake for long when he gets his shower though IIRC, so the acid very well could have melted half his head off shortly after. And also, perhaps the facehugger has a stronger concentration of acid than the rest of the aliens?

[SM]

We don't see the final result of Drake.  We see a couple of seconds immediately after exposure.

And flesh has moisture in it, which could slow the reaction, and make Hudson, Vasquez, Hicks and Christie's wounds less serious than they might've been otherwise.

[Local Trouble]

[426Buddy]

Im no expert but yeah, I would imagine that acid would have a different reaction to (moist) organic matter than it does on on something like metal.

[SiL]

You can observe this with real world acid. It's much better at dissolving things like metal than flesh.

[whiterabbit]

Yea Hudson's arm would be a better measure of the aliens acid blood effect on human flesh. He took a direct hit after making an alien eat hot lead. Hick's too for that matter. The acid blood made short work of his armor.

[Local Trouble]

You can observe this with real world acid. It's much better at dissolving things like metal than flesh.

I seem to recall Bishop stating something to that effect in the novelization as well.

[Doctor Ash]

The Xenos in Aliens could be a different but similar species than Big Chap. Could also explain the differences in Body and Behavior.

[Wweyland]

Drake's face is basically burnt to the bone in 0,5 seconds (of course the makeup has added a layer to his face but it's meant to be burnt deep). This is a non-issue.

[FenGiddel]

We don't see the final result of Drake.  We see a couple of seconds immediately after exposure.

And flesh has moisture in it, which could slow the reaction, and make Hudson, Vasquez, Hicks and Christie's wounds less serious than they might've been otherwise.

Spin it, brother!

[Xenomania]

Just for reference, a "nice" shot of Drake.

[Wweyland]

On a side note, I have always wondered if Drake's eye was bleeding when he woke from hypersleep? Or was it a scar/tattoo type thing that the actor has.

[SM]

It's a scar.  I don't know if Rolston has it or if it was makeup.  Drake was scripted to have a scar.

[Wweyland]

It's ironic that he received his new "scar" in the same place.