if you are using materials containing mercury

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artart47

Well-known member
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Joined
Feb 9, 2010
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545
Location
North Cape, wi
Hi my Friends!
Happened across this video about a case of mercury poisoning in a lab worker.https://youtu.be/NJ7M01jV058 YouTube "scientist spill 2ml of dimethyl mercury on her hand"
Please don't take chances with your life!
Art.
 
I wish Cody at Cody's Lab youtube channel would wise up. He plays with mercury as a toy, flushing toilets, walking on it... and so on. Everytime I see that he has released a new video about mercury I cringe.

Göran
 
dimethyl mercury vs metallic mercury.?..

Isnt that like comparing, oh, hexachloroplatinate and platinum?
or osmium oxide and osmium metal

I mean, I understand your post G, and I agree, (especially after watching him and the kingofrandom guy make a barometer... "lets just suck on this tube of mercury to pull the air out") but, yeah... ...I mean, dimethyl mercury and mercury are two beasts of far different nature

Should I just immediately dispose of the mercury switches I got in for my Arduino project?!?!
No, that is just ridiculous! I'm going to use them babies!

Afterall, sure the mercury could kill me
but, I could also get struck down by lightning or hit on the head by Thor's hammer before the mercury in those switches kills me. Especially if I am waiting on the switches to break, the mercury to ooze out, and then ionize (not the word I'm looking for there..) into dimethyl mercury just so it can come murder me and make me dumber er.
:)
 
They are apples and oranges. The mercury in our food chain is organic mercury, however, and that was from the action of bacteria on elemental mercury.

The metal is useful and beautiful in its way but the less of it is used, the better.
 
Mercury switches are quite safe as long as they are whole, but break it and the mercury will start emitting vapors.

Metallic mercury is a lot safer than dimethyl mercury, but the same processes are occurring when mercury is stored in the body. When exposed to mercury vapors some of it is transferred into organic mercury and store in the fat tissues, as shown in the video. When lower levels of mercury is stored in the brain the damage is slow and might take years or decades to be noticed, but when the damage is done there is nothing you can do to undo it. Ever heard the expression "Mad as a hatter"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erethism

I prefer to keep my brain working as long as possible. I rather dunk my bare hand in nitric acid than in mercury.

Göran
 
In the 30 some refineries that I spent time working in, I never, not even once, saw mercury being used for any process involving PM scrap. It is unnecessary and very undesirable. If you are wise, never watch any of Cody's videos. It will just cause you grief if you try to duplicate his lousy techniques and methods.
 
g_axelsson said:
I prefer to keep my brain working as long as possible. I rather dunk my bare hand in nitric acid than in mercury.

Göran

And you'd much rather dunk your bare hand in a cyan..... ok won't go there 8)
 
anachronism said:
g_axelsson said:
I prefer to keep my brain working as long as possible. I rather dunk my bare hand in nitric acid than in mercury.

Göran
And you'd much rather dunk your bare hand in a cyan..... ok won't go there 8)
Not before I had carefully washed away the nitric acid. :eek:

Göran
 
artart47 said:
Hi!
I was thinking more about readers who may have dental scrap they are considering refining. Safety!
Art.

My dentist has a quart jar full and asked me about it once. After I told him the basic procedure and equipment required for safely getting all the mercury out and refining the gold, he lost interest in it.
 
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