malibu101
Well-known member
Or Mercurochrome like my mom put on my cuts "back in the day".
It's good stuff- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merbromin
found a jar of mercury?
- Thread starter bzinsky
- Start date
It's good stuff- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merbromin
cstreu1026
Active member
The last I heard the clean up of this spill was up in the mid 6 figures.
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityofcincinnati/news/clean-up-nearly-complete-following-mercury-spill/
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityofcincinnati/news/clean-up-nearly-complete-following-mercury-spill/
We have a winner! We should close this thread!
Current mercury price:
http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/mercury/
I imagine the scrap price ain't much.
http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/mercury/
I imagine the scrap price ain't much.
If you find a steel penny keep it, they are worth a lot of money! Very rare in circulation...
James E
Well-known member
Freddy Mercury died of AIDS. I wouldn't trust the stuff, get rid of it.
familytruckster
Well-known member
Maybe it's a severed appendage of a T1000 Terminator. I'm not going to speculate which appendage.
pedrodagr8
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2013
- Messages
- 613
Ahh good ol metallic mercury. Horrible for kids to be exposed to, not as bad for adults. Not exactly a walk in the park but far from the toxicity of some other mercury compounds. What people don't realize is that there are two types of mercury. Metallic mecury and mecury salts/organomerucy compounds. Metallic mercury is far from safe but not nearly as dangerous as people behave. Take reasonable precautions and you should be just fine. Mercury salts and organomercury compounds on the other hand are EVERY BIT as dangerous as ppl think mercury is and then some. The prime candidate is methyl mercury, which is the type commonly found in various fish.
Methyl mercury is nasty stuff: see Karen Wetterhahn a Dartmouth professor that died from Methyl Mercury poisoning.
The other organomercury compounds get significantly less toxic the longer the organic chain. This is due to ethyl mercury and large not being able to cross the blood brain barrier.
Methyl mercury is nasty stuff: see Karen Wetterhahn a Dartmouth professor that died from Methyl Mercury poisoning.
It took her a year to die.
The other organomercury compounds get significantly less toxic the longer the organic chain. This is due to ethyl mercury and large not being able to cross the blood brain barrier.
rsanter
Well-known member
Contrary to popular belief, chocolate milk does not come from brown cows.
Yes it does.....just ask my daughter.
So I asked her where strawberry milk comes from....
She said if you feed strawberries to a white cow...you get strawberry milk
Bob
Hephaestus29
Well-known member
I've seen a guy on youtube do all kinds
of experiments with it.
of experiments with it.
atty5420
Active member
Keep it. You wouldn't want to try to buy it today. Ya just never know what may come along that would make it useful. Don't let the EPA Nazi's scare you off. It's a treasured find. Treat it as such.
I, too, am one of those people that took it to class and rolled it around on everybody's desk. While there are many adjectives for my behavior over the years, I doubt any of them can be scientifically linked to mercury poisoning.
I, too, am one of those people that took it to class and rolled it around on everybody's desk. While there are many adjectives for my behavior over the years, I doubt any of them can be scientifically linked to mercury poisoning.
Clik
Well-known member
Yep! Mercurochrome. Nothing like putting mercury directly into an open wound to disinfect it. Some how we survived all these things.
We swam in the rivers and there were no sewage treatment plants. The waste went straight into the waters. Treatment of any type wasn't required until 1972 and that was only primary screening of solids.
Dennis Leigh Henry
Well-known member
We had both iodine and mercurochrome.. My mom worked for a doctor too. I remember one stung "its killing the bacteria", the other didn't. Don't recall which was which now..
***
Don't get me started on paint thinners / metal cleaners (solvents) like Toluene, Xylene, MEK, lacquer thinner, and yes our old friend carbon tetrachloride.. Who ever heard of using rubber gloves to clean paint equipment up or prep metal with those chemicals.
White and Red lead paint, and even "modern" versions such as our use of heavy lead paint in the '70s and '80s to paint high tension towers and fences for the electrical power industry, without protective anything.
djones1a
Well-known member
Here is the story on the steel 1943 penny. http://www.ehow.com/facts_5295839_much-steel-war-penny-worth.htmll
dlcwent
Member Emeritus
cstreu1026
Active member
She actually died from dimethyl mercury which is far more lethal then methyl mercury which is commonly found in fish.
John in OH
Well-known member
When I was a kid I'd take my grandmother's dead hearing aid batteries and squeeze them in a vise. Each battery would yield a BB size drop of mercury. Collected and played with that stuff quite a bit.
The problem is, we all know it is hazardous. However, many here make light of that hazard and claim no ill effects. But, how do you know you have not suffered some degree of brain or other physical damage from playing with that stuff? Maybe now, as an adult, you would be smarter, stronger and healthier than if you had never been in contact with mercury? Or maybe, like asbestos, it will take many years for your body to react in a negative manner.
It's bad. Get rid of it in a responsible manner. Local fire department can probably give you guidance.
The problem is, we all know it is hazardous. However, many here make light of that hazard and claim no ill effects. But, how do you know you have not suffered some degree of brain or other physical damage from playing with that stuff? Maybe now, as an adult, you would be smarter, stronger and healthier than if you had never been in contact with mercury? Or maybe, like asbestos, it will take many years for your body to react in a negative manner.
It's bad. Get rid of it in a responsible manner. Local fire department can probably give you guidance.
I'm kinda with you on that notion. Years ago I salvaged a mercury-wetted solenoid switch from a magnetizer machine, and it's been in my junk box for over 20 years. Doubtful that I will ever need it to build the ultimate guitar amp, yet I find it somewhat of a curious treasure.
It has a few ounces of mercury in it, yet I have zero concern for it. In it's day, prior to modern mosfets, mercury solenoids were state of the art.
Attachments
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Judging by many of the responses, it already has.
benjamintmiller
Well-known member
All of you older guys with anecdotes need to keep in mind survivor bias is at play here.
For every "when I was a kid, I drank a gallon of mercury and I'm still here!", there are probably 10 people who died a horrible death from cancer and aren't here to tell their tale.
Heavy metals cause brain damage, and exposure is cumulative. Why take an unnecessary chance when most cities will dispose of mercury and lead for free?
For every "when I was a kid, I drank a gallon of mercury and I'm still here!", there are probably 10 people who died a horrible death from cancer and aren't here to tell their tale.
Heavy metals cause brain damage, and exposure is cumulative. Why take an unnecessary chance when most cities will dispose of mercury and lead for free?
Clik
Well-known member
Apparently it goes for good money at the scrap yards. Why give it to the government? The government get enough of our valuable metal.
Everybody referred to Mercurochrome as "Indian Medicine" when I was a kid, and had their mom paint "war-stripes" with it on their face after a bad incident. Popular at Halloween too.
I lived in northern IN at the time and yep, we played all summer in the Little Calumet river, which had a big culvert that spewed a huge slug of water out every 10 minutes or so. Figured out later it was a sewage lift station...
I worked the printing industry for a long time, and nothing was more common than to wash up with benzene. Now they say it's a poison and absorbed thru the skin.
Funny that of the people I know who were my age and are dead already, most were non-smokers/non-drinkers who exercised regularly and worked in an office most of their lives, with no hazards worse than a paper cut....
Regzilla
New member
Someday, when they dig up the stage at my Grammar School, they will find all the mercury kids used to roll down the auditorium floor during assemblies in the 50's.
No, it doesn't. Probably not enough to pay for your gas.
http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/mercury/
(a flask is 76lbs)
That is if you could find a "scrap yard" that even takes it. It's not the same place the tweekers take their copper wires...they have to be specially set up for that and licensed.
wnstwolf
Well-known member
That's why they call them the mad hatters. Original hat makers used a bag of mercury as a from fit device to stretch the material.
I worked at a bike dealership and we used a Mercury sync tool to tune the 4 carbs on street bikes. First time using it was the last. I managed to do something so wrong that the Mercury was forced up the tubes and spray all over the shop. It was not a good day to be me.
I worked at a bike dealership and we used a Mercury sync tool to tune the 4 carbs on street bikes. First time using it was the last. I managed to do something so wrong that the Mercury was forced up the tubes and spray all over the shop. It was not a good day to be me.
malibu101
Well-known member
What use would one of use "normal" guys have for mercury today?
I have wished/wanted for many things over the years, but never wished for some mercury.
As was said, we know it was used in some devices, coats coins, gold and silver mining, and is cool to play with.
BUT,- What use is mercury to anyone one this board today?
What have you needed mercury for?
When have you said "Gee, if only I had some mercury this problem would be solved?"
I have wished/wanted for many things over the years, but never wished for some mercury.
As was said, we know it was used in some devices, coats coins, gold and silver mining, and is cool to play with.
BUT,- What use is mercury to anyone one this board today?
What have you needed mercury for?
When have you said "Gee, if only I had some mercury this problem would be solved?"
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rob in nh
Well-known member
i would dispose of it at a disposal site
Clik
Well-known member
chris142
Well-known member
I use it to get small pieces of gold out of my gold pan.
38Chevy454
Well-known member
Not related to the OP at all, but the San Francisco bay has a significant amount of mercury in it. On the order of hundreds of tons of mercury. This is a result of the gold rush back in mid 1800's, where mercury was used for the gold refining. A whole bunch of that residual mercury flowed down and eventually settled into the bay.
From this article:
http://www.usfca.edu/Newsroom/Research/Cleaning_Up_San_Francisco_Bay_s_Mercury_Contamination/
"Tens of millions of pounds of mercury mined along the California coast during the mid-to-late 1800s and early 1900s and used to amalgamate with gold at slurry mines in the Sierra Nevada washed into Sierra and delta waterways during the Gold Rush era, settling into soil and sediment and making its way into San Francisco Bay."
From this article:
http://www.usfca.edu/Newsroom/Research/Cleaning_Up_San_Francisco_Bay_s_Mercury_Contamination/
"Tens of millions of pounds of mercury mined along the California coast during the mid-to-late 1800s and early 1900s and used to amalgamate with gold at slurry mines in the Sierra Nevada washed into Sierra and delta waterways during the Gold Rush era, settling into soil and sediment and making its way into San Francisco Bay."
VictorBravo
Well-known member
Homemade precision barometer/vacuum gauge.
Homemade vacuum pump for making vacuum electronic tubes.
Just a couple of uses I've had for the surplus mercury I bought in the 70s.
Since it readily dissolves lead, it is useful for cleaning gun barrels. Pour some in, stuff a rag at the ends, and let it do the work.
malibu101
Well-known member
Ronzzr11
Well-known member
Lassen Forge
Well-known member
If you can't learn its uses and how to use it safely, by all means take it to a recycler or your county health department for disposal. Or (and this is a genuine offer) you can PM me for my work address (I work in Hazmat Disposal) I'll deal with it for you. I'll even tell you how to ship it if you don't know how.
Or, you can put the vial on your desk as a curiosity, when people ask what it is (and pick it up), you can tell them and watch the fear in their eyes as if it were radioactive or something.
It CAN be used as a tool, and there are legitimate industiral uses for it (from gold extraction to the metal fillings in your teeth!) but it really ISN'T a toy to play with... Conversely, if you learn about it, you won't fear it because you know how to handle it.
Or, you can put the vial on your desk as a curiosity, when people ask what it is (and pick it up), you can tell them and watch the fear in their eyes as if it were radioactive or something.
It CAN be used as a tool, and there are legitimate industiral uses for it (from gold extraction to the metal fillings in your teeth!) but it really ISN'T a toy to play with... Conversely, if you learn about it, you won't fear it because you know how to handle it.
Strouty
Well-known member
Dr Oz and Oprah say mercury is great for treating hangovers, just wipe it all over your taint and it will fix everything.
Lassen Forge
Well-known member
Also a possible cure for enlarged Prostates. (will put the user Prostrate - permanently - some years after application). Maybe we could test it on Oprah and Dr Oz to see it if cures their indigestion!
The toxicity of mercury has been well known for decades and decades. Handled and used safely, it's not dangerous (how many people do you know with silver fillings in their mouth?). Handled unsafely, it can f*** someone up BAD.
There is a story about a couple GIs in Korea (early 1950's) that as a prank poured some mercury sergeant's boots (apparently the Sgt was kind of an a$$hole). The story goes they wanted to make him sick for a couple days to get even.
The Sergeant didn't die... but... ended up not only with such wonderful things as kidney and liver failure, but serious neuralogical damage from it. His life was, for the most part, over. The GI's - both ended up drawing lengthy terms in Leavenworth for the "prank".
Plenty of good uses for the stuff... just use due dilligence and caution when doing so.
The toxicity of mercury has been well known for decades and decades. Handled and used safely, it's not dangerous (how many people do you know with silver fillings in their mouth?). Handled unsafely, it can f*** someone up BAD.
There is a story about a couple GIs in Korea (early 1950's) that as a prank poured some mercury sergeant's boots (apparently the Sgt was kind of an a$$hole). The story goes they wanted to make him sick for a couple days to get even.
The Sergeant didn't die... but... ended up not only with such wonderful things as kidney and liver failure, but serious neuralogical damage from it. His life was, for the most part, over. The GI's - both ended up drawing lengthy terms in Leavenworth for the "prank".
Plenty of good uses for the stuff... just use due dilligence and caution when doing so.
PeterT
Well-known member
Spent some time in a raft with friends (when I was an early teen 30 years ago) going down the little calumet near Porter IN. I am certain we encountered some of those same lift stations.
I have some in a corner fire alarm switch. Looks like the one below but the switch on the back is just a vial of mercury with two wires going into it. Might make a cool light switch ?http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTYwWDEyODA=/z/m5QAAOSwQJhUhItE/$_1.JPG