Mercury clean up

SeanGAR · 08-07-2009, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjirons69

I work in a lab, Tom, and we have half a dozen spill kits for Hg. You could spend all day doing it the right way or half an hour doing it the efficient way. Just don't eat it or inhale it (which it nearly impossible due to it's specific gravity and it's tendency not to float in air) and it's just another metal. Well, except it's a liquid at room temp. The salts are really toxic but Ken shouldn't have any of those.

Ken, duct tape is your friend!

+1

In the old days we'd hold mercury metal in our hands.

Vaporized mercury, salts, and especially organomercury compounds (methyl/dimethyl mercury) are quite toxic.

By the 1800s, mercuric nitrate was widely used to soften fur for hats. The resulting exposure of workers lead to a classic syndrome and the phrase "mad as a hatter." In Danbury, Connecticut, a center of hat making, the effects of exposure were characterized as "Danbury Shakes." It was not until 1941 that the use of mercury nitrate in hat making was banned in most states.

http://www.mercuryinschools.uwex.edu...g_in_world.htm

icehog3 · 08-07-2009, 08:06 AM

Good job on the assist, Jamie!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

It was not until 1941 that the use of mercury nitrate in hat making was banned in most states.

Most? Crap, I probably got my hats from the state that still allows it....It's the "Douchebagistan Shakes"!

Ken · 08-07-2009, 08:48 AM

Great, I have a nuclear disaster in my basement and you're making jokes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by icehog3

Most? Crap, I probably got my hats from the state that still allows it....It's the "Douchebagistan Shakes"!

galaga · 08-07-2009, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken

Great, I have a nuclear disaster in my basement and you're making jokes.

That's a government employee's ten step program for you! Scare the **** out of you every time.

Seangar used to play with it and he's still functioning! Just b/c he used to be a hansom fellow and now he looks like Willie Nelson had nothing to do with the mercury: that was from playing with benzene to boost his octane.

gnukfu · 08-07-2009, 10:00 AM

45 years ago it wasn't a problem. I remember playing with mercury that fell on the floor when I broke my toys that contained it. Now if you spill some you have created a Superfund site and millions of dollars must be spent to clean the area. Anyway this repeats the gist of what has been said above but I still felt like typing it....probably due to mercury exposure when I was a child.

Starscream · 08-07-2009, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnukfu

45 years ago it wasn't a problem. I remember playing with mercury that fell on the floor when I broke my toys that contained it. Now if you spill some you have created a Superfund site and millions of dollars must be spent to clean the area. Anyway this repeats the gist of what has been said above but I still felt like typing it....probably due to mercury exposure when I was a child.

Kinda like DDT. Both were harmless in their day, but now they're both the start of the end of the world.

shilala · 08-07-2009, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andysutherland

Kinda like DDT. Both were harmless in their day, but now they're both the start of the end of the world.

DDT really was an environmental hazard. It screws up eggs. It's why there were no turkeys and the fish were nearly gone around here.
It's also to blame for anything the sharp decline in all things that came from eggs.
It's been done away with in my time, and as an outdoorsman and anal scientist who has always lived in farm country in the sticks, I've got to see the resultant rebound myself.
I still won't eat fish from the Great Lakes, but we used tons for our trapline when we were kids. Raccoons love mercury.

shilala · 08-07-2009, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnukfu

45 years ago it wasn't a problem. I remember playing with mercury that fell on the floor when I broke my toys that contained it. Now if you spill some you have created a Superfund site and millions of dollars must be spent to clean the area. Anyway this repeats the gist of what has been said above but I still felt like typing it....probably due to mercury exposure when I was a child.

It was probably the paint chips, George.
You quit eating them yet?

Ken · 08-07-2009, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by galaga

Seangar used to play with it and he's still functioning!

I've drank and smoked cigars with Sean, what do you consider functioning?

The wife works at UPS in safety and just spoke with the head guy for these problems and he didn't feel this small amount would amount to much.

galaga · 08-07-2009, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken

I've drank and smoked cigars with Sean, what do you consider functioning?

The wife works at UPS in safety and just spoke with the head guy for these problems and he didn't feel this small amount would amount to much.

DOH! That might have been more scary than Tom's 10 step program

But I'm sure it was more fun.....

SeanGAR · 08-07-2009, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken

I've drank and smoked cigars with Sean, what do you consider functioning?

You tell him ... I'm only incontinent on days that end in y ... and I never repeat myself.

Besides, I'm only incontinent on days that end in y ... and I never repeat myself.

Neurological damage? I doubt it, because I never repeat myself, and that's one of the first symptoms of mercury poisoning.

Repeating myself .. you know .. which I don't do. So, because I never repeat myself I should be OK.

Ken · 08-07-2009, 06:30 PM

OK, one last thing. I've scooped about all I can scoop.

So, do I really need to worry about every last granule? I'm probably going to go over this a few times to make sure I'm not missing anything big.

RGD. · 08-07-2009, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

+1

In the old days we'd hold mercury metal in our hands.

Yep - I was just thinking back in the 60's we use to break stuff open just to get it to play with. Never affected never affected never affected us in the least bit.

Ron

08-07-2009, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

+1

In the old days we'd hold mercury metal in our hands.

I had a pound of it in a glass jar that I'd play with in a pie tin when I was a kid. I thought it was cool because you could float coins on it. Didn't hurt me, I'm perfectly normal normal gnack normal.

My dad had a scrap iron yard back then, late 50s early 60s, in Sioux City, IA. Weiner Scrap Iron and Metal. Mercury and magnets have always held a facination for me. I still collect magnets from old hard drives and anywhere else I can get them.

Too bad mercury is not magnetic, that would make for an easy clean up!

08-07-2009, 10:00 AM	#5
gnukfu I like cigars Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: George Location: Massholia Posts: 1,466 Trading: (27)	Re: Mercury clean up 45 years ago it wasn't a problem. I remember playing with mercury that fell on the floor when I broke my toys that contained it. Now if you spill some you have created a Superfund site and millions of dollars must be spent to clean the area. Anyway this repeats the gist of what has been said above but I still felt like typing it....probably due to mercury exposure when I was a child. __________________ Curious George

08-07-2009, 06:30 PM	#12
Ken Still Watching My Back Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: New Albany, In Posts: 241 Trading: (0)	Re: Mercury clean up OK, one last thing. I've scooped about all I can scoop. So, do I really need to worry about every last granule? I'm probably going to go over this a few times to make sure I'm not missing anything big.