An old question that popped into my head during dinner - This woman was working with dimethyl mercury and got a drop or two on her latex glove. It went through the glove and into her skin and she died of mercury poisoning 10 months later. Uh, HOW? I don’t doubt the story, but… it’s a little mind-boggling. Is there enough mercury in a few drops of that stuff to kill you, or was it one of those continuous sorta catalytic I forget the name reactions like CFCs and ozone where the dimethyl reacts, screws things up, reforms and reacts again? Are there other similarly poisonous substances out there, and why haven’t they been unleashed on us by any doomsday cults yet? (One would think a little dimethyl mercury in the subway system would do a better job than sarin.)
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- What are you asking, why did it take so long to kill her, or is it posible for such a tiny amount of anything to kill?..
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A drop of pure cyanide on your skin for even just a few seconds will kill you within an hour or two. When working with such chemicals it is normal procedure to wear 3 layers of protective clothing, any one of which would be enough to prevent contact.
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Well, my question would be, What is it, exactly, about dimethyl mercury that makes it so efficient at giving you mercury poisoning?
After all, i handled mercury with my bare hands once as a teenager in science lab, and i’m not dead yet. But apparently the mercury can do massivley more damage, and much more quickly, if it touches the skin in this particular form.
So, what’s the deal?
See http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/dimethylmercury/dmmjm.htm for a good article on the effects of dimethyl mercury.