Mercury is LETHAL asshole!

The BBQ Pit
1

A guy in my class isn’t all that fucking bright…

The asshole stole some mercury from the chem lab, it was sealed in an airtight container on a shelf until it could be sent to a disposal center.

So he takes one of the pipetts we have in the lab full of it, a pretty good amount.

I saw him rolling it around in the pipette and showing it to a few of his friends while saying, “ohh… this’ll be perfect for that prank!”

I have no idea what the prank was. I got the stuff from his locker and returned it to the lab and told the chem teacher I had heard that someone might take some of the stuff soon for a prank, he put it in the safe until its taken away from the school.

If it were anything but mercury I wouldn’t have said anything. even if it were silver nitrate that we have an abundance of and is easy to get (leaves a pretty good stain on skin for a couple weeks). But mercury? Nasty stuff. People are fucking stupid.

2

Shall I roll out the story of the chem teacher who forced me to sweep some up with a broom?

3

Well, “lethal” is overstating it. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal, but it’s not going to kill you instantly if you touch it. Most kids of my generation played with mercury at one time or another. I got a couple of globs from my dentist at one point and rolled them around on my palm. And yet somehow have muddled along for another 30 years without significant neurological damage.

This doesn’t mean that you weren’t wise to return the mercury, though.

4

Please do. I might explain a few things about you. (I’m kidding, matt! Still, relate the story.)

5

I mean, “It might explain…”

6

Agree with Finagle. One of my buddies in high school had a father who was a dentist. A flask of mercury was in their basement–probably about a pint. We had a great time pouring it out and playing with it. Fascinating stuff.

Still, not knowing what the prank was, you were probably wise to stop it before it happened. But if my experience is anything to go by (30+ years since then), a brief exposure such as you describe is basically harmless.

7

Ah, come on. A little brain damage never hurt anyone. :smiley:

8

may I quote you?

9

I think in this guy’s case, it’s already too late.

10

I have played with mercury before, and it didn’t dain my bramage.

11

I, too, played with mercury as a child, and have no problem intellectually grasping most complex concepts such as Jerry Springer.

12

A touch of mercury makes those leaded-paint chips taste sooo much better,

13

How does that country song go?

She’s crazy from the mercury
I’m gonna get me some mercury
And roll it up and down the road!

14

Actually, I bit off the end of a mercury thermometer once. Almost swallowed some mercury.

Not fun,

15

They gave it to us in high school chemistry class to play with (I’m not kidding), and I never had any ooh, look at that shiny thing!

16

There was nothing wrong with mercury when I was growing up
I don’t know when it became the deadly poison it is today. Wipe some on your gold wedding ring for a fun experiment.

17

Ever hear of the Mad Hatter? He was not simply a character made up by Lewis Carrol. Hatters worked with mercury and as a consequence went quite insane.

18

What’s the end result? I do not have access to either mercury or a gold wedding band.

Also, isn’t there a medical condition that requires the periodic ingestion of mercury?

19

No. People used to believe that Mercury could cure various STDs, but it ain’t so.

20

When I was in HS we had a chem teacher who used to play with mercury. You do not want to wear gold and play with it though because she told us mercury would bond to gold. I don’t think she was too crazy, cute, but not crazy.