Cornstarch vs. Talc

OK, let's try

MERCURY IS GOOD FOR YOU

Phil W Lee wrote:
:John B. Slocomb considered Tue, 03 Feb 2015
:10:24:57 +0700 the perfect time to write:

:On Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:11:27 +0000, Phil W Lee
:wrote:
:
:John B. Slocomb considered Fri, 30 Jan 2015
:20:04:12 +0700 the perfect time to write:
:
:On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 23:47:59 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:
:
:On 1/29/2015 10:19 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
:
: Yup. No one seems to have died from the mercury and I read one
: discussion where the makers were said to have stated "we changed to a
: new substance because of the furor about mercury", or words to that
: effect.
:
:We had a machinist who absolutely refused to repair one piece of
:laboratory equipment because it contained some mercury, sealed in a
:metal bellows. There was no reasonable way it could leak, and he had
:probably been in far more contact with mercury in his career. But he
:raised enough of a stink, threatening union action, etc., that we were
:instructed to throw the equipment out. We never had the budget to
:replace it, so in the end, the students lost a great educational
:opportunity because of his fear. Yet there had to have been - and
:probably still are - a dozen mercury barometers in the various science labs.
:
:Funny thing was, about the same time as the machinist's kerfuffle we
:found an open beaker of mercury, probably 300 mL, that had apparently
:been in one of our storage cabinets for years. I called the Health &
:Safety officer when I discovered it, expecting that he'd call for the
:building to be razed. He walked over personally, took it from my hand,
:said "No problem," and walked off with it.
:
:Maybe he sold it to the Bag Balm people?
:
:
:I have to laugh when I read something like that. when I was in High
:School the physics "lab" had a mercury barometer - a tall tube sitting
:in a little saucer of mercury. Some of us used to drop pennies in the
:saucer and reach in and dig them out the next day. we carried them
:around to show people our silver penny. As far as I can tell nobody
:died from it :-)
:
:I've got a mercury thermometer just outside the window here. Been
:there almost as long as we've owned the house. Luckily I don't live in
:the U.S. or I'd have to watch out for the Black Helicopters circling
:over head :-)
:
:We've had similar paranoia here in the UK.
:I was completely unable to replace the mercury in my set of carburetor
:balancing manometers, after a severe maladjustment sucked it all out
:through an engine.
:
:My God! You should have advised the proper environmental agency about
:this and they would have handled things properly to avoid the
:contamination of the highways.
:
:But I used to play with it as a child, and we had it all over the
:place in the labs at school, and used by both students and staff for a
:variety of experiments and demonstrations.
:I never heard of it doing anyone any harm in liquid metallic form.
:I don't think I'd have wanted to breathe anything from the exhaust of
:that motorcycle that sucked my manometers dry though.
:
:As an aside, the sphygmomanometer that the doctor tests your blood
:pressure with has mercury in it :-)

:Not anymore - they've replaced them all with digital ones.
:They still have the old sphygmomanometers, sitting on the top shelf
:gathering dust in the phlebotomist's room (which I have to visit far
:too regularly for my liking - I'm on medication which requires
:constant monitoring of my liver function).

I haven't seen a mercury sphygmonanometer in decades. They're all
aneroid or digital.

--
sig 124

On Tue, 03 Feb 2015 21:11:05 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

John B. Slocomb considered Tue, 03 Feb 2015
10:24:57 +0700 the perfect time to write:

On Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:11:27 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

John B. Slocomb considered Fri, 30 Jan 2015
20:04:12 +0700 the perfect time to write:

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 23:47:59 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/29/2015 10:19 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Yup. No one seems to have died from the mercury and I read one
discussion where the makers were said to have stated "we changed to a
new substance because of the furor about mercury", or words to that
effect.

We had a machinist who absolutely refused to repair one piece of
laboratory equipment because it contained some mercury, sealed in a
metal bellows. There was no reasonable way it could leak, and he had
probably been in far more contact with mercury in his career. But he
raised enough of a stink, threatening union action, etc., that we were
instructed to throw the equipment out. We never had the budget to
replace it, so in the end, the students lost a great educational
opportunity because of his fear. Yet there had to have been - and
probably still are - a dozen mercury barometers in the various science labs.

Funny thing was, about the same time as the machinist's kerfuffle we
found an open beaker of mercury, probably 300 mL, that had apparently
been in one of our storage cabinets for years. I called the Health &
Safety officer when I discovered it, expecting that he'd call for the
building to be razed. He walked over personally, took it from my hand,
said "No problem," and walked off with it.

Maybe he sold it to the Bag Balm people?


I have to laugh when I read something like that. when I was in High
School the physics "lab" had a mercury barometer - a tall tube sitting
in a little saucer of mercury. Some of us used to drop pennies in the
saucer and reach in and dig them out the next day. we carried them
around to show people our silver penny. As far as I can tell nobody
died from it :-)

I've got a mercury thermometer just outside the window here. Been
there almost as long as we've owned the house. Luckily I don't live in
the U.S. or I'd have to watch out for the Black Helicopters circling
over head :-)

We've had similar paranoia here in the UK.
I was completely unable to replace the mercury in my set of carburetor
balancing manometers, after a severe maladjustment sucked it all out
through an engine.

My God! You should have advised the proper environmental agency about
this and they would have handled things properly to avoid the
contamination of the highways.

But I used to play with it as a child, and we had it all over the
place in the labs at school, and used by both students and staff for a
variety of experiments and demonstrations.
I never heard of it doing anyone any harm in liquid metallic form.
I don't think I'd have wanted to breathe anything from the exhaust of
that motorcycle that sucked my manometers dry though.

As an aside, the sphygmomanometer that the doctor tests your blood
pressure with has mercury in it :-)

Not anymore - they've replaced them all with digital ones.
They still have the old sphygmomanometers, sitting on the top shelf
gathering dust in the phlebotomist's room (which I have to visit far
too regularly for my liking - I'm on medication which requires
constant monitoring of my liver function).

Nope. The hospitals I go to have both changed the, what might be
termed "screening", BP instruments to digital but both my doctors use
an old fashioned sphygmomanometers when THEY take a BP reading. As I
suffer from hypertension and take my BP daily I asked my cardiologist
about that and she tells me that the digital are not as accurate as
the old ones are and that you can often notice things like missed, or
weak pressure, pulse when a human is listening.
--
Cheers,

John B.

John B. Slocomb writes:

On Tue, 03 Feb 2015 21:11:05 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

John B. Slocomb considered Tue, 03 Feb 2015
10:24:57 +0700 the perfect time to write:

On Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:11:27 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:


[...]

As an aside, the sphygmomanometer that the doctor tests your blood
pressure with has mercury in it :-)

Not anymore - they've replaced them all with digital ones.
They still have the old sphygmomanometers, sitting on the top shelf
gathering dust in the phlebotomist's room (which I have to visit far
too regularly for my liking - I'm on medication which requires
constant monitoring of my liver function).

Nope. The hospitals I go to have both changed the, what might be
termed "screening", BP instruments to digital but both my doctors use
an old fashioned sphygmomanometers when THEY take a BP reading. As I
suffer from hypertension and take my BP daily I asked my cardiologist
about that and she tells me that the digital are not as accurate as
the old ones are and that you can often notice things like missed, or
weak pressure, pulse when a human is listening.

My previous quack, er, physician used a mercury sphygmanometer. He was
an old fart, and retired a few years ago. The new quack is a young guy
who doesn't even take my blood pressure, he has an office boy do it
using a completely automatic device. I'm not sure anyone in the office
could use an old-fashioned mercury filled instrument on a bet.

I blame the flacks, now that they have won the car vs pedestrian
campaigns they have moved on to medical devices.
--

On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 6:27:48 PM UTC-8, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 08:06:39 -0600, AMuzi wrote:

On 1/29/2015 10:47 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/29/2015 10:19 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Yup. No one seems to have died from the mercury and I read
one
discussion where the makers were said to have stated "we
changed to a
new substance because of the furor about mercury", or
words to that
effect.

We had a machinist who absolutely refused to repair one
piece of laboratory equipment because it contained some
mercury, sealed in a metal bellows. There was no reasonable
way it could leak, and he had probably been in far more
contact with mercury in his career. But he raised enough of
a stink, threatening union action, etc., that we were
instructed to throw the equipment out. We never had the
budget to replace it, so in the end, the students lost a
great educational opportunity because of his fear. Yet
there had to have been - and probably still are - a dozen
mercury barometers in the various science labs.

Funny thing was, about the same time as the machinist's
kerfuffle we found an open beaker of mercury, probably 300
mL, that had apparently been in one of our storage cabinets
for years. I called the Health & Safety officer when I
discovered it, expecting that he'd call for the building to
be razed. He walked over personally, took it from my hand,
said "No problem," and walked off with it.

Maybe he sold it to the Bag Balm people?


Your average USAian can't distinguish between metallic
mercury (negligible to low risk) and organic mercury
compounds (such as methyl and dimethyl mercury, yes can be
dangerous to fatal). For people of a certain age a small
container of metallic mercury salvaged form a broken
thermometer was once a popular plaything with as far as I
can tell no adverse effects.

Somewhere buried deep in my memory is a statement made by a military
doctor when I asked about the dangers of mercury. He stated that one
of the last things a doctor might try for a very severe case of
constipation (just before they cut someone open and manually cleaned
him/her out) was to swallow a cup full of mercury :-) I didn't ask
whether they than got the patient to jump off a stepladder.
--

Before Salvarsan (and even after), mercury injections were used for treatment of syphilis. http://www.vlib.us/medical/syphilis.htm

Not saying you should put on your cornflakes, though.

-- Jay Beattie.