I have a box of mercury tubes with contacts. They were removed from switches and those old hood lamps on car. They still are cool to look at
~ *[email protected] <[email protected]>* On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 5:00 PM Mac Doktor <[email protected]> wrote: > > On May 27, 2020, at 11:53 AM, alb.001 alb.001 <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I was both lucky and stupid as I did not appreciate what the toxicity of > mercury was. Doing stupid chemistry things stayed with me with many > further adventures in university. > > Forget elemental mercury vapor, ingesting the mercuric oxide would have > been a lot more fun. > > In the late '70s our chem lab in High School was straight out of the '50s. > Nice old-fashioned benches and sinks but no fume hoods or anything more > sophisticated than a pair of plastic goggles. Anything we couldn't pour > down the sink went into a large ceramic crock in the back corner of the > room. I can't remember now if it had a lid or not. Some guy came twice year > to empty it. > > In the summer before my senior year I took Chemistry II which consisted of > eight weeks of solid lab work for four hours a day. One Monday we walked in > and there was a haze filling the entire room. We opened all of the huge > windows (10~12' ceilings, steam heat and no A/C) and stood out in the hall > for an hour. It had no distinct odor to it so we never did figure out what > it was or where it came from. > > One day the teacher asked me to help him refill the small hydrous ammonia > reagent bottle we used in the classroom. I held a glass funnel while he > poured what was probably less than half a liter into the bottle from a jar > that must have been several liters. We held our breath as the liquid filled > the reagent bottle. As soon as it was full I yanked out the funnel, put it > in the sink as fast as I could without breaking it and jabbed the stopper > in. At the same time the teacher set the other bottle on the bench and > screwed the cap on as fast as possible. As soon as our hands were free we > ran out of there like two bats out of hell and stood in the hall gasping > for air while tears ran down our faces. > > Then there was the time we were making some HCL and I got a tiny whiff. > Man, that was as close to feeling like I was going to die in my entire > life. Those poor sods in WWI. I can actually imagine what it was like. > > > Terry Bowman, KA4HJH > "The Mac Doctor" > > https://www.astarcloseup.com/ > > "Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out > of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm > for science intact."—Carl Sagan, *Psychology Today*, 1996 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "neonixie-l" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/3E96DAE6-7453-41B7-B83D-776CC1A2E7D2%40gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/3E96DAE6-7453-41B7-B83D-776CC1A2E7D2%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CAKYv7NTCUcfRHKjdvav9S5rHFVq2JtH66qpa_5Fk1Y%2BTSpP6Kg%40mail.gmail.com.
