At 01:51 AM 12/8/2012, Eric Walker wrote:
On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 10:47 PM, Abd ul-Rahman
Lomax <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote:
Would it cut cleanly, if thin enough, or would
it crush? There could be a way to pull this off
safely, with capture and proper disposal of any
dust. Do it under water? Waste disposal? So ... maybe. But that's not for now.
The problem is that you don't find out if it
what you did was safe for five years, and then
you have a 1/3 chance of dying or being disabled.
The danger of beryllium is real and subtle.
However, it's also being exaggerated here. If one
is exposed to serious levels of airborn
beryllium, which are pretty small, yes, even a
subacute exposure have no symptoms for many years
(sometimes 20) and can pop up years later as very
serious chronic disease. But the experience with
beryllium was with workers at beryllium plants
who were exposed to the material, at substantial
levels, day after day, for years, and if those
people contracted berylliosis, *then* there was a
one-third chance of a seriously harmful outcome,
like up to and including death.
If I were to take a piece of thin beryllium foil
and cut it with some snips, once or a few times,
the chance of serious beryllium exposure is
extremely small. And even that "bold move" I'm
not going to engage in without a lot more
research, and possible some serious precautions.
I'm going to experiment first with my solid piece
of beryllium, which is very safe. As long as I
don't heat it seriously, or do any of a number of other unwise things.
I have children. I have utterly no willingness to
risk their health. If I were to do anything more
bold than allowing this piece of beryllium to sit
on top of an Am-241 smoke detector source, I
would not do it here. And I might easily not do
it at all. If I want a small piece of beryllium
that will fit in the well of an Am-241 source, to
get maximum neutron flux, I might arrange to buy
some pieces like that. There are places selling
machined beryllium. And I'd attempt to recover my
cost by selling the pieces for exactly that application.
The children will not be allowed to handle the
beryllium. They will know about it, though, and
they will know that it is dangerous. Even though
it appears that one can swallow pieces of
beryllium metal without harm, we will not run that experiment.
Here is what I will say to anyone considering
using beryllium. It's a totally cool substance,
in many ways. However, anyone who is going to
handle it should study the MSDS guidance, and
take it very seriously. Many people have died
from contact with beryllium. Airborn, it is totally nasty.
There can be a bit of hysteria around it, see
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/02/08/banned-beryllium/
It's a judgment call. Beryllium has been used for
jet aircraft brakes. That generates dust. I can
see why people would get upset. Bad News for Air
Force Mechanics. Beryllium for an engine piston,
as described in the f1fanatic site probably does
not emit serious beryllium in engine exhaust, or
else the piston would wear out quickly. But that could be addressed by testing.
I'm looking forward to handling the metal, it is
reputed to be amazingly light, very palpably so.
Source after source said that beryllium metal
parts were not a problem, even while warning very
seriously about dust (metal, oxide, or salts of
beryllium). Absorption through the skin does not
appear to be a problem, doesn't seem to happen.
They say that if a piece of beryllium is lodged
beneath the skin, remove it... that does seem like a good idea, eh?
