5 ms·

Yes, and you can sit and eat solder all day long without getting lead poisoning. Even metallic mercury isn't especially poisonous, and indeed people used to us

Yes, and you can sit and eat solder all day long without getting lead poisoning. Even metallic mercury isn't especially poisonous, and indeed people used to use it as a "purgative" at which it no doubt excelled, dropping through your guts pushing all before it. It's the organic salts you need to worry about. The pure metal is about as bioavailable as sand, but lead salts - and in particular organic salts - are really quite spectacularly poisonous. That's what did the Romans in, after all - boiling up wine and grapes in lead pots to make "defrutum", where the lead reacted to form lead acetate. Stick a bloody great heavy metal atom onto the end of a nice big sugar? Sure, that'll help it get into your system!

naikrovek 4y ago
ok, all of that is fine and dandy but that's not what this is about. the subject of the article was worried about lead poisoning, probably from what they knew about lead solder. they were probably not eating the watch, or boiling it with mashed fruit, so I have a hard time believing that they went to the hospital because they believe they ingested heavy metals.
- Gordonjcp 4y ago
  You can't get lead poisoning from lead solder, though. It doesn't even make sense to think you could get lead poisoning from a damaged Apple Watch, or any other bit of electronics. This is why I said it's important to have a bit of physical literacy in your life.
  - naikrovek 4y ago
    not everyone knows that, though. people have blind spots that are not indicative of overall gaps in education or understanding. it's ok to not know stuff, sometimes.
    - Gordonjcp 4y ago
      Which brings us back round to "everyone should do at least a tiny bit of science at school, if only so they know what things are likely to be dangerous and what aren't". It's okay not to know how hedge funds work or how proteins clump together. It's very much not okay to have no idea how compound interest works or whether or not you can get lead poisoning from picking up a car battery.
      - naikrovek 4y ago
        well in my country (maybe just my state?) science education is required in grades 2-12 I believe.

naikrovek 4y ago

ok, all of that is fine and dandy but that's not what this is about. the subject of the article was worried about lead poisoning, probably from what they knew about lead solder. they were probably not eating the watch, or boiling it with mashed fruit, so I have a hard time believing that they went to the hospital because they believe they ingested heavy metals.

Gordonjcp 4y ago
You can't get lead poisoning from lead solder, though. It doesn't even make sense to think you could get lead poisoning from a damaged Apple Watch, or any other bit of electronics. This is why I said it's important to have a bit of physical literacy in your life.
- naikrovek 4y ago
  not everyone knows that, though. people have blind spots that are not indicative of overall gaps in education or understanding. it's ok to not know stuff, sometimes.
  - Gordonjcp 4y ago
    Which brings us back round to "everyone should do at least a tiny bit of science at school, if only so they know what things are likely to be dangerous and what aren't". It's okay not to know how hedge funds work or how proteins clump together. It's very much not okay to have no idea how compound interest works or whether or not you can get lead poisoning from picking up a car battery.
    - naikrovek 4y ago
      well in my country (maybe just my state?) science education is required in grades 2-12 I believe.