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I mean, my dad would tell me stories of playing with balls of mercury, so there’s that, heh

by borski 4y ago

ASalazarMX 4y ago
My dad was gifted a vial of mercury, and he let us handle the mercury until it got dirty. And he was a primary school teacher! Back then, some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! There were capsules that "walked" down an incline. They were easy to open, and inside they had a lead ball lubricated by metallic dust (which I hope wasn't lead because it stuck everywhere). Crazy to think that was normal.
- nemo44x 4y ago
  > some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! Some still is. Lookup reports on cheap toys from China that aren’t associated with a real brand. And not just toys. Many cheap items like ceramic ware has detectable lead in it today. This stuff gets through in the global market, even at mainstream stores that source and brand but don’t oversee manufacturing.
jonstewart 4y ago
In the early 90s, I had a plastic maze with a transparent cover where the object was to tilt it so that the blob of mercury in the middle would move around the maze. No idea what happened to it, I’m sure it’s heavily polluting a landfill somewhere.
SapporoChris 4y ago
https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-609286 https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-6092... This article suggests that the fears of mercury are exaggerated. Still very present, but exaggerated. Unfortunately, it's all anecdotes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ Actually eye opening account of a child swallowing mercury and was just fine. I found lots of articles touting that mercury can vaporize at room temperature and then be absorbed through the lungs but none of them had details of how much exposure this would cause.
- tsol 4y ago
  My mother grew up in India. There were apparently some asectic 'sages' that would play with mercury she told me about. I don't really know what they were doing, just that my mom always remarked that she didn't understand how they would hold the mercury in their hands and seem to be fine. There's apparently something to it, whether it's a trick or otherwise.
klyrs 4y ago
I had mercury as a kid, taken from an old thermostat. I knew it was toxic, so I didn't handle it directly and certainly didn't show my parents. Eventually, I melted some solder into it to and made it my chemistry teacher's problem. I definitely played with glass wool insulation too. How could we not?

I mean, my dad would tell me stories of playing with balls of mercury, so there’s that, heh

by borski 4y ago

I mean, my dad would tell me stories of playing with balls of mercury, so there’s that, heh

My dad was gifted a vial of mercury, and he let us handle the mercury until it got dirty. And he was a primary school teacher! Back then, some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! There were capsules that "walked" down an incline. They were easy to open, and inside they had a lead ball lubricated by metallic dust (which I hope wasn't lead because it stuck everywhere). Crazy to think that was normal.

nemo44x 4y ago
> some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! Some still is. Lookup reports on cheap toys from China that aren’t associated with a real brand. And not just toys. Many cheap items like ceramic ware has detectable lead in it today. This stuff gets through in the global market, even at mainstream stores that source and brand but don’t oversee manufacturing.

jonstewart 4y ago

In the early 90s, I had a plastic maze with a transparent cover where the object was to tilt it so that the blob of mercury in the middle would move around the maze. No idea what happened to it, I’m sure it’s heavily polluting a landfill somewhere.

SapporoChris 4y ago

https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-609286 https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-6092... This article suggests that the fears of mercury are exaggerated. Still very present, but exaggerated. Unfortunately, it's all anecdotes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ Actually eye opening account of a child swallowing mercury and was just fine. I found lots of articles touting that mercury can vaporize at room temperature and then be absorbed through the lungs but none of them had details of how much exposure this would cause.

tsol 4y ago
My mother grew up in India. There were apparently some asectic 'sages' that would play with mercury she told me about. I don't really know what they were doing, just that my mom always remarked that she didn't understand how they would hold the mercury in their hands and seem to be fine. There's apparently something to it, whether it's a trick or otherwise.

klyrs 4y ago

I had mercury as a kid, taken from an old thermostat. I knew it was toxic, so I didn't handle it directly and certainly didn't show my parents. Eventually, I melted some solder into it to and made it my chemistry teacher's problem. I definitely played with glass wool insulation too. How could we not?