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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] battery acid? & battery issue follow up
One of the scientist who works at Decagon was part of
a study in Wisconsin on mercury poisoning of the water
and food supplies. Dental offices are allowed to flush
mercury down the sink in many states, (it's safe in
your mouth, after all!), and it has literally poisoned
the water supply. Also, land watered or mulched with
this poisoned material will outgas mercury into the
atmosphere and can poison animals grazing on it.
Warren.
--- Coalbunny <coalbunny@vcn.com> wrote:
> Ian, excellent points one must consider. Though I
> disagree with the
> part about skin contact. Under some circumstances
> it can be toxic, even
> lethal. 15-20 years back a chemistry professor back
> east died when she
> allowed less than a milligram of nearly pure methyl
> mercury contact her
> skin. She lasted maybe a minute, if that IIRC.
> VERY nasty stuff. And
> methyl mercury is everywhere. Just not THAT pure.
> Earlier than that
> the Canadian government was doing a toxicology
> report on the tribes
> indiginous to a part of the Nunavut territories
> (then the Northwest
> Territories). Turns out when Canada built several
> hydroelectric dams,
> they not only destroyed the prime hunting grounds
> for the tribes, but
> flooded their gravesites AND several areas known for
> mercury recovery.
>
> Mercury (Hg) is a native element and it does occur
> in nature without
> mans help. And Hg DOES in fact follow the food
> chain. Crawdads are
> used by most state fish and game departments as an
> Hg detector.
> Catfish, suckers, carp, and all the other bottom
> feeders get that into
> their system. Any fish that consume them, inherit
> the Hg poisoning, and
> it eventually ends up at the top- you and me or the
> animals that munched
> on the fish. Just because a fish dies does not mean
> the Hg died with it.
>
> I work with Hg, though not every day I have contact
> with it. Under
> certain conditions Hg can alloy with ANY metal and
> almost every element
> known to mankind. Hg can squeeze through places
> where you'd swear there
> was no holes or cracks. I lost several pounds of Hg
> once when I dropped
> the container holding it. It landed on a beautiful
> polished wooden
> floor, and it found cracks that you'd swaear weren't
> there before. All
> of it gone.
>
> Hg also puts out a vapor. National Geographic did
> an article on it back
> in the 70's, and I've been wanting to get it scanned
> for my computer.
> Got the article, great job done by NG. In the
> article I learned of the
> vapor. Showed a pic of a glass of Hg in normal
> light and in either LW
> or SW UV light. You can't see anything in normal
> light, but it's almot
> like smoke in the UV light. Remember, skin contact
> is not always toxic,
> but inhaling it ALWAYS is.
>
> Hg itself is not a problem for the skin. In fact
> some of the best
> antibiotics had Hg in them. Methyl Mercurochrome
> for example. When I
> handle it, I rarely use gloves. So long as you have
> the HgO (mercury
> oxide) removed by filtering, that is. No open sores
> or cuts or burns.
> And don't swallow it! Or allow it in contact with
> acids or bases, or
> even electricity! Mercury is used in some types of
> street lamps
> (mercury vapor lamps). Great conductor. But it
> puts out a lot of Hg
> vapor in contact with even the smallest amout of
> electricity. I've had
> one incident where I inhaled some Hg vapor, and it
> was hooked up to, of
> all things, a 9 vdc radio battery. Made me sick for
> several days. I
> presuem it's still present in my body.
>
> Hg is a very predictable element with the tolerance
> similar to that of
> niroglycerine. And yes, under some circumstances
> even Hg can explode
> (though I seriously doubt any of you will face those
> circumstances,
> accidentally, that is).
>
> If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. I
> don't know
> everything about it, but I know enough to get myself
> into trouble!
> Carl
>
>
> irox wrote:
> > You don't need to drink it to have problems. Just
> inhale air near
> > some.... or let it touch your skin... or
> improperly handle a container
> > that had some in it....
> >
> >
> > Do you know how to handle Mercury?
> >
> > Do you what it desolves and reacts with (metals
> and plastics)?
> >
> > How are you going to pump it without burning out
> the pump?
> >
> > Do you intend to pump the Mercury overboard as a
> drop weight?
> >
> > How do prevent any from entering the human
> occuplied space?
> >
> > Have you seen people who have been exposed to too
> much Mercury?
> >
> > Do you know how much damage a pound of mercury can
> do to
> > an eco-system?
> >
> > How will you know if you have a Mercury leak?
> >
> > What's your plan if you have a Mercury leak?
> >
> > When servicing your sub over it's life time, how
> many times
> > will you have to deal with Mercury?
> >
> > How will you dispose of the Mercury when you
> retire your sub?
> >
> >
> > I've left off a few questions here because they
> are more dramatic
> > than anything else. But I would like to hear what
> solutions you
> > are going to use for the technical and logistical
> questions above.
> >
> > Ian.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Brian Cox <ojaibees@ojai.net>
> > Sent: Feb 17, 2004 11:34 PM
> > To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
> > Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] battery acid? &
> battery issue follow up
> >
> > I don't intended on drinking it, and it will be in
> a closed loop and
> > sealed. The fact that it is liquid makes it ideal
> for pumping from
> > point A to point B.
> >
> > Brian
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: atozed@juno.com
> > To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
> > Cc: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 6:30 PM
> > Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] battery acid? &
> battery issue follow up
> >
> >
> > The good news is that is weighs 246 pounds a
> quart. The bad is it's
> > toxic waste, and evaporates easily. It has gone
> from being expensive to
> > being a liability. My advice is stick with lead,
> slide it if you need
> > to.
> > -Peter
> >
> > On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 18:03:20 -0800 "Brian Cox"
> <ojaibees@ojai.net>
> > writes:
> > Does anybody know where I can get some mercury
> ?
> >
> > Brian Cox
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Bob Duncan
> > To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 3:04 PM
> > Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] battery acid? &
> battery issue follow
> > up
> >
>
=== message truncated ===
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