Metallic elemental mercury (what you see in the picture) is relatively harmless to touch. Arguably, it’s more dangerous to rub a lead ingot, for example. However, mercury vapours (and mercury does evaporate slowly but consistently) absorb quite easily when you breath them with a ton of undesirable effects, often related to central nervous system, which is never a nice thing. Broken mercury thermometer won’t kill you. Playing with the puddle inside a non-ventilated room might kill you in several decades. Working in the non-open-air environment where mercury is always present will slowly worsen your health as mercury accumulates.
Organic compounds of mercury are what actually is nasty. A short contact with a few millilitres of that — and you will have to recover for a long-long time, if ever. However, the scary stories about methylmercury rarely mention that there are other organic compounds that are just as toxic or worse. I wouldn’t get close to any organic cadmium compound, for example, and would be extremely wary of its inorganic salts too. The thing is it’s extremely unlikely that you encounter any of these chemicals ever in your life, and if you do encounter them, then you are likely a professional who knows exactly how and why you are to deal with them.
From the same issue:
Is, uhh… Is he floatin’ on a pool of mercury?
That he is. Looks like fun, right?
Honestly he looks a bit anxious
I’ve played with mercury when I was a kid. Hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass when I’m old.
If anyone else was reminded of that video of a 110lb anvil floating in a tub of mercury, here you go. Don’t try this at home.
didn’t they use to use shitloads of mercury for floating the lenses on a lighthouse, letting it turn without too much in the way of friction?
That’s right, I often forget about that.
Pure mercury metal is pretty chill, just done fuck with organic mercury compounds
Vapours too.
Nine out of ten hatters recommend that you don’t do this. The tenth hatter purple monkey dishwasher.
(Victorian-era hat makers were notorious for going mad because they used mercury to treat felt cloth.)
Is this the origin story of The Mad Hatter? 🙄
Could have been. I know Lewis Carroll liked to lampoon issues of the day in his writing.
I think the original idiom was “mad as a hatter” which was eventually shortened to “mad hatter”, possibly due to the Alice in Wonderland character.
I wonder what secondary compounds this was creating. Elemental mercury is pretty much fine, but if it was reacting with other things to create wacky fun times…
I think it was mercury nitrate. Much more soluble.
I thought it was the vapours from using mercury inside that got them.
Sneaky Simpsons reference here for those who didn’t notice.
It’s so much harder believing in six impossible things before breakfast when you’re allergic to quicksilver.
Delicious as Sunny D.
Toxic as fuck.
Not as much
Depends on who you’re fucking.
Sure is hand outside today
I hear it’s good for the French Disease.
Photo: Robert W. Madden
Oh, he be Madden alright.
I can’t read this. Reported.