Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] max-min thermometer: offtopic mercury

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Erik Lane <eriklane AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] max-min thermometer: offtopic mercury
  • Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 09:40:56 -0800

>
> When I was in grade school (which puts it in the late 1950's or early 60's),
> I remember blobs of mercury being passed around the class for us to observe
> the odd way they behaved.
> No, this was not mercury sealed in closed containers. Loose mercury. Little
> kids.
> Humans behave in odd ways, also. The stuff has been known to be hazardous
> for I think the last couple of centuries; I think what has changed is ideas
> as to what the hazardous dose is. -- I will say that I, like huge numbers of
> other people, survived all sorts of things now considered to be deadly; but
> that cumulative doses and combinations with other chemicals are definitely
> factors worth considering (I wish they were considered more thoroughly with
> new chemicals before release).
> The thermometers I have I bought in the 1970's and 80's, if I remember
> correctly; I don't think they came off the market till sometime in the
> 1990's.


Heck, when I was in grade school and high school I remember getting
blobs of the stuff to play with in class. I didn't get out of high
school until 1992, so even then it was at least marginally okay.
Nobody freaked out when they learned that we were playing with it and
seeing how cool it could be. The teachers were the instigators, of
course, and our parents were just glad that we were interested in
science.... :)

Erik




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page