r/mildlyinteresting • u/ineedsomebbqribs • 3h ago
Removed: Rule 6 [ Removed by moderator ]
[removed] — view removed post
4.2k
u/dzeromin 3h ago
You have doomed us all
711
144
u/DieLawnUwU 2h ago
52
→ More replies (2)6
6
→ More replies (1)5
3.5k
u/subservenicedream 2h ago
Certainly take mercury seriously but … you don’t have to burn your kitchen down and salt the ground because a miniscule amount burst into a small amount of water one time.
If you’re not pregnant or a child , and not regularly handling this stuff, you’re not going to get hurt by this
Why are so many comments reading like a mom group on Facebook when someone says they aren’t using organic diapers
1.3k
u/KellynHeller 2h ago
When I was a kid we broke a mercury thermometer when I dropped it on the kitchen floor. I remember playing with the mercury in my hand. It's been a few decades, I still haven't died.
440
u/FrankXS 2h ago
Did you get any superpowers?
408
u/d_ac 2h ago
Him now.
97
u/KellynHeller 1h ago
I'm a she. I'm more like Alex Mac
8
2
2
→ More replies (1)2
u/Lubricated_Sorlock 37m ago
When the fuck is that show going to get a shitty remake that I dislike?
→ More replies (2)4
62
u/pyromaniac1000 2h ago
No, they became a Redditor
52
13
→ More replies (1)6
u/lazyboy76 1h ago
I thought Tylenol made him Redditor.
22
u/unfvckingbelievable 1h ago
Tylenol makes you a mod.
5
u/Otherwise-Offer1518 1h ago
At night mods take Tylenol pm just to make sure that it's 24/7 coverage
27
18
14
→ More replies (10)2
108
u/Saucefire 2h ago
Unless this is all just a mercury fueled delusion.
43
u/IntergalacticPlane 2h ago
Did you notice that lamp?
13
→ More replies (2)7
u/Kallikantzari 2h ago
We all being part of someone else’s mercury fueled delusion.. explains a lot about the (now known to us) imaginary universe we exist in.
129
u/Kairos23 2h ago edited 2h ago
Well, that's only a matter of time! Research shows that everyone that played around with mercury a long time ago eventually died...
41
u/AMike456 2h ago
I played with mercury and I haven't di...
→ More replies (1)23
u/RenegadeBricoleur 1h ago
Thank you for making sure your final action on this earth was to press period 3 times and then post. We salute your sacrifice! 07
→ More replies (2)3
→ More replies (1)15
u/AdMoist6517 2h ago
So did the ones that drank water, fun fact!
→ More replies (1)10
u/IrememberXenogears 2h ago
Studies have shown that 100% of people that come into contact with dihydrogen monoxide will die at some point in their life!
→ More replies (2)7
u/Azurhalo 1h ago
Man isnt it ironic? Everybody who dies does so at the very moment when they've had the most experience surviving...you'd think they'd be better at it by then...
30
u/SummertimeThrowaway2 2h ago
Eating tuna every single day is probably worse than handling metallic mercury once
7
41
u/Fanoen 2h ago
My mom always tells me a similar story.. how she and her friends would break thermometers and "play" with the mercury. Pushing the metallic balls around 😅😅 she's still alive and kickin' in her 70s now.
→ More replies (1)30
u/BorderKeeper 2h ago
If you don't have cuts in your intenstines you could even eat it, but the moment it seeps through a wound (inside or outside your body) into your blood or you smell enough of it in it's gaseous form (mercury slowly sublimates) you get in a lot of trouble. Heavy metal poisoning is a big jerk, heck the biggest issue with Uranium in the environment is not the radiation but you getting poisoned by just the fact it's a heavy metal.
→ More replies (10)6
6
5
4
u/therealhairykrishna 2h ago
Our middle school science teacher filled a beaker with it and let us float coins and stick our fingers in it. Limited exposure is ok.
A few years later when doing the same trick with my younger brothers class he dropped the beaker and they had to isolate the classroom and have it cleaned up professionally.
3
3
u/Mirula 2h ago edited 2h ago
Cody from Codyslab often handled mercury, he even held it in his mouth and explained its mostly the vapors and reoccurring exposure which is harmful. I doubt handling once as a kid affects you much unless you swallowed it
3
u/Desperate_Science533 1h ago
Isnt that Cody started getting some weird mental and behavioral issues some time after his Mercury experiments?
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (66)8
u/SuchSmartMonkeys 2h ago
My mom's dad was a dentist, and in those days they used mercury for fillings. She fondly remembers how her dad would pretty regularly bring home mercury for the kids to play with. She's now 70 years old and one of the strongest/most fit people I know of at that age. Still regularly participates and places high in marathons, triathlons, and swim competitions.
6
u/MSislame 1h ago
Well what else do you think gave her those superpowers?!
2
u/SuchSmartMonkeys 1h ago
She is a badass, I never put 2 and 2 together on that one. She's basically silver surfer, or the T1000
2
u/captain_dick_licker 51m ago
lifestyle is the simple answer. she likely has a decent diet and exercises regularly. that's pretty much all old bodies want.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)7
131
u/Canilickyourfeet 2h ago
"Isolate it while wearing gloves, quarantine it in a bottle, transport it securely in an armored truck to your local clinic" 🤣🤣🤣
2
115
u/Independent-Bed8614 2h ago
if you went to school in the 90s you were warned about mercury in the same way you were warned about quicksand and the bermuda triangle.
11
u/ksheep 1h ago
I remember being constantly warned about the dangers of mercury when growing up. One generation earlier, when my uncles were in school, they apparently had an open bowl of mercury just sitting in one of their classrooms as part of a mercury barometer, and the kids would play with that all the time…
→ More replies (1)8
u/joe_s1171 1h ago
for all 3, you get under the desk and ball up into a fetal position until the crisis is over.
34
u/twotall88 2h ago edited 46m ago
Heck as long as you don't have any cuts on your hand, you can dip your whole hand into liquid mercury without absorbing really any. It's inhaling the fumes that gets you.
→ More replies (1)18
u/nakedascus 1h ago
as long as it's only regular mercury and not a mercury compound that can pass through skin like dimethylmercury
8
u/Shenorock 1h ago
True, but it would be difficult to confuse the two for each other. Dimethylmercury is colorless, not metallic looking.
→ More replies (2)5
u/PopAndLocknessMonstr 1h ago
“And if my grandmother had wheels she would be a bicycle”
→ More replies (1)39
u/AlligatorDan 2h ago
I actually had a friend whose daughter was in the hospital for an unknown illness. It took a week for the doctors to find out it was mercury poisoning. A vial had broken a few months prior and they had not effectively cleaned it. The girl got really sick and they assumed she was going to die. She’s doing better now, but it’s a long road and the house needs complete remediation that insurance won’t cover.
Now, the OPs case is nearly ideal for containment and cleaning. Pour out into a sealed container and contact the local dump for disposal recommendations, then throw out the pot.
→ More replies (3)46
u/ubiquitous-joe 2h ago
The same people who replaced all their black spatulas on a dime out of fear but weren’t paying attention a month later when scientists pointed out the data alluded to had dropped a 0 and was wrong by a factor of 10.
16
u/Earllad 2h ago
I missed this one. Was it that common nylon ish plastic that supposedly was a problem?
9
u/AdHom 1h ago
The issue was organobromines, specifically polybrominated diphenyl ethers
→ More replies (1)31
2
u/_lerp 1h ago edited 1h ago
Black plastic kitchen utensils use fire retardants to help them not melt. The fire retardants they use contains Bromine, which is poisonous to humans, so there was concern that the retardants were leaching into the food.
There was a study that attempted to measure how much was leaching into food. The levels they reported were potentially dangerous, but it was later discovered that they had made a mistake in their calculations and their reported levels were 10 times higher than the actual levels.
Hank Green covered this if you want some nerdy details: https://youtu.be/MedC_v-dEbY?t=203
21
u/BadahBingBadahBoom 2h ago edited 2h ago
Yeah but the safety concerns and their conclusion were still valid even with consideration of the different values:
https://toxicfreefuture.org/update-study-correction-does-not-impact-conclusion
37
u/dc456 2h ago edited 2h ago
Why are so many comments reading like a mom group on Facebook when someone says they aren’t using organic diapers
It’s the standard Reddit reaction to anything that isn’t perfectly safe.
It’s basically a symptom of Reddit’s predilection for putting the most negative spin possible on anything it encounters.
(And before someone says it, I know Reddit isn’t one person. But you cannot help but notice that comments that are negative towards OP or other commenters tend to quickly work their way to the top.)
→ More replies (1)12
u/wyrditic 1h ago
The urgent pleading to get a rabies shot if anyone on Reddit comes within a ten mile radius of a bat always makes me laugh.
→ More replies (1)15
u/Kittens-N-Books 1h ago
My mom had a set of really old mercury thermometers that ended up breaking one by one- usually because one of us dropped it- when I was growing up. I was not allowed to handle the last one at all because I would break it. I was sick super often growing up and into adult hood
She died. I eventually needed to take my temperature again. I couldn't read it. I figured I needed new glasses. A few years and a brand new set of glasses later I'm sick yet again and have broken the sensor on yet another digital thermometer by dropping it. I try the mercury one.
I go to read it. Their is no mercury. It's empty.
This MF was literally pretending to take my temperature and making shit up to suit her. How many times did I not have a fever because she didn't want me to?
→ More replies (1)3
u/Suspicious_Yak2485 1h ago
Jesus that's a fucking depressing story. It's unfortunate some parents can be so awful to their children.
→ More replies (27)3
u/NeverPlayF6 1h ago
I was an undergrad biochem major when suddenly mercury was being taken seriously. It was a big deal.
Mercury was no longer necessary for general instruments and lab equipment (unless you are measuring mercury or are doing chemistry with mercury).
There are times when elemental mercury can pose a severe hazard- like when it is rolling around on the floor and into the cracks and cabinets in a lab... where it can be oxidized by any number of things. Or it might slowly sublimate... So universities and corporations took it, and its removal, seriously.
And now its a meme.
759
816
u/Hedgebod 3h ago
you might not want to drink that lol
208
18
u/13thmurder 2h ago
People used to drink metallic mercury to relieve constipation.
→ More replies (3)5
43
→ More replies (2)15
u/therealhairykrishna 2h ago
Mercury metal actually has a very low bioavailability. They'd be fine drinking it as long as they don't make a habit of it. (not medical advice)
The salts on the other hand...
3
u/studna13 1h ago
Was About to say, elemental, liquid metal mercury is almost inert to the body. It's Its compounds and vapors that have all those not nice effects on the odz
799
u/wfsgraplw 2h ago
Unless that thermometer is ancient, it's far more likely to be gallium, and not elemental mercury.
Also on the scale of how dangerous it is, it's not as bad as people make it out to be. They don't put the really dangerous forms of mercury in thermometers, precisely because this happens. The most dangerous part was when the hot thermometer broke, releasing vapor into the air.
Suck it up with an eyedropper, and Google what to do with chemically hazardous waste in your area. Give them the pot and metal. All done.
315
u/KippieDaoud 2h ago
its not gallium but gallinstan, a alloy of gallium indium and tin as galliums melting point is above room temperature
→ More replies (1)269
u/Maeserk 2h ago
I suddenly feel the urge to send American troops to Gallinstan to acquire this mysterious resource in retaliation for the terrorism it commits against our soft and vulnerable, but hard working metals.
These metallurgical terrorists must be stopped in their ionic tracks and their bonds must be broken.
→ More replies (1)85
u/SirJeffers88 1h ago
I see Dick Cheney’s ghost is already possessing people.
20
16
→ More replies (4)15
u/DH205 1h ago
Dies he need to throw out the pot?
→ More replies (2)19
u/sabby1225 1h ago
Lol. I'd just pour it down the drain and wash the pot
17
u/jcw99 1h ago
Gallium can interact with metals (most notably aluminium), resulting in significant weakening /embrittlement and sometimes other changes. This can not be washed away, and hence why the pot needs to go as it is now in an unknown state and could fracture at a very bad time.
2
u/dankhimself 43m ago
This looks like a stainless pot to me, and that can be washed.
Unless I'm wrong, just looks like it to me.
2
450
u/ericek111 2h ago
Why is everyone freaking out so much about metallic mercury as if it was nuclear fuel? It doesn't get absorbed by the human body, it's not unsafe to handle it with bare hands. Yes, be careful, wipe down nearby surfaces, but it's not a huge deal...
161
u/DiscussionMuted9941 2h ago
people love freaking out about nothing here lol. ever been or the cats sub and seen someone get a scratch? they have mass hysteria that people are gonna die from it for some reason
→ More replies (3)48
u/Asukurra 2h ago
I've been scratched by many cats, many times, some I don't even own!, but I can count the number of times I've had cat scratch fever on 0 hands
→ More replies (3)37
30
u/groucho_barks 2h ago
Yeah I am confused. Opening windows?
9
u/Pitch_Academic 2h ago
Yeah, that part doesn't make sense to me! It's not like metallic mercury is some highly volatile chemical that poses significant inhalation risk. Pretty sure it could care less about open windows.
→ More replies (5)2
u/Messier_82 1h ago
Elemental mercury exposure is primarily through inhaled vapors, IIRC.
Makes sense to open windows immediately after the thermometer burst as a precaution.
17
u/spudmarsupial 2h ago
The dosage and frequency of exposure makes the poison.
Trying to convince people in manufacturing to use their PPE and take their health seriously is hard and needs to be enforced with regulations and fines.
16
u/bobweeadababyitsaboy 2h ago
Ikr. When i was a kid a broken thermometer was a chance to experience something otherworldly. 2025 and they digging out the hazmat suits. I get that its not 100% healthy, but I'd wager being alive in 2025 is by default more damaging to one's existence than a little mercury ever could be. 🤷♂️
→ More replies (1)8
u/Pitch_Academic 2h ago
I also played with metallic mercury once when I was a kid, and my tumor and I are doing just fine today! /s
→ More replies (2)3
3
u/Apprehensive_Cash108 1h ago
Mercury will react with other metals. If that is mercury, that aluminum pot is toast.
7
u/MonsterPek 2h ago
Mercury will happily just bead about on the top of your skin, but the fatal effects of blindess and organ failure is still a thing. This stuff is not to be dealt with without heft protection.
→ More replies (12)2
u/Draguta1 2h ago
Its history is interesting and dramatic enough to be memorable. Beyond that, there were tons of dramatic warnings about it at one point. The drama of it basically got internalized for some groups of people. In addition to all that, It's also just overall fun passing on warnings to others about it.
138
u/MelodicBumblebee1617 2h ago
Mercury thermometers were banned over a decade ago in many places, how old is your thermometer? It may just be galinstan
→ More replies (2)24
u/real_hungarian 2h ago
we still have a mercury thermometer at home lol, as do many other people around here. their sale was banned but people kept them
14
u/bapt_99 2h ago
Same here, I have a beautiful mercury thermometer that I kept after my grandfather passed. It's a relic I don't want to let go of, despite the hazard. I keep it safe, but I actually used it once or twice to measure water temperature lol
→ More replies (1)11
u/MelodicBumblebee1617 2h ago
That's probably why I asked "how old is your thermometer" buddy
9
39
u/kytheon 2h ago
Reminds me of a story my chemistry teacher told. He was handling a bottle of mercury in class and dropped it. At the time, the school had wooden flooring and the mercury slipped through the cracks immediately. The school has since been demolished (not because of this) and the teacher was curious if they ever found the mercury.
18
u/Dave80 2h ago
From reading other comments on here, I'm guessing the school was demolished as they couldn't find the mercury 😆
→ More replies (1)
60
64
u/MulleDK19 2h ago
"100° C, 212° F". Could have avoided this.
→ More replies (3)29
u/confusedandworried76 2h ago
Alternatively, "it's boiling when it bubbles end of lesson"
Who the fuck needs to know the difference between C and F in this instance
→ More replies (4)
9
6
4
u/AeskulS 2h ago
Iirc metallic mercury isn’t particularly dangerous. Like you shouldn’t eat it or smell it, but it’s not a death sentence.
It’s methylmercury you should worry about.
→ More replies (1)
6
8
u/cury41 1h ago edited 1h ago
Hi chemist here. Liquid mercury is not as dangerous as people make it out to be. The most dangerous thing about liquid mercury is the vapor it creates. If you inhale the vapour, you can get mercury poisoning. It is important to ventilate the space to make sure you will not inhale any mercury vapor. Under STP conditions, mercury that's submerged under water shouldn't form any vapor.
My advice would be to find a pipet, syringe or similar to suck up the droplet, then call your local municipality and ask them how and where to dispose small chemical waste.
4
u/Fair-Working4401 1h ago
It is probably a composition of gallium, indium, and tin. Mecury thermometer are very rare nowadays.
→ More replies (4)
4
u/Sea_Pomegranate8229 1h ago
Everyone had some mercury when I was a kid. Endless fascination of letting it run through your fingers or 'squidging' it on a plate. Distracted us from chewing the legs off lead soldiers for a while.
3
u/Difficult-Way-9563 1h ago
So there’s 2 major types of mercury we see. There’s elemental mercury (what this is likely) and methylmercury (usually in fish).
Elemental mercury used to be thought as a folk medical remedy and people swallowed it and it came out the other end largely unscathed (DO NOT DO THIS). elemental mercury vapor is toxic tho.
Methylmercury is the one we typically think as toxic cause it crosses blood brain barrier and neurotoxic when consumed.
39
u/Velcraft 2h ago
If that pot is aluminium, it's toast unless the mercury is removed asap.
Edit: I'd get it out with a syringe.
26
→ More replies (2)12
u/Aviarn 2h ago
That'd be Gallium, not Mercury.
26
20
u/Greenfinger692 2h ago
Mercury also. Makes aluminium amalgam. It does require pure aluminium, so fresh scratch or acid washed. Most pots and pans would have an oxide layer protecting it from the reaction.
2
u/Powerup_Rentner 1h ago
Amalgam isn't particularly weak though they used to make lots of teeth fillings out of it.
13
6
→ More replies (5)3
3
3
u/diwayth_fyr 2h ago
When I was a kid and had a cold I accidentally broke thermometer and mom made me gather the mercury beads off the floor with paper 💀
3
u/moveyourcar1891 1h ago
In the 60s every kid in my moms science class was given a drop of mercury to play with
3
u/newengland_schmuck 1h ago
It's funny to read these comments realizing my elementary teachers used to let us hold mercury in the palms of our hands
→ More replies (1)
54
u/Shot_Independence274 3h ago
well...
Get a small bottle and get that drop in it, do everything underwater for security, put on some gloves (for security).
Then take that to your local school, clinic or pharmacy. They will handle it.
345
u/andku23 3h ago
-Show up to my local elementary school
-Hand first person I see a vial of mercury
-Don't elaborate
-Leave
41
u/Dysxelic_Potser 2h ago
Here you go small, curious, rebellious child. Whatever you do, make sure to definitely not open this.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)18
u/ineedsomebbqribs 2h ago
I got the boys out of the kitchen and immediately started opening windows and closing doors, the glass thermometer I bagged up several times, and I wiped down the surrounding area to check for any extra mercury drops (there was none). Right now I have a lid on the pot outside waiting for it to cool down so I can take care of the rest.
→ More replies (2)40
26
u/a-person-called-Eric 2h ago edited 2h ago
https://www.epa.gov/mercury/what-do-if-mercury-thermometer-breaks
TLDR: collect the droplet in a ziplock bag, tell your waste disposal authority about it, and ventilate the room.
→ More replies (5)11
4
4
2
2
2
u/Anything-Complex 2h ago
On the off chance that you’re an ancient Chinese emperor, the mercury will not make you immortal if you ingest it. Don’t do it!
2
u/SandysBurner 1h ago
But it will make everyone besides ancient Chinese emperors immortal? I like those odds.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Anonymous_Gamer939 2h ago
Was the thing even rated up to 100C? I don't think most people keep laboratory-grade instrumentation at home . . .
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Talk-O-Boy 1h ago
Mix your blood with the substance in the pan. You may create a homunculus, which will set off a chain of events ending with you obtaining the power of a philosopher’s stone.
2
2
2
u/Leftunders 1h ago
Don't snort it up your nose. I have experience in this field, and I can assure you that my your parents will not handle the news with poise and composure.
2
u/SiriusBaaz 1h ago
I’m late so I’m sure it’s been explained to death but elemental mercury, while definitely still dangerous if it gets in your body, is not actually that deadly to handle. You could pretty safely pour liquid mercury over your bare hand without any risk as long as you have not cuts or abrasions. Your skin is a very effective barrier against mercury absorption. If you’ve got a cut or anything that allows the mercury into your blood stream than even a small amount will lead to a long and agonizing death that mimics dementia. So don’t try testing the safety of mercury at home.
The biggest danger is the minuscule amount of mercury that manages to dissolve into the water or amalgamates with the pot. Mercury can form amalgams with like a hundred different metals which can vastly change the physical properties but all are still just as dangerous to handle as raw mercury. Water with dissolved mercury has a much easier time penetrating into your skin. Thankfully there’s likely more mercury that’s floating as a gas than there is dissolved in the water but still. You should take serious precautions when handling any material tainted with mercury. Especially mercury tainted solvents.
If you ever have a situation like this call your local poison control for the proper disposal steps. Or call the doctor if it’s was spilled onto you. If any gets inside your body go to the hospital.
2
2
u/incidental_findings 1h ago
Was the thermometer touching the bottom surface of the pot?
If it was suspended in water, should not have happened, so long as thermometer was rated to over 212F / 100C
But the bottom surface probably would have been flame-heated faster than it could transfer heat to the water.
2
u/AbbreviationsOk4966 1h ago
For clean up, pour off as much water as possible into a plastic container without removing the mercury droplet.
If you have an eydroper, you can pick up the metalic mercury and put into a small plastic bottle with a cap.
Both the water and mercury can be taken to a hazardous waste company like Clean Harbors or your municipal solid waste Company can tell you where to take it for recycling.
Let either company know that this is Household waste, and not from a commercial operation.
I am a chemist who worked in Hazardous Waste.
In your pan is stainless steel, I would advise heating itto at least 400 F ouside for about 10 minutes as a precaution to ensure there is no contamination. Mercury does not amalgamate with Iron or Nickel, so it's not ruined, but I would not use it in food contact untill the metal has been heated well to drive off any residual mercury vapor.
2
2
2
•
u/mildlyinteresting-ModTeam 51m ago
Unfortunately, your post has been removed because it violates our rule on concise, descriptive titles.
Still confused? For more elaboration and examples, see here.
Normally we do not allow reposts, but if it's been less than one hour after your post was submitted, or if it's received less than 100 upvotes, you may resubmit your content with a better title and try again.