Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!ames!hc!beta!cmcl2!phri!bc-cis!pluto!dasys1!cucard!ccnysci!sukenick From: sukenick@ccnysci.UUCP Newsgroups: rec.audio,sci.physics,sci.electronics Subject: Re: Mercury Filled Speaker Wire Message-ID: <630@ccnysci.UUCP> Date: Thu, 17-Sep-87 09:33:37 EDT Article-I.D.: ccnysci.630 Posted: Thu Sep 17 09:33:37 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 20-Sep-87 21:04:29 EDT References: <3816@watdcsu.waterloo.edu> <578@uthub.toronto.edu> <8576@utzoo.UUCP> <191@ivory.SanDiego.NCR.COM> Reply-To: sukenick@ccnysci.UUCP (George Sukenick) Organization: City College of New York Lines: 44 Xref: utgpu rec.audio:2849 sci.physics:2129 sci.electronics:1231 Summary: Hg is not a good idea; but what to do if spilled Experimenting with mercury in your home is like using lead to sweeten your wine and using powered arsenic to clean your walls. It wouldn't kill you right away, but its effects are cumulative, possibly damaging, and there are better ways to sweeten drinks or clean walls. >As an example of a horror story, some people I know had a small bottle >[of mercury, there was a fire, the house was condemned dur to the mercury] Thats probably all it is, a horror story ... unless: Everyone, quick! throw out your thermometers and barometers or else your house will be condemned too if hit by fire! :-) >Also, a book I read once had someone place a single drop of mercury in >the shoe of someone that they wanted to get rid of. In three months >the person was dead, and the crime was not solved. So, the world population of dentists and electrochemists should have died (and not just gone mad :-) many years ago... >My advice to you is to not use the mercury filled cables no matter >how good the sound quality is and not to permit them to remain in >your home. I agree. Mercury IS a pretty bad substance to handle, and difficult or impossible to get rid of completely if spilled (or the vapors when exposed to air). As with many heavy metals, the body does not have a good mechanism for ridding itself of it. Many of its organic compounds are toxic or cancerous. But someone is already using it so they should know this: The standard procedure for handling a spill (or if it is exposed to the air) is after getting up the visible pieces (shovel it; and use a shiny copper wire to pick it up (stranded is best) - the mercury will form an amalgam on the wire), spread powered sulfur on and beyond the area that the spill took place (those little drops can really travel - once spilled, its everywhere!) The fumes from the sulfur will also help take care of some of the mercury vapors. Clean up the powder and repeat a few times. remember - this will get much of the spill, but not necessarily all. ------ What a pretty sight! While the chemists are turning colors; the physicists are glowing in the dark!