Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!deimos!harris.cis.ksu.edu!mac
From: mac@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Myron A. Calhoun)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Zap, fry, and sizzle
Keywords: TRUTH
Message-ID: <25E3F9E6.6FFA@deimos.cis.ksu.edu>
Date: 22 Feb 90 14:40:37 GMT
References: <799@gold.GVG.TEK.COM> <1990Feb22.021702.24662@cs.rochester.edu> <1990Feb22.033429.21504@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
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Reply-To: mac@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Myron A. Calhoun)
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In article <1990Feb22.033429.21504@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> forbes@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Jeff Forbes) writes:
>In article <1990Feb22.021702.24662@cs.rochester.edu> ken@cs.rochester.edu writes:
>>>Fluorescent tubes:  Best if thrown like a javelin. Very loud if stood
>>>		       upright and allowed to fall on hard surface.

>>Be careful with these, they contain poisonous compounds of mercury in
>>the coating.

>The tube contains metallic mercury. The coating sometimes contains
>beryllium compounds, which are very toxic.

I JUST NOW called the General Electric Lighting Information Center in
Cleveland, Ohio, (216) 266-2121, which is open 8-5 on normal business
days, and spoke with William Scully to learn the truth; most of the
above is NOT true.

Semi-quoting (I couldn't write it all down and I don't have a tape
recorder attached to my phone), Mr. Scully said:

Legally, a fluorescent bulb is ** NOT ** considered to be a hazardous
item.  If you break one and cut yourself while picking up the pieces,
it is NO more dangerous than if you break a drinking glass and cut
yourself while picking up the pieces.  There has NOT been ** ANY **
beryllium in a fluorescent bulb for MANY, MANY ** YEARS **, but people
who don't bother to ask keep spouting false "facts" decade after decade!

In a four-foot fluorescent bulb there is an average of 100 MILLIgrams
(0.1 grams; there are about 28.35 grams in an ounce, so this is about
0.0035 ounces) of elemental mercury, but it is NOT in the coating.  When
the bulb is hot, the mercury is in vapor form and, if a hot bulb is
broken, the mercury dissapates in the atmosphere.  If a cold bulb is
broken, one MAY be able to find one or two pinhead-size droplets.  So
what?  A thermometer contains considerably MORE mercury, and they some-
times break, too.  Just sweep either up and discard in a wastebasket.

[Actually, I'd probably smear it on a dime as we often did years ago!]

The phosphor coating is NOT poisonous.  He wouldn't tell me just what
is in it because the actual contents are proprietary, but he did say
"it is a clay-like substance" roughly equivalent to talcum powder.

There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth.
--Myron.
--
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