"covered in mercury, emptying it out of his shirt pocket, pulling it out of his hair."

[ensho]

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/dec/18/mercury-veteran-contaminated-or-not-glad-to-help/?partner=yahoo_feeds

(this took place at Oak Ridge, Manhattan Project)


Mercury veteran: Contaminated or not, glad to help my country
For Y-12 retiree, winning Cold War was worth price of contamination


Harold Cofer remembers being covered in mercury, emptying it out of his shirt pocket, pulling it out of his hair.

There were a lot of problems during the 1950s startup of lithium operations at Y-12, but the biggest problem was trying to contain the mercury within the production facilities, he said.

"One time one of the feeder lines broke, about a 4-inch line that was feeding mercury to one of the cascades," Cofer said. "As you can imagine, the mercury came flying out, pouring all over the place. You'd be saturated with it. The only way you can stop mercury from flowing is to freeze it."

-snip-

"There was one time — and it hasn't been talked about very much — we had a pretty serious explosion in the evaporator section of Alpha-4 (one of the major facilities housing the Colex processing operations)," he said. "I happened to be on the rooftop of Alpha-5 with some other supervisors. You know, just sightseeing. Looking around. We walked to this side, and heard this tremendous explosion. Well, the evaporator storage tank had generated hydrogen inside, and either a welding spark or a grinding wheel sparked the hydrogen. Boom! Well, the tank was half full of solution — lithium, mercury, I don't know what all — and men were wallowing around down there. They had walls built around the tank, but they were wallowing in that solution. So, other people who weren't involved in the explosion went in there and stripped them out of their clothes and put them under a safety shower. And I never did see a write-up on that in the paper."
-snip-
----------------------

he is now ill

just a small look at the tip of the Oak Ridge iceberg

[deucemagnet]

1. In grade school, a teacher had us...

...stick our fingers in a jar of mercury to demonstrate its high surface tension (this was in the '70s). Now if I drop a laboratory thermometer I have to go through a hazmat protocol to clean it up. Heavy metal baths are not a good thing.

[lunatica]

2. I remember rolling a droplet around in the palm of my hand.

I don't remember where I got it. It could have been some kid breaking a thermometer to get the mercury and show it to all his friends.

[kestrel91316]

7. I think we all did that as kids. My brain still works fine.

[Posteritatis]

9. I've always found it hugely unfair on the universe's part that mercury isn't nontoxic

Something with those kinds of properties would be loads of fun if it was safe.

[Frustratedlady]

3. Back in the 50s, I was in the science lab and someone broke a thermometer.

There were beads of mercury and we were trying to chase them around the sink. I had on a class ring (we used to trade class rings as a sign of friendship, in those days) which was quite expensive and belonged to my best friend. All of a sudden, her ring was covered with mercury.

I spent the rest of the day hiding the ring whenever anyone was near for fear they would tell my friend. Finally, it was time for the school bus and the safety of home.

With a sick feeling in the gut, I told my parents what I had done, fully expecting a tongue lashing about how foolish I had been. Instead, my father said, "Heat up the oven and put your ring on a napkin. The mercury will come off." Voila! He was right. Talk about a feeling of relief flooding over you. Phew!

I never did tell my friend what happened, but did return the ring with the excuse that it was too expensive and I'd "just die" if anything happened to it.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Of course, now your oven was full of toxic mercury vapor -- and may have been absorbed in the walls.

When something vaporizes, it doesn't cease to exist -- it just enters the air you breathe.

[Brother Buzz]

10. Mark Twain lost a gold ring working mercury amalgamation in the California gold fields

Done disappeared off his finger.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. but, but, but....

your dentist will tell you that Hg is perfectly safe in your mouth!!

Which is complete and utter B.S.

The EPA says that mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive substance known.


"Hey at least it's not plutonium!!"

[41mag]

6. He is now ill?

Fer crying out loud, it appears as if this incident happened in the '50s. Sorry to sound callous, but I think there is far too much worry over inanities such as this.

[TNDemo]

8. Some years back they wondered why the tires of the trucks at the Oak Ridge plant were radioactive.

Finally figured out they were running over frogs in the road, which were radioactive.

[Marnie]

11. What is he ill with.

Generally mercury is not an issue unless it has become attached to an organic molecule and then ingested directly or as it has been picked up in a food chain. Short term external contact with the liquid would not normally be sufficient contact for the inert mercury liquid to react with anything.

Mercury in the gaseous form is a totally different issue.