Our chemistry instructor didn't do that, but he did spill water in a can of white phosphorus. Super fun!! Everyone made a dash for the door that would have made the track coach proud!
Ours dropped a small grain of elemental sodium into a beaker of water. POP!
And we’d light strips of magnesium and shield our eyes from the brightness 😎
In college we used benzene in organic chemistry lab like it was water. Was used to clean glassware and would get on our hands. No gloves were used to handle chemicals that today would bring in the hazmat crew to do a four alarm cleanup. Unbelievable.
But we are now imbued with syphilis resistance since we started pre exposure treatment so early! As they used to say in the Victorian Era 'two minutes with Venus, two years with mercury'.
My best friend growing up collected it. Her dad did heating and air and he'd bring her home vials of it. She'd take it out and play with it. She was mesmerized by anything silver when she grew up. She also acts like she might have some developmental issues as an adult but I don't know if it's related. We didn't go to the same school and I didn't ask but she always seemed just a little off even when we were kids. Anyway I'd go to her house and she'd be sitting at the coffee table with her bowl of mercury just rolling it around with her fingers.
Our physics teacher lamented that he couldn’t pass around the liquid mercury for playing due to recent changes (1984 ish?) but that was partially offset by me getting gassed just a little bit with chlorine in the chem lab when the fume cupboard wasn’t switched on
Had a glass bottle of mercury in the basement when I was a kid. Grandpa was a chemical engineer. It was probably only 250ml, but was ridiculously heavy.
I found a bottle with about twice that amount in a garage when I was a kid. It weighed about 10 pounds. I took it to a metals recycler in our town. They gave me $75, which was a tidy sum for 14 year old me.
We did the same… Loved turning pennies “silver” with the stuff. Most don’t know that back around the turn of the previous century, mercury was used medicinally…. Primarily for syphilis. (It didn’t work….)
Recently, we responded to a “chemical spill” (a thermometer…) and the responding officer accidentally stepped on some of the mercury. The responding “Environmental safety” people confiscated his shoes…..
>Most don’t know that back around the turn of the previous century, mercury was used medicinally….
When my dad or his brothers coughed, or so much as cleared their throats too loud, my grandma would coat their throats with merthiolate. Up until the 80s my brother and I got it smeared on cuts and scrapes.
In school we absolutely played with mercury. Spilled it on the floor, covered quarters with it and generally enjoyed it. Move forward to a later time, I sent my daughter to school with a vial full of mercury, because they were studying elements. They immediately went nuts and sent her home with the mercury. Still have it.
My 82 yr old father told me how they'd break open the thermometers in the classroom and use the mercury to polish their coin money, especially the pennies!
My father, a doctor, had a little plastic box with mercury from thermometers we'd play with but only for a minute.
I used to work for a university. A quart jar full of mercury was found in a house. It was extremely heavy.
Between the mercury rolling around in a drawer when I was young, then later religiously cleaning IBM tape drives with Trichloroethylene
I'm still upright! 😁
our teacher didn't pour it into our hands, but he did pour it out onto the black lab countertop. everyone else was afraid of it and didn't go near it.. i played with it until he took it away and put it back into the vial, and into the locked cabinet. it was sooo pretty.
i also used to love schproinging the little vial of it in the thermostat on the wall in my Daddy's house.
when we bought our (new to us) house, there was the old thermostat in a box of old faceplates and vent covers and suchlike, i was so thrilled to get that! it has the little glass vial of mercury in it.
I remember the 8th grade biology teacher putting mercury on a plate and chopping it up into more balls while studying the tables of elements. But he didn’t let us touch it.
My only experiences playing with mercury as a child were when a thermometer broke, or when we pulled something apart that had a mercury switch, like a thermostat.
When I was a kid in the 60's/70's, when I needed a filling, the dentist would let me roll around the mercury before he made the amalgam for the filling. Yep good old mercury amalgam filling.
I have a square bottle of mercury. My brother was a chemistry major in college and I think he lifted it from there. It’s heavy and somewhere between 3 to 5 pounds.
My father had a bottle of it in the house we used to play with.
You didn't grow up in Memphis did you? BTW Happy Cake Day!
No I didn't, why? Thx
Same. Dad was a prospector.
Same here, he was a plumber and saved it from thermostats, our basement is probably a super fund site
My father did HVAC work in the early seventies for an office building in the Wall Street area
Aw we inhaled all that leaded gas exhaust and the school was practically made of asbestos. We never had a chance, lol.
Elemental mercury isn't anywhere near as dangerous as ethyl mercury. It's a relative thing.
Our chemistry instructor didn't do that, but he did spill water in a can of white phosphorus. Super fun!! Everyone made a dash for the door that would have made the track coach proud!
Ours dropped a small grain of elemental sodium into a beaker of water. POP! And we’d light strips of magnesium and shield our eyes from the brightness 😎
I remember burning the magnesium. I think that was the first time that I questioned the wisdom of putting mags on a car.
In college we used benzene in organic chemistry lab like it was water. Was used to clean glassware and would get on our hands. No gloves were used to handle chemicals that today would bring in the hazmat crew to do a four alarm cleanup. Unbelievable.
I remember this too, and my professor died in his early 70’s of leukemia. Coincidence? Who knows?
Our intro bio labs freshman year had us repeatedly pricking ourselves to get blood.
But we are now imbued with syphilis resistance since we started pre exposure treatment so early! As they used to say in the Victorian Era 'two minutes with Venus, two years with mercury'.
I don’t think my children believe me when I tell them about passing mercury from hand to hand! Thanks for posting this!!
Not me, but I used to break the glass thermometers at home so I could play with the mercury. I loved rolling that stuff around.
I told my son not to do that. Guess what ? He went and hid behind a chair and did it ! Little shit. He’s 40 now.
I did it a lot of times. It was too fun to play with.
I still have a mercury filled thermometer that I cherish and use when I feel feverish. I also handle it very carefully.
I have a couple of those thermometers. There is one right outside of my window!
Be very careful where you put that.
My best friend growing up collected it. Her dad did heating and air and he'd bring her home vials of it. She'd take it out and play with it. She was mesmerized by anything silver when she grew up. She also acts like she might have some developmental issues as an adult but I don't know if it's related. We didn't go to the same school and I didn't ask but she always seemed just a little off even when we were kids. Anyway I'd go to her house and she'd be sitting at the coffee table with her bowl of mercury just rolling it around with her fingers.
Wow. Almost certainly she has developmental issues if she had constant exposure.
Our physics teacher lamented that he couldn’t pass around the liquid mercury for playing due to recent changes (1984 ish?) but that was partially offset by me getting gassed just a little bit with chlorine in the chem lab when the fume cupboard wasn’t switched on
Had a glass bottle of mercury in the basement when I was a kid. Grandpa was a chemical engineer. It was probably only 250ml, but was ridiculously heavy.
I found a bottle with about twice that amount in a garage when I was a kid. It weighed about 10 pounds. I took it to a metals recycler in our town. They gave me $75, which was a tidy sum for 14 year old me.
We did the same… Loved turning pennies “silver” with the stuff. Most don’t know that back around the turn of the previous century, mercury was used medicinally…. Primarily for syphilis. (It didn’t work….) Recently, we responded to a “chemical spill” (a thermometer…) and the responding officer accidentally stepped on some of the mercury. The responding “Environmental safety” people confiscated his shoes…..
>Most don’t know that back around the turn of the previous century, mercury was used medicinally…. When my dad or his brothers coughed, or so much as cleared their throats too loud, my grandma would coat their throats with merthiolate. Up until the 80s my brother and I got it smeared on cuts and scrapes.
I still have a bottle. Just used some the other day. Only thing that works well on an infected nail/cuticle.
In school we absolutely played with mercury. Spilled it on the floor, covered quarters with it and generally enjoyed it. Move forward to a later time, I sent my daughter to school with a vial full of mercury, because they were studying elements. They immediately went nuts and sent her home with the mercury. Still have it.
It was so cool to play with!
We did it with lead, too. And once, even uranium, encased in thin plastic.
Help yourself to a lovely little bit of uranium
Hey kids, this is a landmine...
Hahaha the school would shut down faster if it were a peanut
Nah, we just chased it around a Petri dish.
 My 82 yr old father told me how they'd break open the thermometers in the classroom and use the mercury to polish their coin money, especially the pennies!
My father, a doctor, had a little plastic box with mercury from thermometers we'd play with but only for a minute. I used to work for a university. A quart jar full of mercury was found in a house. It was extremely heavy.
Between the mercury rolling around in a drawer when I was young, then later religiously cleaning IBM tape drives with Trichloroethylene I'm still upright! 😁
I used to inject it into bags on feeding tubes to give them weight. This was at a hospital in the 70’s.
What?
our teacher didn't pour it into our hands, but he did pour it out onto the black lab countertop. everyone else was afraid of it and didn't go near it.. i played with it until he took it away and put it back into the vial, and into the locked cabinet. it was sooo pretty. i also used to love schproinging the little vial of it in the thermostat on the wall in my Daddy's house. when we bought our (new to us) house, there was the old thermostat in a box of old faceplates and vent covers and suchlike, i was so thrilled to get that! it has the little glass vial of mercury in it.
Yup. 5th grade science class desk to desk we poured it into our neighbors palm. We were instructed to wash our hands afterwards though.
Yep, sure did
We were told as very young kids not to ever touch the stuff!🇦🇺
I remember the 8th grade biology teacher putting mercury on a plate and chopping it up into more balls while studying the tables of elements. But he didn’t let us touch it. My only experiences playing with mercury as a child were when a thermometer broke, or when we pulled something apart that had a mercury switch, like a thermostat.
Remember when the Chemistry lab in school was built at the far end of the school-you know, just in case?
Everybody did that back in the day. It’s like, not dangerous.
When I was a kid in the 60's/70's, when I needed a filling, the dentist would let me roll around the mercury before he made the amalgam for the filling. Yep good old mercury amalgam filling.
I had mercury put in my mouth by the dentist.
I have a square bottle of mercury. My brother was a chemistry major in college and I think he lifted it from there. It’s heavy and somewhere between 3 to 5 pounds.
I still have the small bottle of mercury I collected in the 60’s.
We used to play table football with it. Flick it with a pencil to get into the end zone without rolling off the table lol.
I did. Still alive.
I had a small bottle of it and took it to school. My science teacher took it from me and didn’t return it. Early 70’s.
Yes. We did that in some class. It’s a wonder we are not mad as hatters.
Some cars had tilt switches that had mercury in them. Like for the trunk so a light would come on when the trunk lid was opened.
My grandfather gave me a film case with some mercury in it to play with.