[time-nuts] What would be the proper equipment and procedure?

[Bill Hawkins]

Ah, you might not have meant that for this list. You are a man of many
talents.

Dimethyl mercury has given elemental mercury a bad name it doesn't
deserve. As a youth, I used it to turn pennies into silvery dimes.
Father said he'd ingested a teaspoon to see how fast it would go through
him. In his day, beryllium pliers were used around explosives because
they were non-sparking. We both lived many years afterwards. People who
don't understand the difference between elements and compounds insist
that cleaning up after a broken mercury thermometer be done wearing moon
suits. So it goes - as time goes by.

Bill Hawkins


-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Mark
Sims
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 10:26 PM
To: time-nuts at febo.com
Subject: [time-nuts] What would be the proper equipment and procedure?

I don't know if it the proper way but I used a very nice fume hood.
Measured the metals (high purity),  melted them in a quartz crucible,
stirred with a quartz rod,  and cast it in a ceramic block with a spiral
pattern machined into it with a ball mill. You don't want to contaminate
the mixture with other metals, etc.

That "Things I Won't Work With" article was about dimethyl cadmium, not
metallic cadmium.  Reall Nasty Stuff.  Metallic cadmium and cadmium
plating has been used for ages without killing too many people.  It's
not something to take lightly, but I've had the pleasure of working
around far worse things.

For even more extreme nastiness check out dimethyl mercury... one drop,
goes through rubber gloves like they aren't there,  sure-fire rather
horrible death.   Derek Lowe's "Things I Won't Work With" series is some
of the best reading out there...  Unfortunately,  I don't think that he
is still doing them.  His old web site has disappeared.
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