Or spill it all over the floor, etc.
We had it for a long time but eventually it cracked and the mercury escaped...
The problem is, that as you found, eventually entropy takes over and it ends up on the floor, in the earth and in the water.
Same with your asbestos anecdote. You might have managed to handle it safely, wearing a respirator, not generated any dust that your neighbours inadvertently breathe in, etc. The next person isn't so capable and multiply that across 70million you've got endemic asbestosis.
And bringing it back to the methanol point, same reason we don't allow distillation but do allow home brewing. On a population level people are idiots.
It's not even that interesting experimentally, it's heavy and liquid but that's about it. And it's chemistry is mostly only interesting at degree level with reactions in amalgam or chelation.
Point of order; there's quite a lot* of methanol in beer!
Only if you're making fruity beer and yes, even then it's trace but non-zero.
Methanol is the reason that home distilling is illegal.
The apocryphal story we got in teacher training was that chemistry teachers used to have a 10 year shorter lifespan than other teachers.
Of the 6 half dozen or so Chemistry teachers at my secondary school, all but one had *some* sort of scarring from incidents with chemicals. Or bunsen burners. So i could believe that, no problems at all.
TBF, the way we used to set fire/blow stuff up/melt stuff. I'm amazed any of us got past the first couple of years either!
We once had to abandon the entire science, math and languages block when someone in my class got their concentrations wrong and made several hundred litres of chlorine gas. That was only a couple of weeks after someone had managed to ignite something that burns clear in one of the sinks. The only reason it got noticed is that the tap started to char and there was a slowly spreading brown/smouldering rosette on the ceiling tiles above the sink.
I can not confirm or deny my involvement in either of these escapades, or any others. (Though the school doesn't exist anymore, so i'm not worried even if they do find out it was Steve, Ian and I who did these two.)
Point of order; there's quite a lot* of methanol in beer!
Only if you're making fruity beer and yes, even then it's trace but non-zero.
Methanol is the reason that home distilling is illegal.
Hmmmm. I suspect it's got something to do with excise duty, but yes the line is 'protect the masses'. I mean.... the bigger danger with a still would be a nasty fire, or a nasty bang, but methanol poisoning is the reason. Hmm.
Same with your asbestos anecdote. You might have managed to handle it safely, wearing a respirator, not generated any dust that your neighbours inadvertently breathe in, etc. The next person isn't so capable and multiply that across 70million you've got endemic asbestosis.
Then there’s all the buildings with asbestos roofing panels, asbestos fibre insulation, car brake shoes…
…a lot of it about when I was growing up, 50-60 years ago.
Hmmmm. I suspect it's got something to do with excise duty, but yes the line is 'protect the masses'. I mean.... the bigger danger with a still would be a nasty fire, or a nasty bang, but methanol poisoning is the reason. Hmm.
If I recall right for some/most yeasts is around 20:1 ethanol : methanol, so 5% alcohol beer has about 0.25% methanol. So distill a big batch of say 50l beer and your first 40% strength bottle is going to be almost entirely methanol. So going blind is a real risk.
Duty, yes the duty on spirits is higher than on beer, but only by about 50%. Which is diminished once you account for what's lost in tails, angels share, etc. So overall the government probably receives about the same duty whether you distill the beer or not. Especially once you add in the VAT and other taxes.
That and the high chance of dying in a fireball if the condenser fails.
Then there’s all the buildings with asbestos roofing panels, asbestos fibre insulation, car brake shoes…
…a lot of it about when I was growing up, 50-60 years ago.
And a lot of people died horrible, slow, painful early deaths as a result.
The difference between Ossify and the guy working at the tip is Ossify made a judgement that the risk to himself from a single exposure was acceptable when compared against the cost of paying a contractor to do it. The guy at the tip isn't getting several hundred quid in danger money each time someone drops off some panels. They're on minimum wage and have to deal with thousands of potential exposures every day.
That and they may not have facilities to process them at that tip. They can't go in with any other waste as as soon as you throw anything on top they get broken into a cloud of dust.
The difference between Ossify and the guy working at the tip is Ossify made a judgement that the risk to himself from a single exposure was acceptable when compared against the cost of paying a contractor to do it. The guy at the tip isn't getting several hundred quid in danger money each time someone drops off some panels. They're on minimum wage and have to deal with thousands of potential exposures every day.
... is a good point.
This is the X-Ray argument. There are memes about how it's supposed to be perfectly safe yet the dentist / radiologist leaves the room. What it overlooks is that you're having one whereas they're potentially exposed to multiples on a daily basis.
Isn't it obvious, surely you've got a mate that's too fast, pour it down their seat tube 🙂
I used to let my classes pick up the mercury bottle for density reasons. Also freezing it was a popular demo. The thing to avoid other than spillages is any chemistry with the stuff, anything that generated waste due to the cost of disposal.
Of the 6 half dozen or so Chemistry teachers at my secondary school, all but one had *some* sort of scarring from incidents with chemicals. Or bunsen burners. So i could believe that, no problems at all.
Made it to retirement without any. Can I get a better annuity if I was a chemistry teacher (and I played with asbestos as a child)
As per the title - shoot a sodding great rock at it and knock it into the sun. Nobody’s going to notice it’s gone anyway. 🤷🏼♂️
