• This topic has 56 replies, 41 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by Dibbs.
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  • Strange family heirloom . . . . is it illegal???
  • adjustablewench
    Free Member

    Having a discussion with my mother about various strange effects that our in our families possession (mainly due to our family containing many eccentric sciency types)

    One of the items is a little stoppered stoneware bottle of mercury…Now I’m not scared of the contents as they stay in the bottle and are no longer played with (unlike in my mother’s childhood – could explain a lot!).

    But my simple question is – is it illegal to actual posses it? i know there are a lot of restrictions with regards to manufacturing etc but you can own a mercury filled antique barometer so i guess this is ok?

    As long as we dont take it on a plane or post it??

    johndoh
    Free Member

    I don’t think there are any restrictions on owning mercury at all.

    holst
    Free Member

    Very disappointing, I was hoping that your granddad had left you a shrunken head or mummified corpse.

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    stevied
    Free Member

    Mercury in a bottle:

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    which bit of fred is in the Jar? 😯

    edit: beaten to it.

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    Don’t open the bottle……

    growinglad
    Free Member

    shrunken head

    My thoughts exactly….

    adjustablewench
    Free Member

    Good glad there are no restrictions – someone was trying to tell her she shouldn’t have it.

    No shrunken heads – although there are some at Ripley believe it or not in picadily if you want to see such a thing (and pay a small fortune on admission!)

    globalti
    Free Member

    Is it red mercury? Some guys from ISIS have been trying to buy that ever since some Russians published that it was highly explosive.

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    I was thinking maybe ivory or a spear from the Zulu wars.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    My gut feeling that although it’s not illegal, would be to get rid (safely, via the appropriate channels). It’s mercury, it’s hazardous waste, not an heirloom. Mercury is surprisingly volatile, so unless the lid is properly airtight then it’s a risk, and it could always be dropped and smashed, then you’ve got mercury soaked carpet’s/floorboards to get rid of.

    cbike
    Free Member

    Sell it to the one of the online science folk?

    Mail order uranium here – https://www.unitednuclear.com/

    kimbers
    Full Member

    IIRC selling mercury thermometers will become illegal under EU law next year?

    we still have a few knocking about our institute, but I get them disposed of properly ( a special comapany collects that stuff) whenever I come across some them as its toxic

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mercury-properties-incident-management-and-toxicology

    qwerty
    Free Member

    Is it just me seeing a way to fast track your inheritance?

    mrsfry
    Free Member

    ^^

    Bookmarked

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Just pour it down the sink, like 🙄

    Moses
    Full Member

    Sell it? It’s expensive to buy.

    johndoh
    Free Member

    I once had some splashed in my face! In a lesson at school with ‘Froggy’ Fountain the science teacher showing us how to make a thermometer. No safety goggles/clothes, just a group of us stood around him as he poured it into a tube.

    Some splashed out and I felt something on my face (very near to my eye). A quick trip to the matron’s office for an eye bath and back to school work…

    If that was today, my parents would be suing the school….

    adjustablewench
    Free Member

    No desire to sell it or get rid of it. It will be staying where it is – just wanted to check where we were legally with it 🙂

    Saccades
    Free Member

    Get rid of it – nasty, nasty stuff.

    Kills you and the environment.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    Bah, we had a big jar of it in our garage when I was a kid – great fun rolling it around in the palm of your hand … and look at me, I’m fine

    adjustablewench
    Free Member

    I did a chemistry degree in Sheffield and saw far to much accidentally ending up where it shouldn’t in first year Labs – at least it isn’t trimethylmercury 🙂

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    A quick trip to the matron’s office

    Matron’s office..???? Middle class or what?

    Dickyboy
    Full Member

    Every decent chemistry set used to have some – normal?

    Classing as family heirloom – very strange?

    Saccades
    Free Member

    I had a mate with a mercury maze toy, which broke in his bedroom aged about 13.

    Lost his hair 5 years later, has the attention span of a stoner and could have done loads more with his life.

    Yes it’s an science oddity that’s nice to look at – but it’s also a horrible toxic chemical that has no use in a domestic environment.

    It contaminates pretty much everything it touches and is incredibly potent.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Sell it? It’s expensive to buy.

    £10,000 per ton for 99.99% pure stuff in bulk (a little over 3x copper), but like all metals in recent years the price goes up and down like a yo-yo.

    A bottle like that you’d have to pay someone to take it away if you were a business. Most sources of it are as a waste from the production of other stuff (oil and gas). It’s only expensive when it’s being sold by lab supply companies (who’ve purified it etc).

    I did a chemistry degree in Sheffield and saw far to much accidentally ending up where it shouldn’t in first year Labs – at least it isn’t trimethylmercury

    High 5 fellow Sheffield Chemistry grad!

    But, I graduated in ’08 and got a proper bollocking for even having a stoppered jar of zinc amalgam outside the fume cupboard in the 2nd year. Just because something was overlooked in the past doesn’t mean it’s right.

    adjustablewench
    Free Member

    That seems a very odd reaction to a tiny amount of elemental mercury

    johndoh
    Free Member

    Matron’s office..???? Middle class or what?

    Not at all – just a long time ago when they were still called that.

    BillOddie
    Full Member

    I was hoping for conjoined twins in formaldehyde.

    Most disappointing.

    mrsfry
    Free Member

    ^^

    Kinky 😯

    adjustablewench
    Free Member

    High 5 fellow Sheffield Chemistry grad!

    But, I graduated in ’08 and got a proper bollocking for even having a stoppered jar of zinc amalgam outside the fume cupboard in the 2nd year. Just because something was overlooked in the past doesn’t mean it’s right.

    I’m not suggesting it was right! Just saying we are a lot more careful with this bottle than many of my fellow students (and it wasn’t that long ago – we didn’t have a matron to run to that’s for sure!)

    I_did_dab
    Free Member

    Chemistry safety hat on – you should arrange for it to be disposed of. How about phoning your local university chemistry department, they might take it off your hands.
    It really is too hazardous to leave in the family home, OKish stoppered but if spilt…

    WorldClassAccident
    Free Member

    Got me thinking. In mum’s house there is the skull of a young Sudanese woman, a couple of 9 foot tribal spears, hippo teeth, a ceremonial hat with human hair and teeth…

    Yes, they lived in Africa for a while in the sixties

    cheekyget
    Free Member

    Saccades – Member
    Get rid of it – nasty, nasty stuff.

    Kills you and the environment.

    I remember at school …I was about 7… And the teacher poured some in a tray for all us kids to play with…all we was told was ” don’t put it in your mouth”!!

    We had some crazy times in the 70’s..ha ha ha

    iainc
    Full Member

    i wouldn’t have it in the house , but we do have kids and accidents can happen.

    Maybe seek professional advice from someone with a chemistry degree…., oh, hang on 🙂

    It’s unlikely to be illegal to keep it, but if it got spilled outside your house, for example, you could be knowingly causing contamination and liable for cleanup, and i don’t just mean scooping up a few bubbles of mercury from your patio….

    Drac
    Full Member

    I had a mate with a mercury maze toy, which broke in his bedroom aged about 13.

    Lost his hair 5 years later, has the attention span of a stoner and could have done loads more with his life.

    I grew up in the grounds of a hospital we’d often play with discarded thermometers. We’d snap them open and collect the Mercury to play with making such things as mazes. Other than starting to lose my hair in my 30s I’ve done pretty well.

    Why do you think it was the Mercury?

    finbar
    Free Member

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_the_First_Qin_Emperor

    Anomalously high levels of mercury in the area of the tomb mound were found.[15] This gives credence to the Sima Qian’s account that mercury was used to simulate waterways and the seas in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. However, some scholars believe that if the underground palace is excavated, the mercury will quickly volatilize.

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    collect the Mercury to play with making such things as mazes. Other than starting to lose my hair in my 30s I’ve done pretty well.

    Mazes eh? Losing your hair?

    somafunk
    Full Member

    Like others have posted i used to have a bottle of it in my chemistry set (late 70’s/early 80’s) – bloody heavy stuff and good fun to roll around but i was always more interested in lighting my magnesium strips or trying to make stuff explode, in the mid 80’s we moved onto building fertiliser bombs/projectiles at my mates farm . Eventually found the perfect formulae and mix ratio along with the aid of a compressor line to aerate the mixture before ignition – with the use of lengths of welded stainless pipe we built a projectile launcher that could fire turnips the length of two fields – top class fun for us growing up in Argyll. Till we got delusions of grandeur and built a contraption using a 50 gallon oil drum……..destroyed a perfectly good barn and blew debris for hundreds of yards.

    Severe talking to after that one and to be honest we were very lucky no-one was severely injured.

    I imagine you’d get a visit from the authorities these days if you let your kids do similar 😉

    andyl
    Free Member

    get rid of it. Try your local university or council.

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