Disposal of Mercury

[John Rumm]

"Why are you writing with an anal thermometer?"

"Oh sod it, some bum must have got my pen!"

[Lobster]

Ah, yes. I remember one teacher showing us about phosphorus and sodium, and how you store the former in a jar of water, and the latter in a jar of oil, "...and make sure you never get them muddled up! ha ha!" and then proceeded to do precisely that, topping up the sodium jar from the tap...

"RUN!!!"

Fortunately no injury or major damage resulted.

David

[Arfa Daily]

If you pulled the gas tube off the Bunsen burner in the cupboard by your feet, it fitted very nicely onto a pipette. If you then put the other end onto a bench water tap, you could fire a jet of water probably 15 feet to get the class swat on the back of the head. One day, my experiment partner, 'Zuni' Curtis ( remember Zuni on Fireball XL5 ? ) performed this trick, but turned the tap on so hard, the pipette shot out of the end of the pipe, and through his hand. It flew across the lab like a rocket, to shatter on the floor just in front of the teacher's podium ... Saturday morning detentions all round ...

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

Ha ! My Watney stamped ones are ! I used to think that Party 7s were ok. Actually, it was the Northampton Brewery Company that he originally worked for, but Watney took them over, I think. Then it became Carlsberg, which it still is. Lovely smell sometimes, when the wind is in the right direction ... :-)

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

Likewise, the rotating arms on the bug-beds in sewage processing plants. They are propelled round by nothing more than the force of the water gently exiting the holes all along the arm. Or at least that was the case some years back when a mate of mine was technical director at the local works. Maybe these days, they have a different bearing arrangement.

Arfa

[Chris J Dixon]

Where/ what were you scavenging?

Chris

[Chris J Dixon]

Where/ what were you scavenging?

Chris

[Andy Dingley]

Whatever I could find. Chiefly (I'm sorry to say) mercury arc rectifiers (wish I'd kept them!). Also mercury relays, manometers. I still have a few mercury-filled plumbobs.

[F Murtz]

Put a small quantity in a lock wait to dry and watch someone insert a key ( we did stupid things when young)

[PeterC]

Oh memories! When I was about 3 we moved to the off-licence in Little Houghton. Hanging from the wall under my bedroom window was a big NBC star - it'd be worth a bit now. My can opener was from a camping shop about 300 yards from the (by then Watneys) brewery - good move getting a lighter one. As for Carlsberg: sitting in The Malt Shovel with the aroma from across the road wafting through...

[Arfa Daily]

Wot a small world ! I came from Delapre, and now live in Barton. Are you still in the area ? Remember the bridge across the river just down from the Malt ? We used to jump up on the parapet, and run across it. How stupid were we ? It must have been 40 feet up, and quite long ...

Arfa

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Makes me want to sell one on ebay just to get a letter like that, so I can tell them off.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Just like half the under-age drinkers of the day, then.

[geoff]

The beer that's like making love in a punt

[geoff]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

I made some on a semi-industrial scale at uni

I had a demijohn of ammonia 880 and a ruck of iodine - boiled them up together and left the half inch of it under water in a jam jar in the shed for a couple of days

Walked into the kitchen with it and suddenly, inevitably ...

BOOM !

The kitchen ceiling and floor turned purple and all I had left was the, still intact, screw thread of the jam jar

I now know that ammonia tri-iodide becomes unstable with time

[geoff]

In message , "Alan (BigAl)" writes

We actually had a rocket club at school

We built one out of fireworks and, in front of half the school, it was set off by the school chaplain. It rose 50 feet then something fell off and it shot off horizontally down the mall for half a mile before belly flopping on to the grass

Of course having a school chaplain who was the only person to hold a private firework licence helped [1], but it just wouldn't happen nowadays, would it ?

[1] -

[geoff]

In message , John Rumm writes

Err no - see my post

[Bill]

In message , geoff writes

nothing too technical, but a lot of stories similar to yours. He made it sound a very interesting subject.

[Bill]

In message , geoff writes

Seconded.

I made a 1/2" test tube of it at school. I carried it home in my pocket and put it in a locker in my workshop. I had my own workshop from about age 14, great fun. Any way a couple of days later I opened the locker and it was a strange yellow/purple colour and the test tube had disappeared. It had done this all by itself with no external influences.

Dangerous stuff.

But fun :-)

[geoff]

In message , Bill writes

Yes, he was a good chemistry teacher too