mirthalac
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stan "the single pringle" templeton
 Prettiest Red Beard this side of the Canadian Border
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Reply 24 of 59 (Originally posted on: 02-02-05 10:40:40 AM)
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Quoted from branwen: mercury all the way.
Ahh... mercury... sweetest of the transition metals...
- BY FAR the most misunderstood metal. for centuries, hell, maybe even milennia, people thought that mercury (or quicksilver) was *THE* element, some bizarre amalgamation of all other metals, the key to alchemy. They believed that its fluidity was a FUNDAMENTAL property of mercury, that it would never solidify. This was accidentally disproved by two Russian scientists, A. Braun and M. V. Lomonosov, of St. Petersburg, on December 26, 1759. they were experimenting with how low a temperature they could acheive, by mixing ice with salt, and eventually, acids and snow. at some point, the mercury in their thermometer stopped moving, and appeared solid. Curious, they broke the glass open, and lo and behold, the mercury *HAD* solidified, and it was bendable like a wire of any normal metal. By happenstance, they had destroyed a generations old myth! Merry Christmas, Science!
- Human intake of mercury is about 3 micrograms a day for adults, and 1 microgram for babies and young children. every mouthful of food you intake has a bit of mercury. This will not kill you. Or maybe it will.
- Mercury has a particular attraction to Sulfur, and will attach itself to thesulfur atoms in certain amino acids, and these amnio acids can be render the enzymes they are a part of inactive as a result. The Na+/K+/ATPase enzyme, which is a super important part of the sodium/potassium pump that keeps your brain working, is particularly sensative to mercury poisoning.
- Mercury was used as a treatment of syphilis in the late 1400's. It killed the Treponema pallidum bacteria, but caused intense salivation in the patient, and it killed at least one king: Charles II.
- Perhaps the saddest death in history related to mercury was that of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who had prostate trouble. At a royal banquet in Prague, he dared not leave the table to pee, and he split his blatter, dying of urinary poisoning. Samples of his hair showed that the day before he died, he was given mercurial medicine in an effort to save his life. [RIP Tycho Brahe]
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