On: Dissolve My Nobel Prize, Fast (2011)

[ekianjo]

> Gold and mercury form an amalgam

Sure, but if you have a sufficient amount of mercury, that amalgam will remain invisible to the eye as Mercury is not translucent - and you can just write "mercury" on the flash and you can be sure no-one will dare to touch it.

[vacri → ekianjo]

WWII-era soldiers may not have been as fearful of the fun that is mercury as we are today.

[Crito → ekianjo]

> you can just write "mercury" on the flash and you can be sure no-one will dare to touch it.

Remember we're talking about 1940. Whoever discovered it might very well take it off the shelf to play with it. ;)

[ekianjo → Crito]

Oh, Mercury poisoning has been known for a very, very long time, and certainly well documented since the late 1800s.

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

[modoc → ekianjo]

And yet my parents (both born in the 1960's) both played with beads of mercury on their desks in school on numerous occasions... It was pretty common

[rwmj → modoc]

When I was at school (1980s) the teacher had us line up and put our fingers in a flask of mercury. It was a very peculiar sensation. I probably wouldn't want to repeat that "experiment" today.

[ekianjo → modoc]

Sure, I'm not saying the general knowledge of mercury poisoning was commonplace back then, but in the scientific community it was, I believe, well known already.

[pilsetnieks → ekianjo]

It was the Nazi soldier community they were worried about.

[Crito → ekianjo]

Mercury poisoning has been known for some time, however people in the general public knowing or caring about mercury poisoning is a pretty recent phenomenon.