r/BeAmazed • u/himmokala • Dec 15 '24

Science Using red dye to demonstrate how Mercury cannot be absorbed by a towel

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u/doob22 Dec 15 '24

Try smelling it

21

u/Bipppo Dec 15 '24

I’ll pass on dying

9

u/doob22 Dec 15 '24

It will come for you eventually

1

u/NoReality463 Dec 16 '24

You won’t die. You’ll just become a fun person to be around at tea parties.

1

u/SurelyFurious Dec 15 '24

Does it actually have a strong smell?

2

u/BigDowntownRobot Dec 15 '24

We can't smell mercury despite it sublimating very small amounts even at room temperature (like all things you can smell do). But it doesn't readily become a vapor until it's boiling point which is in the 350's.

You have sensory neurons designed to detect thousands of individual volatile chemicals, but mercury despite being very toxic (when inhaled especially) isn't that chemically reactive outside of the specific chemicals that react strongly with it, so it doesn't readily form any chemicals we could sense when it enters our system, and we had no need to evolve sensory neurons with the ability to sense elemental mercury vapor.

It's toxicity comes from the fact that it just gets sequestered in your brain and nervous system and causes disfunction.

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u/Sitriel Dec 15 '24

Try drinking it

1

u/Le3e31 Dec 17 '24

i wonder how it taste like