Make sure the silver is real before you melt it - please
1630Boston
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Fall River building deemed uninhabitable after man melts mercury dental fillings [not far from me] 
FALL RIVER, MASS. (WHDH) - An apartment building in Fall River was deemed uninhabitable over the weekend after a man melted dental fillings containing mercury.
https://youtu.be/dok_tA-hrcgA 51-year-old man was melting old dental fillings last month, thinking they were made of silver, according to authorities.
The fillings were actually made with mercury and authorities say they recorded extremely high levels of the chemical in the building.
Fall River Fire District Chief Michael Clark said a normal reading for a thermometer or a blood pressure cuff would be in the single digits.
“This reading was about 106,” Clark said. “It was unusual. This is the first incident of this type that I’ve had.”
Ami Campinah, who lives in the building with her three children, said the man who melted the fillings, along with his 17-year-old daughter, tested positive for mercury and remain in the hospital.
A dog and two cats living in the apartment died, according to authorities.
Officials say a specialized clean-up crew will have to clean the entire building before anyone can return to living there.
“It’s been hard. We didn’t have anywhere for our animals to go, so, thankfully, animal control came and got them and they’re staying at a local place,” Campinah said. “Thankfully, our landlord put us in a hotel for the weekend and we will know more Monday.”
Residents have not been given a timeline as to when they can move back in.
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Comments
we used to coat out fingers with the stuff
Wow! ☠️
Mercury Poisoning
Clinical description - Organic
Inhalational exposure is the most typical route of elemental mercury toxicity. Acute toxicity might result in fever, fatigue, and clinical signs of pneumonitis. Chronic exposure results in neurologic, dermatologic, and renal manifestations. Signs and symptoms might include neuropsychiatric disturbances (e.g., memory loss, irritability, or depression), tremor, paresthesias, gingivostomatitis, flushing, discoloration and desquamation of the hands and feet, and hypertension (1-6).
Clinical description - Inorganic
Ingestion is the most typical route of exposure likely to cause toxicity from inorganic mercury. Signs and symptoms might include profuse vomiting and diarrhea (both can be bloody), followed by hypovolemic shock, oliguric renal failure, and possibly death. Survivors of acute poisoning or persons chronically exposed to inorganic mercury might develop neurologic, dermatologic, and renal manifestations that might include neuropsychiatric disturbances (e.g., memory loss, irritability, or depression), tremor, paresthesias, gingivostomatitis, flushing, discoloration and desquamation of the hands and feet, and hypertension (1-4).
https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/mercury/mercelementalcasedef.asp
Have about 10 five gallon pales to put through the melter tomorrow. It has been prescreened for dental or bad material. I might have to take some pics/vids for another thread.
I do melt dental gold in one of my furnaces, however everything is ventilated/filtered properly for safety. Lead and mercury were my two big concerns when planning these systems. Strangely cyanide has come up on the list to watch out for as well.
grammar school teacher used to give it to us to play with in science class.
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt
Maybe he just wanted to get high.
We used to coat coins with it in school.. I had a couple of small jars of mercury for years when I was a kid...Never thought anything of it... Guess I was lucky... Cheers, RickO
Haha.... I remember the teacher passing a bottle of it around the class. It was about the size of a prescription bottle but weighed as much as full can of soda.
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
Yikes, sad story for those tenants !!!
The boiling temperature of mercury is a lot lower than the melting point of silver.
So if you heat it up expecting to melt silver, the mercury would quickly boil away and disperse into the air.
the mercury would quickly boil away and disperse into the air.
From experience?
I would expect that there's a chemical spot test for mercury. Isn't there? I guess I could research it.
I knew it would happen.
Hmmmm…..a cursory search tells me that there's probably not an easy non-destructive spot test for Hg in metal alloys.
I knew it would happen.
No, not from my own experience.
But I did vaporize some zinc once.
XRF.
I've done some bronze casting, always make sure to add a tad extra zinc as it will vapor off at high temps.