Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
1–10 of 42 posts
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#2I'm glad we have a 100ml limit on liquids to be carried on airplanes
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#3This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN). I heard from an aeronautical engineer once that if one drop of mercury somehow gets let loose in an airplane that the whole plane needs to be basically taken apart (and possibly scrapped).
Mercury by itself is very toxic. There was a custodian who broke a thermometer in our office building once. That would have been ok - had she not spread it everwhere by playing with it. And, speaking from experience, as someone who broke a thermometer as a kid in his room and was mesmerized by the liquid, I can't blame them. Whole building had to be detox'd - almost spaceman suit E.T. style.
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#4This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN). I heard from an aeronautical engineer once that if one drop of mercury somehow gets let loose in an airplane that the whole plane needs to be basically taken apart (and possibly scrapped). Mercury by itself is very toxic. There was a custodian who broke a thermometer in our office building once. That would have been ok - had she not spre…
This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN) I saw this on reddit today and a few of the better comments debunked the scare mongering hype: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i...
And yet here we are with popsci near the top of HN. I blame Jeff Atwood.
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#5Chemistry is fascinating. I'm really not too worried about mercury being the next terrorist secret weapon. It doesn't seem flasy enough to inspire terror, maybe just a creeping unease.
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#6This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN). I heard from an aeronautical engineer once that if one drop of mercury somehow gets let loose in an airplane that the whole plane needs to be basically taken apart (and possibly scrapped). Mercury by itself is very toxic. There was a custodian who broke a thermometer in our office building once. That would have been ok - had she not spre…
This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN) I saw this on reddit today and a few of the better comments debunked the scare mongering hype: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i... And yet here we are with pop sci near the top of HN. I blame Jeff Atwood.
PopSci from 2004, no less. Did Atwood finally break HN?
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#7So, those old-style thermometers with mercury - even that much mercury could shred an airplane?
I know knowledge is power and all that, but I almost wish I hadn't found out about this.
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#8"The few-micron-thick layer of aluminum oxide is the only thing holding an airplane together."
Jees.
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN) I saw this on reddit today and a few of the better comments debunked the scare mongering hype: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i... And yet here we are with pop sci near the top of HN. I blame Jeff Atwood.
PopSci from 2004, no less. Did Atwood finally break HN?
Atwood is starting to become Emmanuel Goldstein around here.
Am I in time for today's Two Minute Hate?
Re: Why mercury is forbidden aboard airplanes
#10We also should be careful with Macbook Pros especially the unibody ones...