[Jewelry making - Article 00768] - Re: [Orchid] Separating gold and platinum

[Ken Wronkiewicz]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========


    One point bears repeating. 

    Acids are far from the only thing that can eat away at your skin or
    cause massive skin irritation.  Potential for harm is not by any
    means measured by pH. 

    Concentrated habanero pepper extract will cause extreme pain, but it
    is neither an acid nor a base.  Neither is Flourine or Chlorine
    gasses, pure Sodium, and a whole category of other things that a real
    chemist could fill you in about. 

    Even concentration is not enough to go on.  A little mercury is only
    mildly harmful and can be safely chelated out of your system. 
    However, if Mercury is in the right form (Dimethyl Mercury, for
    example), it's fatal and can even seep through rubber gloves.  An
    accomplished Prof. of Chemistry was working with Dimethyl mercury,
    spilled a few drops on her gloves but cleaned it off immediately. 
    This was enough to kill her 10 months later, after much medical
    attention. (See
    http://www-ehs.ucsd.edu/lab/dimethylmercury_poisoning.htm for
    details) 

    The overall suggestion?  Treat every chemical like it could kill you
    and you will be safe. 

    -- Ken, back from spending a day out in Golden Gate Park watching
    Duran Duran, Seal, Liz Phair, and Maroon 5, so he's therefore too
    tired to post a pun or snappy remark in his tagline.


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