this is indeed true' date=' also there was an extremely high incidence of Jaw cancer amongst these workers

 

just of topic a little, ever wonder where the saying "mad as a hatter" came from?

 

years ago the brims of the tall hats were made with Lead in the middle for the weight and the fit, eventualy the lead poisoning sent them "Mad".

quite true![/quote']

 

I hate to say it, but you are completely incorrect. The "Mad as a hatter" term came from the fact that the chemical used to treat the felt/leather used in hats, way back when, was mercurous nitrate. The felt/leather would be soaked in the mercury compound and then the workers would be able to mold it and form it into a hat. The solution evaporated and the hat retained it's shape. Sadly, all the mercury compounds made them go absolutely crazy. Hence, 'mad as a hatter'. So you were correct on the fact that a heavy metal caused hat makers to go mad, but it was mercury and not lead.

 

With radioactive fallout, you also can't forget about Iodine-131. That stuff will find its way into your thyroid gland and irradiate the hell out of it. Also, plutonium will try and impersonate calcium as well.

The Romans liked to used lead acetate to sweeten things because it was plentiful, cheap, and easy to use. Sadly, they didn't realize that it was killing them. heh

it`s called "Sugar of Lead" as a common term, the French used to sweeten wine with it also.

 

here`s one though. the metal alloy called Pewter, it`s a tin/lead alloy and used for making allsorts of things from ornaments to brinking gobblets and jugs, it`s still sold today for that purpose, surely it has to be toxic though?

 

lead and Tin are used in solder, and that comes with warnings.

 

edit: Jdurg, yes you`re quite correct, Mercury was the most common cause as opposed to just lead.

 

"What does "Mad as a Hatter" mean?

• From David T. Dwyer II: A Hatter is a man that makes hats, hats are made from a wool blend called "felt", the felt is dyed to the desired color. The dyes of the hatters often contained hazardous chemicals such as lead and arsenic. A hatter would absorb these chemicals and over time go mad from using them.
  

• From Ralph: In the 19th century, hatters often trembled with palsy and mixed up their speech. This was also a result of absorption of mercury, which was used in the treatment of felt. "
  

• 
  

• taken from:

http://www.angelfire.com/ne/UBIPage/quizquestion.html

Heh. Yeah, it didn't help that they stored their acidic wines in lead jugs, and in order to combat the tartness of the acid they added "sugar of lead" to it. Hehe. Well, I guess you can do a lot of 'not-so-smart' things when you don't know how dangerous something is.

also things like lead used to be used for plumbing.

gave loads of people lead poisoning!!

but then its easy to say how stupid they are now, at the time it seemed like a great idea!

possible in the future they might be saying the same things about us, how stupid we were for using such and such who knows

maybe there will be better solutions, but i dont think that there are things which are unsafe in the way which coal fires and lead plumbing were.

I'm thinking there will be a lot of things. Just think of some of the devices that course the most deaths each year. Cars maybe? Although just look at how far we have come. The safety glass used in windshields used to decapitate people!

 

Let me think... I'll come up with other things. If everybody asked for my advice before doing things then the world would be a much better place.

cars are unsafe, but in a different way to lead plumbing. lead plumbing is unsafe because you get lead posioning in your water.... cars are only unsafe when people use them unsafely.

 

"The safety glass used in windshields used to decapitate people!"

 

USED to, now it doesnt, as a civilisation we are slowly becoming more advance and we are finishing off the 'stupid' mistakes of the past.

just kinda going back to where we started.....

 

what is a peroxide?

 

is it a compound with O2 in it?

 

and a tri-oxide would be a compound with O3 in it...

 

and whats something with O4 in it? e.g. H2SO4

A peroxide is a compound with an -O-O- bond somewhere in it. So Hydrogen Peroxide is H-O-O-H, and an organic peroxide is R-O-O-R(or H).

so then a trioxide has a -O-O-O- bond???

 

and something like H2SO4 has a -O-O-O-O- bond??? but whats that called?

so then a trioxide has a -O-O-O- bond???

 

and something like H2SO4 has a -O-O-O-O- bond??? but whats that called?

 

 

Not really. Trioxide just means that there are three oxygen atoms present. So if you had Uranium Trioxide, UO3, there would be three oxygen atoms attached to the the Uranium atom. In H2SO4, the sulfur atom has four oxygen atoms attached to it, thus creating the SO4(-2) ion. The O-O bond is not very strong, so I cannot even imagine how unstable an -O-O-O-O- bond would be.

so then a trioxide has a -O-O-O- bond???

 

and something like H2SO4 has a -O-O-O-O- bond??? but whats that called?

 

No' date=' only peroxides act like that. go here and scroll all the way down for the Structural formula of H2SO4. Only peroxides have O-O bonds.

 

edit: darnit, jdurg beat me to it.

and does O4 have a name???

 

or does it vary, like dioxide and peroxide both have an O2 [e.g. CO2 and H2O2]

-tetra? I think per- is only used for oxygen. It means "more than".

ok to clear this up, [math]O_4[/math] doesn't exist

 

Only peroxides have O-O bonds.

actually, superoxides and ozonides have O-O bonds as well.

persulphates go even further with an SO8, it`s main uses are PCB etching, and get this... Bleaching Hair! that powder stuff they mix the H2O2 with

I think per- is only used for oxygen

how can that be true CO2 is carbon dioxide and H2O2 is hydrogen peroxide both have O2 in.

 

ok to clear this up, O4 doesn't exist

then whats H2SO4?

 

you could both be right.... im not sure, just reading your post that was my thoughts, so i asked.

 

persulphates go even further with an SO8, it`s main uses are PCB etching

yeah i use that stuff i ever etch PCBs, which i dont often, but did about 2 months ago! useless info i thought i'd add!

how can that be true CO2 is carbon dioxide and H2O2 is hydrogen peroxide both have O2 in.

 

then whats H2SO4?

 

 

CO2 is O-C-O, NOT C-O-O. Look at the link I posted. H2SO4 does not have any O-O bonds.

 

He means there is no O-O-O-O. It’s all about the structural formula.

eh, carbon dioxide is O=C=O

eh, carbon dioxide is O=C=O

 

psh... thats not the point.

just clarifying

actually, i just had an amusing thought. imagine protonating a bunch of dry ice:)

i always liked the term "dry ice" because its hard to imagine wet ice!