Quote:
Originally Posted by OCD1
Where would one find Mercury these days?
I also remember playing with as a kid. Used to be in thermostats and some thermometers
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You can find a small drop of mercury in compact fluorescent light bulbs (I call them curly cue light bulbs). It's interesting that the incandescent light bulb which is now seen by many people (mostly liberal pu$$ies) as being a danger to the environment, has been replaced by a light bulb that now has a drop of mercury in every single one. Mercury is a poison but playing with a small amount of it will not hurt you at all. Like most metals such as lead and mercury, the body does a wonderful job of ridding your body of it. Most ingested or absorbed mercury passes through your body unabsorbed. Your body also rids itself of mercury by creating compounds of mercury that are a gas which are then released from your lungs and exhaled in the same manner as when you exhale carbon dioxide. (Trust me on this, I am a chemist). Most cases of mercury poisoning occurred in the past before the dangers where known and happened to people who were exposed to it everyday for years.
On a side note, most people wrongly believe you can get a lot of mercury from fish. Fish do have higher levels of mercury but the level is natural and is not caused by any contamination by humans. (An exception to this is the Minamata Bay disaster in Japan where chemical companies dumped 1000's of tons of mercury waste for several decades into the bay that people fished in. This may be where the so called fish/mercury danger originated from). Further more, fish have evolved a way to protect themselves from natural mercury levels by also absorbing selenium which has a countering effect to the toxicity of mercury. This protection is passed on to anyone who eats the fish.
As far as people using a hydrogen peroxide and vinegar solution, I would caution against this. While this will react with the lead and dissolve it, the peroxide will also react at the same time with the metal of the gun. Peroxide is an oxidizer and will react with almost all metals in the same way. The acetic acid in the vinegar will also do the same thing but to a lesser extent. Over time this will erode your barrel and cylinder which will actually increase the likelihood of leading. I would say that if you go this route, only do it sparingly.
For de-leading, I would recommend a non-chemical, non-destructive method such as a copper chore type brush as this will not scratch the bore or chambers since the copper is softer than the steel but yet will remove the lead since the copper is harder than the lead.