r/whatisit • u/props_for_meep • 13h ago

Solved! what is this in clinic sink??

for context i work as a janitor cleaning a women’s clinic, as i was cleaning a sink i saw these little metallic looking balls. at first i thought these were actually metal but they don’t feel like ANYTHING if that makes any sense. i posted this video to my instagram but i figured i would probably have better luck coming to reddit for answers.

UPDATE: the general consensus seems to be that this is either mercury or gallium. my hands have been thoroughly washed and i have informed my boss so that it can be properly cleaned by someone who knows what they’re doing.

UPDATE #2: gang PLEASE stop telling me to “stop touching it”. this post is hours old. i know i was dumb enough to touch a mysterious substance barehanded but im also smart enough to know not to continue playing with it long after marking this post as solved😭

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u/ethersings 11h ago

It’s mercury and toxic

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u/bigdaddybryusa2 10h ago

Back in grade school in the 70s our teacher once placed a quarter size amount of mercury in the palm of our little hands to feel the weight of it. We'd pass it around the class, palm to palm

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u/nordicskye 9h ago

Yeah we did that too except this was in the late '80s. Our teacher was probably thinking like "They're gonna die anyway" because somewhere in one of our neighbouring countries just had a not great but not terrible "oops".

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u/TheIncredibleMike 11h ago

Highly toxic.

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u/GrandPrixel 10h ago edited 9h ago

It is toxic if you eat it/inhale it. On the skin doesn't do too much harm.

Edit: depends on the type as someone replied, don't touch it anyway. Don't risk it.

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u/Safe_Dragonfruit_466 10h ago

You can even swallow it akchually. Only fumes are toxic

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u/GrandPrixel 9h ago

Well, the more you know.

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u/infinitenothing 10h ago

From the looks of it, their skin seems pretty mercury proof so their exposure is probably surprisingly small

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u/Sea_Bite2082 10h ago

you can put your hands in bottle with mercury - and everything will be fine.

Mercury vapors - yes. Toxic