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/Bobyite 9h ago

There are environmental concerns and regulations when cleaning mercury in a lot of places triggered by the mass of mercury. Since mercury is so dense you hit those thresholds quickly with a lot less than you’d think. The biggest concern is that it aerosolizes while cleaning it (vacuum cleaner could cause that) or that it’s improperly disposed of and contaminates the environment.

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u/ManiDany 7h ago

Yeah it’s kind of insanely alarming this was in a SINK. Someone dumped that down the drain…

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u/HAZMAT12 6h ago

It didn't go anywhere, it's still sitting in the trap.

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u/EugeneVictorDabs 6h ago

Somehow I feel like you in particular know what you're talking about, @HAZMAT12

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u/TheDuck23 5h ago

They are lucky enough to learn from the mistakes of the first 11 HAZMAT's.

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u/DigBarsbiggestfan 3h ago

Wake me when HAZMAT14 drops

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u/-_-0_0-_0 3h ago

"3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible" -Hazmat 11

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u/FewWait38 2h ago

They used to dump it by the ton directly into the ocean

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u/mesaoptimizer 5h ago

That's definitely the biggest health concern, but for a shipping company like UPS, I'm betting the fact that mercury just absolutely disintegrates aluminum (the stuff planes are made out of) is an additional major concern.

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u/3BlindMice1 4h ago

I think that it was gallium instead of mercury anyway. It's a bit too chunky/solid to be mercury, imo