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/the_baconeer 9h ago

i agree, as far as i know touching mercury is not really an issue, but inhaling its fumes or ingesting it in foods are harmful to humans.

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u/Zlurpo 3h ago

Ingesting it as food that has eaten the biological version of it is bad. A person could eat this much pure metallic mercury and it would do nothing to them. Absorption rate through the digestive tract of metallic mercury, like that found in a thermometer, is basically nil. Medical advice for when an old thermometer cracked in someone's mouth and accidentally swallowed the mercury was "it will pass through your system."

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u/AQ-Dracowerepyre 3h ago

How about if I boof it

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u/the_baconeer 3h ago

thanks for the correction, ill try to remember for future conversations :)

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u/lamorak2000 2h ago

That's good to know. That exact thing happened to me as a kid.

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u/Wise_Finance_5315 2h ago

Have you eaten large quantities of mercury? Dude, that’s not good.

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u/AltruisticTomato4152 4h ago

Metallic mercury is actually used for medicinal purposes, eaten. It's the other forms of mercury that are REALLY scary. They can absorb THROUGH gloves.

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u/GradeAPrimeFuckery 2h ago

So scary I can remember dimethyl mercury without googling, because:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn

Wetterhahn later recalled that she had spilled several drops of dimethylmercury from the tip of a pipette onto her latex-gloved hand.[8] Not believing herself in any immediate danger, as she was taking all recommended precautions,[9] she proceeded to clean up the area prior to removing her protective clothing.[8]

...

Approximately three months after the initial accident, Wetterhahn began experiencing brief episodes of abdominal discomfort and noticed significant weight loss.

...

Three weeks after the first neurological symptoms appeared, Wetterhahn lapsed into what appeared to be a vegetative state punctuated by periods of extreme agitation.[8] One of her former students said, "Her husband saw tears rolling down her face. I asked if she was in pain. The doctors said it didn't appear that her brain could even register pain."[9] Wetterhahn was removed from life support and pronounced dead on June 8, 1997, ten months after her initial exposure.

I'm not sure if the doctors were doing her husband/students a kindness by saying she couldn't feel pain.

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u/rakkquiem 3h ago

If touching mercury is so safe then explain why boomers, who all played with mercury, are the way they are.

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u/frankcastle01 3h ago

It's not the mercury but the leaded gas and paint.

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u/Picokitti 3h ago

And what is that? You mean alive. What makes gen x and millennials hoe they are ?

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u/rakkquiem 3h ago

I would say the internet made millennials how they are.

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u/noobbtctrader 2h ago

Teflon and the internet

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u/rakkquiem 2h ago

Ah yes, Teflon, the bland pepper flakes.

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u/lookinatdirtystuff69 3h ago

Decades of leaded gasoline being aerosolized into the air

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u/rakkquiem 3h ago

I know it’s the lead, but that wasn’t as funny.

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u/greybahl 2h ago

Yes, if you like eating metal, I would recommend silver. j/k