Mercury is pure metal magic.
When I was a kid, we used to occasionally play with small beads of mercury when one of the kids would break a thermometer. Nobody told us it was toxic, so we'd roll small beads of it back and forth in our hands, amazed at how heavy it was and how... liquid it is. You shouldn't do this (but it was a lot of fun).
We've talked about Mercury before in SRS (the non-water fountains of mercury, and blobs of mercury in the center of early footballs). But since mercury is so magical, we return to the topic this week with a few new mercury-centered research Challenges. (These are all things I've run across in the course of my reading, which led to me search these things out. Can you figure them out as well?)
Our mercurial Challenges for this week...
This is a fun Challenge. I'll be interested to see what you discover. (And if I need to be worried about my health!)
Be sure to let us know how you discovered your results.
Search on!
When I was a kid, we used to occasionally play with small beads of mercury when one of the kids would break a thermometer. Nobody told us it was toxic, so we'd roll small beads of it back and forth in our hands, amazed at how heavy it was and how... liquid it is. You shouldn't do this (but it was a lot of fun).
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| Liquid mercury. P/C Wikipedia Commons. |
We've talked about Mercury before in SRS (the non-water fountains of mercury, and blobs of mercury in the center of early footballs). But since mercury is so magical, we return to the topic this week with a few new mercury-centered research Challenges. (These are all things I've run across in the course of my reading, which led to me search these things out. Can you figure them out as well?)
Our mercurial Challenges for this week...
1. Mercury is so magical that apparently at least one ancient Chinese emperor purportedly used enormous quantities of mercury in his preparations for the afterlife. Can you find which ancient Chinese leader used vast amounts of mercury in his funeral compound? Why did he do this?
2. At one time mercury was also thought to have nearly magical medical properties. Is it true that mercury was one of the most important drugs that was carried on the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804 - 1806? Is it also true that you can track the path of the L&C expedition by finding the mercury-laden latrines of the Corps of Discovery as they trekked across North America?
3. Why is Silicon Valley's local newspaper called the "San José Mercury News"? What's mercury got to do with the news of the area?
4. Once upon a time I worked as a research scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center in southern Silicon Valley. I recently learned that a nearby state park where I would go for long runs used to be a center for mercury production. What is the name of that state park? And should I be worried about my health after running (for several years) through an old mercury mine site?
This is a fun Challenge. I'll be interested to see what you discover. (And if I need to be worried about my health!)
Be sure to let us know how you discovered your results.
Search on!
Good day, Dr. Russell and everyone.
ReplyDeleteToday, I started with number 3.
3. Why is Silicon Valley's local newspaper called the "San José Mercury News"? What's mercury got to do with the news of the area?
[San José Mercury News name origin]
Wikipedia
:The Mercury News,new name. San Jose Mercury News born 1983
The paper says that the name "Mercury" refers to the importance of the mercury industry during the California Gold Rush and, also Roman messenger. The Mercury, article says is commonly used in newspapers without quicksilver association.
Visited Mercury News to check their history but not found any about us.
[san jose mercury news name change] Before this, tried with similar trying for example: "about us" and history.
Bay Area News Group announces newspaper rebranding
I remember then a recent article in which talk page is mentioned as a source to verify. In that tab found a source is mentioned. Not available anymore.
Answer"Mercury" refers to the importance of the mercury industry during the California Gold Rush
4. What is the name of that state park? And should I be worried about my health after running (for several years) through an old mercury mine site?
In previous question, Wikipedia article mentions New Almaden Mines (now Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Largest producer of mercury in North America
Link to mine article in Wikipedia. Converted to park in the period 1976 to 1978
[Almaden Quicksilver County Park safe to run] and [almaden quicksilver park mercury risk]
Tracking a toxic trail / Long-closed mine identified as largest source of mercury in San Francisco Bay Article mentions: Who's at risk: At greatest risk from mercury are fetuses and infants. Also the birds and fish. And also not good if people eats those fishes
[when is mercury dangerous]
Epa and Almaden Quicksilver County Park
According to the EPA, the biggest danger comes from eating contaminated fish....The same 1992 study concluded that the biggest threats to human health at Quicksilver Park came from contaminated water and inhalable heavy-metal dust. As a result, officials fenced off the hot spots... Tests were made and then cancelled.
[almaden quicksilver park epa] and [almaden quicksilver park Epa recommendations]
CATCH AND RELEASE... PLEASE DON'T EAT THE FISH
The History of Mercury Emissions from the New Almaden Mines, Santa Clara County, California New Almaden is the fifth largest in the world.
Interesting that a mine called Almaden was in Spain. Then returned to read article and confirmed: Mine got their name after the one in Spain. Also found this article named "Nueva Almaden" by Alexander Forbes The term Almadén, meaning "the mine"is derived from the Arabic language through medieval Islamic Spain...
Also learned about Cinnabar. In Spanish cinabrio o bermellón (por su color), también conocido como cinabarita. Source: Wikipedia
Answer Apparently is safe if you don't eat fish. I will keep searching for more information to confirm. And I am sure your health is perfect because for scuba and working in Google and other big companies tests are made. So nothing to worry about.
Deb and Anne here. Q1) The answer is Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. This search was relatively straightforward. We used the search terms Chinese emperor mercury funeral. From this search we could see in the results that the answer appeared to be Qin Shi Huang just by reading the snippets. We used an article from livescience.com http://www.livescience.com/22454-ancient-chinese-tomb-terracotta-warriors.html to read more about the fascinating story. It appears that the emperor ingested mercury thinking it would give him immortality but instead it killed him at the young age of 39. The burial site is filled with rivers of mercury which have kept archaeologists from entering further into the tomb. These moats were placed to also provide immortality although why you'd need something to give you immortality after you have died escapes us. We did check information against other sources and they agreed with this info.
ReplyDeleteFor Q2) we used the search terms lewis and clark mercury. We got lots of hits and scrolled through to find sources we thought were most credible. First one we chose was an article from Smithsonian magazine - http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-reconstruct-lewis-and-clark-journey-follow-mercury-laden-latrine-pits-180956518/This article noted that mercury was used to treat constipation and other ills. Other sites mentioned it was used to treat syphillis. The Smithsonian article notes that the pills were called Thunderclaps or Thunderbolts and did kill bacteria but in so doing also poisoned whoever ingested them. The article notes that the element doesn't decompose so scientists were able to locate a campsite south of Missoula Montana using this technique. While this site was identified no other sites have been using this method according to this article. You may not want to read this article which details how the mercury was applied http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/lewisclark/medicine/ Think Anne and I got more info than we wanted!
ReplyDeleteone of the results didn't seem to be too reliable- http://modernnotion.com/lewis-and-clarks-poop-important-archaeologists/ however a link in that post led us to this news article about the finding of the latrine - https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=20020720&id=V0QzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sfIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5350,6570503&hl=en
Q3)- Just a note Anne's father was the city editor of San Jose Mercury News until his death at his desk at the same paper in 1989! We started our search using the terms San Jose Mercury News history and found an article in Wikipedia on the paper. This article notes "he paper says that the name "Mercury" refers to the importance of the mercury industry during the California Gold Rush, when the city's New Almaden Mines (now Almaden Quicksilver County Park) were the largest producer of mercury in North America. The name has a dual meaning, as Mercury is the Roman messenger of the gods as well as the god of commerce and thieves, known for his swiftness, and the name Mercury is commonly used for newspapers without the quicksilver association." To verify the information we did a search for mercury production California, which led us to an article from the US Geologic Survey on mercury which stated that the Almaden area of California was indeed one of the biggest producers of mercury in the US. This site gave us the answer to Q4) "The site is now the Almaden Quicksilver County Park, Santa Clara County. The California Coast Ranges went on to be among the most productive mercury districts in the world, with major production centers from New Idria in the south to Clear Lake in the north." Will find out whether you should be worried or not tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteThe world is a remarkably small place! What a great connection between Anne and the SRS Challenge this week!
DeleteHg/☿ musings… hmmm, wonder if it could be used in lighting devices? distracted around the perimeter –
ReplyDelete☿ kinda thought that was Prince's mark
☿ voices from history — 2008, sound familiar? "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton warned against “false hopes” that the sushi menace would soon be over. She declined to pledge that, if elected, she would have all mercury out of tuna within four years. “But I can promise,” Mrs. Clinton said, “that on Day One, I will be ready for action."
☿ a few area pics
☿ the flow
☿ the world's largest producer & Santa Clara namesake
☿ mercury on the move - the Spanish trade - Mel Fisher
☿ another source
☿ cinnabar
☿ headstones
☿ changing times, Tony Neistat/Casey Bourdain – perhaps quicksilver was involved…
☿ need to get out of the office… Casa Grande/New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum? trails & ivories
☿ was set to play Moonlight Sonata , but the piano was gone 10/5/16
☿ mercury by moonlight, 14:59
☿ there are always things to worry about… but mercury trail running dust is in the 'what, me worry?' category – at least according to Dr. Al
Love it. For a good time do the query: [ ☿ ]
DeleteNice use of the extended character set!
mercury & gold - neat, short, video
ReplyDelete1. Mercury is so magical that apparently at least one ancient Chinese emperor purportedly used enormous quantities of mercury in his preparations for the afterlife. Can you find which ancient Chinese leader used vast amounts of mercury in his funeral compound? Why did he do this?
ReplyDelete[chinese leader mercury] Results mentions: Qin Shi Huang
link text
He was the first emperor of China With Ctrl-F "Mercury" Page says: Reportedly, he died due to ingesting mercury pills, made by his alchemists and court physicians.Ironically, these pills were meant to make Qin Shi Huang immortal.
And continues: In the tomb 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of "the heavenly bodies", and crossbows rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in
[Qin Shi Huang tomb]
Terracotta Warriors Ctrl-F "Mercury"
[Qin Shi Huang around(3) mercury]
5 guesses on Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb
Video: Tomb of China's First Emperor
Mystery 2: Is there mercury buried in the underground palace?
Answer He wanted inmortality. Mercury some think is to prevent corpses from decaying, to protect from burglars. And Emperor used mercury to create rivers and sky.
2. At one time mercury was also thought to have nearly magical medical properties. Is it true that mercury was one of the most important drugs that was carried on the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804 - 1806? Is it also true that you can track the path of the L&C expedition by finding the mercury-laden latrines of the Corps of Discovery as they trekked across North America?
[Lewis & Clark expedition intext:mercury]
How to Reconstruct Lewis and Clark's Journey: Follow the Mercury-laden Latrine Pits Men took mercury purgative pills...It turns out that the expedition was well-equipped with the best medicines of the day, which gave each of those latrines a unique mercury-laden signature.
Lewis and Clark expedition left a trail of heavy-metal laxatives The pills’ inventor, Dr. Benjamin Rush, was America’s most prominent colonial physician, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a personal friend of then-President Thomas Jefferson
I didn't know this expedition so tried [Lewis & Clark expedition]
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States. Their perilous journey lasted from May 1804 to September 1806
Answer Calomel was "great" for many conditions. Lewis and Clark's journal mention a popular remedy called Dr. Rush's Bilious Pill.
Ramón - am still trying to figure out how your 1st comment disappeared without a trace…?
Delete⚧ - was trying the query: [ ☿ ] Dan suggested, but ended up near ♇, oh well, Shaka, when the walls fell, Kiteo, his eyes closed.
…meanwhile, Capt. Wm. Clark –
20 years before Perry on Delos
Pompey's Pillar, Montana
different security from Delos
securing the graffiti
Pompey plaque: ("The name Pompey comes from nickname Clark gave to Sacagawea’s son, who accompanied her on the expedition.")
from here
Ko Hung/Karen Wetterhahn, Ph.D.
Wetterhahn, June 8, 1997 (aged 48)
Dartmouth
gov't fact sheet
Deletea treasure trove: Mercury in the Environment
found the fact sheet here
SERP -used [different types forms of mercury]
Hello Remmij, good December for you and everyone.
DeleteYes, my comment is gone. I think maybe mercury rivers take care of it :) Or maybe one fish ate it.
The query [ ☿ ] sounds interesting! I will check your links to read what you got. In the query I think we need to add -planet. What do you think? I will try it
[☿ california mine -planet] Interesting results. The one I suggested gives uncommon results. That is nice!
[☿ china emperor] good results and interesting too.
I just read this about another ☿ via Ricardo Blanco The Woman the Mercury Astronauts Couldn’t Do Without
Delete[Mercury lakes China] in videos
DeleteLiquid Mercury Found Under Pyramid in Mexico Didn't know this and thought maybe was not real so tried...
[mercury teotihuacan]
Liquid mercury found under Mexican pyramid could lead to king's tomb
Rosemary Joyce, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, said that archaeologists have found mercury at three other sites around Central America...The mercury may have symbolized an underworld river or lake, Gómez postulated...“Mirrors were considered a way to look into the supernatural world, they were a way to divine what might happen in the future,” said Annabeth Headreck, a professor at the University of Denver...
q4) at first we thought that maybe there could be some problems did a search for mercury mining sites dangers. An article in pubmed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14738199 The abstract talks about the contamination of fish and birds. Didn't mention any dangers from just walking or running through the area. A posting by the Sierra Club about the dangers of mercury https://www.sierrafund.org/wp-content/uploads/HealthBooklet_June2014_update_4WEB.pdf also talks about the eating mercury contaminated fish and doesn't mention being in the area as being dangerous. This report talked about dangers from other contaminants from mining such as aresenic, lead, chromium, and asbestos which can be absorbed by breathing in dust which contains these things. But hopefully you don't need to worry - a post from BAhiker.com gives the history of Almaden Quicksilver County park and notes that the land which was contaminated was cleaned up. So Dan you should be OK!
ReplyDeleteAnd further notes on Q2) checked in google books for journals about the Lewis and Clark expedition and found that mercury was indeed mentioned and was cited as the cure for cases of syphilis.
ReplyDelete1. [chinese emperor mercury] finds many hits for Qin Shi Huang being the culprit. He died about 210 BC, rumour being that there is a moat/lake of mercury around his tomb.
2. [lewis and clark mercury] finds University of Virginia: http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/lewisclark/medicine/ as well as many others. L&C took along lots of mercury and mercury containing pills for treating STDs and constipation, The 'Thunderclappers" pilld produced loud noisy results into latrines later excavated.
3. & 4. The SJ Mercury News wikipeda page provides: The paper says that the name "Mercury" refers to the importance of the mercury industry during the California Gold Rush, when the city's New Almaden Mines (now Almaden Quicksilver County Park) were the largest producer of mercury in North America. The name has a dual meaning, as Mercury is the Roman messenger of the gods as well as the god of commerce and thieves, known for his swiftness, and the name Mercury is commonly used for newspapers without the quicksilver association.
4. Santa Clara County parks page at https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/AlmadenPark.aspx
males no mention of mecury hazards except warning not to eat the fish due to methyl mercury load.
Cheers JontU whose dad had a pint jar of mercury in his workshop. Fun to play with.
Hi Jon! That jar of mercury sounds great. I never played with mercury, so glad you could as Dr. Russell did play too.
DeleteAlso, sharing this news about snow in Hawaii 90 cm of snow That is also new for me! Then [ Snow Hawaii] in videos, tools last 24 hours
Time-lapse Canada France Hawaii Telescope. That telescope looks familiar, need to check our Challenges.