2d ago

Peru seizes record 4-ton mercury shipment in fight against illegal gold mining

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Are those plastic bags full of mercury?! Besides each one weighing a ton, that’s a terrifying disaster just waiting to happen!
- Besides each one weighing a ton
  There were only 4 tons in the whole shipment and there's way more than 4 bags in there.
  But seriously, that much mercury would be a lot of fun to play with.
Would be fun to put that in a luggage and ask someone to help lifting it to the car
Fun story ... I remember playing with mercury in science class back in the day.
Good times.
- There was this guy in my class who was the class clown. One day in chemistry, he took a few lead weights from a scale and stuck it on a hot plate. Once he had a nice puddle of lead, he broke open a thermometer and poured in some mercury. He sat there playing with the (fuming) hot mix for a bit before people realized. Class had to be evacuated, and the class clown dude got sent to different school afterwards.
  
  Wtf, he was doing science, they just needed to let him cook
- We did as well, but we didn't directly touch it. It's been known to be toxic for a very long time.
  
  Care should be taken, but you can touch liquid mercury without harm. Cody’s Lab and Nilered both have videos posted that comprehensively explain mercury and its various states.
I think they got the wrong shipment
- Mercury is used during gold mining operations. By seizing it they are doing more to prevent damage from the illegal operations than they would by seizing the gold that would have been extracted.

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