Hospital surplus?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 3/22/2006 at 9:40 PM Teo Zenios wrote:

>Keep mercury away from structural aluminum, stuff eats it alive. I
remember
>way back in the 1990's a salesguy wanted to ship mercury relays via air,
>that would have ended real bad for the plane if they sprung a leak.

I hadn't realized this was the case for mercury.  Gallium is another metal
that's governed by air transport regulations because of what it will do to
aluminum.

>Out of curiosity why would somebody auction off small jars of mercury
>anyway? What do people and or companies do with the stuff anymore?

When I was in high school, I built a mercury diffusion vacuum pump that
used quite a bit of mercury.  All those vapors probably explains my
mad-as-a-hatter personality today.

Cheers,
Chuck