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#62588 04/11/02 02:09 AM
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About 15 years ago, I bought my husband a hand held maze game. It has a glob of mercury in it that you have to coax to the center of the maze. I have recently seen the exact same game with a small steel ball in place of the mercury. Even though we love playing with the original, I think I will purchase the new one sometime before my infant granddaughter starts crawling. Anyone know where to find a safe place to dispose of the game with mercury in it? Certainly don't want to drop it in the trash!


#62589 04/11/02 02:35 AM
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FWIW, there is evidence linking lead exposure at an early age with significant neurobehavioural impairment ie reduced IQ, irritibility, tiredness, inability to concentrate, etc, which is not fully manifest until early adult life.


#62590 04/11/02 11:44 AM
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And to add to the paranoia consider this: Try a lead-testing kit on some of your mugs you assumed to have lead-free paint. You may find some surprising and disturbing results. Although our imports of dining ware are supposed not to contain lead, this is not always true. Dare I mention Oprah tested an entire set of her favorite imported dining ware she purchased from a US store and found it to contain lead.

Is Pb the chemical symbol for lead? That seems to ring a bell. If so, ain't it interesting that Pb looks like an abbreviation for "Problem"?

Helen, you're right. I am very slow to anger--generally about as laid-back as they come. So the yellow paint in those many-times-chewed #2 pencils hasn't leeched its lead into my system yet.......

Lead regards,
Waitingwind


#62591 04/11/02 07:34 PM
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Dear Plumbum is a Problem. Plumbum is Pb.


#62592 04/11/02 10:19 PM
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Re: Plumbum is Pb. is lead

giving rise to plumber, (the original aquaducts had lead linings) and plumb bob or for some thing to be plumb(alinged perfectly straight.. )done by dropping a plumb weight attached to a string, to get a perfectly straight and true vertical line.

lead ore is galena-- i don't know why it has this name. and is actually a pretty rock. silver is often found in the same ore, so galena is dull metalic grey, with bits of sparkley silver threads.


#62593 04/11/02 10:51 PM
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Well, smack my face and call me Sally! Bill and Helen! This is pretty exciting stuff you've opened up! I searched plumbum and galena and found some pretty easy reading, some of which I'll paste here:

What's in a name? From the Anglo-Saxon word lead. Lead's chemical symbol comes from the Latin word for lead, plumbum.


Say what? Lead is pronounced as LED.


History and Uses:
Lead has been known since ancient times. It is sometimes found free in nature, but is usually obtained from the ores galena (PbS), anglesite (PbSO4), cerussite (PbCO3) and minum (Pb3O4). Although lead makes up only about 0.0013% of the earth's crust, it is not considered to be a rare element since it is easily mined and refined. Most lead is obtained by roasting galena in hot air, although nearly one third of the lead used in the United States is obtained through recycling efforts.

Lead is a soft, malleable and corrosion resistant material. The ancient Romans used lead to make water pipes, some of which are still in use today. Unfortunately for the ancient Romans, lead is a cumulative poison and the decline of the Roman empire has been blamed, in part, on lead in the water supply. Lead is used to line tanks that store corrosive liquids, such as sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Lead's high density makes it useful as a shield against X-ray and gamma-ray radiation and is used in X-ray machines and nuclear reactors


Very interesting reading about the connection between plumbers and lead-lined pipes, Helen! Will never look at the word plumber the same way again.

There was also this on the same site:

Several lead alloys are widely used. Solder, an alloy that is nearly half lead and half tin, is a material with a relatively low melting point that is used to join electrical components, pipes and other metallic items. Type metal, an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, is a material used to make the type used in printing presses and plates. Babbit metal, another lead alloy, is used to reduce friction in bearings.

.....

Lead nitrate (Pb(NO3)2) is used to make fireworks and other pyrotechnics.
http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele082.html

Plumbum tuckered out,
Wordwinded

PS: Please let me know whether the url I listed created any kind of problem for the wide pages I've been reading about. Don't want to cause a problem and will do whatever I need to do to make the correction



#62594 04/12/02 12:59 AM
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One more related word: plummet - to go down like a lead balloon


#62595 04/12/02 01:19 PM
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Our plumber's name is Carpenter. I once suggested to him that he partner with a carpenter named Plumber.

Last month, he brought his daughter to help him with a project. Her name is Taylor.

Yes, plumber Taylor Carpenter.

I am hoping that she marries someone named Miller and hyphenates her surname.


#62596 04/12/02 02:51 PM
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John LeCarre - Tinker,Tailor, Soldier Spy


#62597 07/08/02 04:13 PM
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