JAYFORCE

I remember everything in my high school chemistry class coming to a screeching halt… because my teacher saw a couple of students break a glass thermometer and ALMOST try to wipe up the spilled fluid with paper towels left on the lab counter.

(I say ‘screeching’ halt because I still remember/hear/feel her SCREECHING yell, admonishing them not to even touch the spill: “Ainh-ainh-AAARRHHH! That is an old thermometer. Mercury. DO NOT TOUCH IT. Back away!”)

Sheezus! That mercury must be a motherf**ker. I got home and looked it up (in my encyclopedias, like Google in book form, old geeks like me remember using them a lot when we were young… Now what was I talking about? Oh yeah, motherf**king mercury).

Mercury is a metal that is liquid at room temperature. Now, there are lots of liquid metals we KNOW to be dangerous to the touch (because molten HOT). But mercury is not gonna burn you for touching it… Check that. I guess you could say injury or death by a metal that POISONS you because it is neurotoxic is a kind of ‘burn’ right?

So, no touching mercury. But Gallium though… You can touch that. You can do all kinds of stuff with it.

You definitely shouldn’t mess around with mercury, but if you want a safe, similar, tactile experience, a metal called Gallium is widely available online. It’s melting point is about 85 degrees, so with just a little heat, you can turn it from a solid, crystal-like state into a fun, reflective pile of goo. Here’s a look at a few of it’s properties and how it’s used in the real world.
– Tech Insider

– @ojones1