Comment on Pens in Space

• frezik@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  You’re probably thinking “it’s just carbon, nbd”, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for your lungs:

  www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics0893.htm

  “Repeated or prolonged inhalation of dusts may cause effects on the lungs. This may result in graphite pneumoconiosis”

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  • piccolo@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I mean water is toxic if you drink too much. The amount of dust of a pencil is negligible… now graphite from pencil production? Thats more concerning.

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    • 4am@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      “I mean, water is toxic if you drink too much”

      Translation: “my argument is lazy and not really well thought out, I’m not going to even acknowledge your point, I’m just gonna double down”

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      • pennomi@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        No it’s not. He said that the dose from writing with a pencil is trivial, but working in a factory that produces such pencils could potentially be dangerous, presumably because that’s a much higher sustained dose.

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      • piccolo@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        You want a long drawn out answer? Ok then. Simple fact, our world is naturally dirty, just go outside in spring and your breathe in pounds of pollen everyday. Yet our lungs cope. How? By excreting mocus and its cilia to carry out foreign material out. However, if an excess amount of foreign material overwhlems the protections the lungs offers, then problems occurs. That of course ignores materials that are toxic, radioactive, or carcinogenic. So unless you are using a pencil made from pure carbon-14… its harmless.

        If you wanted clarification or a ELI5, next time just ask instead of being passive agressive.

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  • Eheran@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Nothing is good for lungs, that’s the point. Workers inhaling stuff for 8 hours, 5 days a week for 30+ years with 20 % having respiratory symptoms is the kind of “dangerous” we are taking about here. What is NOT problematic at such exposure?

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• JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  What do you mean? Graphite can be fine or sharp, you saying it’s fine to breathe in? I know I wouldn’t want to breath in a broken tip of a pencil.

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  • blackbrook@mander.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    All this concern about partices when breathing in whole pencils is the most dangerous of all!

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  • Eheran@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    You had me in the first half, not gonna lie. Well and the second too.

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