Comment on brilliant as silver

spittingimage@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• Akasazh@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I wondered what the Mercury actually did with the felt, as I couldn’t think of anything from the top of my hat:

  Mercury made the felting process in hat production more efficient. The compound used to moisten the fibers was Mercury Nitrate, a process known as carroting. It produced a superior-quality felt, which in turn, resulted in higher-quality hats

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  • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Mercury Nitrate

    Which, should be noted, is not the mercury show in the picture. Mercuric nitrates are a white/yellow dry powder that is the result of mixing mercury with nitric acid. The process of making mercuric nitrates, and carroting itself, both result in rather toxic fumes that you really should not breathe in.

    Handling liquid mercury is basically almost harmless as it absorbs through the skin really slowly and doesn’t produce much vapours. Putting it in acid, heating it up, and boiling the cloth in it, is not.

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    • Akasazh@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Thnx for elaborating!

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• overcast5348@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Is this the origin story of The Mad Hatter? 🙄

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  • spittingimage@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Could have been. I know Lewis Carroll liked to lampoon issues of the day in his writing.

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  • SPRUNT@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I think the original idiom was “mad as a hatter” which was eventually shortened to “mad hatter”, possibly due to the Alice in Wonderland character.

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• troyunrau@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I wonder what secondary compounds this was creating. Elemental mercury is pretty much fine, but if it was reacting with other things to create wacky fun times…

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  • insufferableninja@lemdro.id ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    they chewed the leather to hides to soften them, IIRC. so it wasn’t just getting on their hands, they were ingesting it.

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  • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I think it was mercury nitrate. Much more soluble.

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• darkpanda@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Sneaky Simpsons reference here for those who didn’t notice.

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• Taniwha420@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I thought it was the vapours from using mercury inside that got them.

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• Dasus@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s so much harder believing in six impossible things before breakfast when you’re allergic to quicksilver.

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