Comment by sbierwagen | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sbierwagen | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

1) DOT4 doesn't exactly jump through the skin-- it's no dimethylmercury, or even DMSO. Its MSDS recommends against "prolonged" skin contact. It's not much worse than any other common hydrocarbon solvent, like gasoline. http://www.brake-eng.com/global/downloads/dot4fl%20dot%204%2...

2.) Hot water certainly doesn't "evaporate" lead-- lead's boiling point is 1700C. Hot water can leach lead from solder joints, if your water isn't treated properly: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-in...

3.) Yeah, lead solder isn't great to spend a lot of time with, which is why RoHS was introduced in 2003: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Subst...

4.) Where are you going to find bulk metallic mercury in any house built in the last three decades?

5.) Lead paint was also phased out years ago.

6.) Leaded avgas does still exist, and is bad. Don't buy property near airports that fly small planes.

7.) Teflon is about as chemically inert as a flororcarbon can possibly be. You might be thinking of Perfluorooctanoic acid, which is involved in Teflon production, and is pretty nasty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid

8.) Aluminum cookware isn't toxic, are you nuts?

A house older than three decades, but there was an interesting story (previously discussed on Hacker News) about some poor guy unexpectedly finding a huge lump, probably left over from an old heating system.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10357115

Not a lump; it's liquid anyway. Lots of tiny droplets under our floor: http://www.jefftk.com/mercury-under-floor-2x.jpg

I never heard of aluminum being toxic to any extent, but a quick search showed this

http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/cooking-utens...

> Aluminum cookware is very popular. Nonstick, scratch-resistant anodized aluminum cookware is a good choice. The hard surface is easy to clean. It is sealed so aluminum cannot get into food.

> There have been concerns in the past that aluminum cookware increases the risk for Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Association reports that using aluminum cookware is not a major risk for the disease.

> Uncoated aluminum cookware is a greater risk. This type of cookware can easily melt. It can cause burns if it gets too hot. Still, research has shown that the amount of aluminum this cookware leaches into food from is very small.

Not sure what "sealed" aluminum is nor what it would be coated with to prevent any kind of leaking. This is all new to me.

Aluminum exposed to air very quickly grows a thin passive layer of aluminum oxide (unlike steel rust, this layer is stable). Anodizing forces it to grow a thicker layer.

Aluminum oxide is hard stuff: 9 on the Mohs hardness scale (talc = 1, diamond = 10). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness

Also note that pure crystalline aluminum oxide is called corundum, or when doped with other elements, the precious gemstones ruby and sapphire, rocks of exceptional hardness and chemical resistance.

> chemical resistance

I remember from a freshman chem lab that trying to dissolve aluminum into acid doesn't work because acid promotes oxide growth, so we dissolved it in NaOH, which was supposed to attack the oxide, then acidified the solution. Are the aluminum oxide minerals similarly susceptible, or do they also resist alkali?

While we're issuing corrections...

> Hot water can leech lead from solder joints,

It's leach

Fixed. What a wonderful quirk of English, that both words mean mostly the same thing, but one is an animal, while the other is a verb.

Both can be both a verb and a noun:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leech#English

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leach#English

> it's no dimethylmercury, or even DMSO

Skimmed an article on the latter…

“DMSO has the unusual property that many individuals perceive a garlic-like taste in the mouth after contact with the skin.” — Darn. Wasn’t quite sure things like these are possible.

“DMSO can cause contaminants, toxins, and medicines to be absorbed through the skin.”

“In Australia it is listed as a schedule 4 poison, and a company has been prosecuted for adding it to products as a preservative.” — What about other countries?! China?

Overall, the kind of information that I wish I didn’t have to know. Useful, but now I’m left to wonder what else am I blissfully unaware of.

By the way, what about fuel used in modern fighter jets (military industry is known for environmental tradeoffs), anyone knows if byproducts are harmful to those on the ground? Trying to figure out whether noise is the only issue with living by an military base with low-flying fighters every day.

> 5.) Lead paint was also phased out years ago.

And yet, as recent news reminded us, there's still plenty of it in Baltimore:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/baltimores-toxic-legacy-...

Seems like once a year or so I read something about attempts to replace good old 100LL avgas but we're still using it :-/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com