Justin Blaise
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Tales of Nickel Chemists
I'm a grad student preparing a presentation and wanted to throw in an anecdote. Someone told me a story of a chemist who worked with nickel their
whole career and eventually went crazy. Seemed like a graduate school in a nut shell. Unfortunately, the details of that story escape me. Does anybody
know any similar stories of nickel chemists?
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Dr.Bob
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No, but organotin compounds smell horrible, leave a metallic taste even at ppm levels, and are quite toxic, so I don't think nickel has much on most
other elements. And osmium is even more toxic. Manganese can cause parkinson like disease, beryllilium is bad at ppb levels... And I have done
mercury and lead salts as well, nothing fun about them, also a regulatory nightmare nowadays to buy, use, and dispose of the waste. That is why
there is a huge interest in non-metallic catalysts and reagents, especially for oxidations and reductions.
But graduate school can cause people to go crazy without any of those, I know of plenty of cases.
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yobbo II
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A bit off topic but today I was heating a acidic solution of barium chloride and I left a nickel spatula sitting in the solution. There was a green
colour in the solution when I returned some hours later as the Ni was attacked. Now I must worry about my sanity......
Yob
[Edited on 29-1-2018 by yobbo II]
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Justin Blaise
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Yea, I agree that Ni is pretty benign compared to a lot of other elements. It's just driving me nuts that I can't remember this story. Trying to
find it, I found that Ludwig Mond, the guy who invented the Mond process (using Ni(CO)4 to purify Ni from ore), married his cousin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Mond
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Melgar
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Yeah, nickel carbonyl is perhaps one of the nastiest chemicals that's regularly produced in industry. LC50 at 3 ppm. Scary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_tetracarbonyl
The first step in the process of learning something is admitting that you don't know it already.
I'm givin' the spam shields max power at full warp, but they just dinna have the power! We're gonna have to evacuate to new forum software!
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unionised
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Do nickel chemists have magnetic personalities?
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AJKOER
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Nickel is an active transition metal as well.
Implication is the possible formation of reactive oxygen species, and in particular, the hydroxyl radical. The latter will breakdown organics,
including ones DNA. The possible consequences of this, per reported observations with soldiers exposed to dust clouds containing U2O from burning
tanks destroyed by uranium warheads, is an assortment of seemingly non-related illnesses. Symptoms of so called Gulf War syndrome is said to include
cardiovascular signs or symptoms, joint pain, muscle pain, headache, neurological symptoms, neuropsychological conditions, skin problems, respiratory
system problems, menstrual disorders and fatigue and/or sleep disturbances.
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Melgar
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Quote: Originally posted by AJKOER  | | The possible consequences of this, per reported observations with soldiers exposed to dust clouds containing U2O from burning tanks destroyed by
uranium warheads, is an assortment of seemingly non-related illnesses. |
Pretty sure uranium oxides are all +4 or higher oxidation state, no? Also, there's a pretty huge difference between uranium warheads and depleted
uranium ammunition. I feel quite confident in saying it was the second one that was used in the Gulf War.
The first step in the process of learning something is admitting that you don't know it already.
I'm givin' the spam shields max power at full warp, but they just dinna have the power! We're gonna have to evacuate to new forum software!
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AJKOER
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Melar:
Yes, typo should be UO2.
Generally, warheads are only composed of depleted uranium!
'Depleted' means that the radioactive isotopes of uranium in the unprocessed uranium should be below 0.3%. However, it does not mean that it is not
still radioactive, in fact, Wikipedia states "DU used in US munitions has 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium" (link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium ).
As such, a dust cloud of UO2 from depleted uranium may be problematic in the long-term, in my opinion.
[Edited on 10-2-2018 by AJKOER]
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unionised
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| Quote: Originally posted by AJKOER | Melar:
'Depleted' means that the radioactive isotopes of uranium in the unprocessed uranium should be below 0.3%.
[Edited on 10-2-2018 by AJKOER] |
No it does not.
All isotopes of uranium are radioactive.
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AJKOER
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I am referring to 'unprocessed uranium' as natural uranium. Per Wikipedia link above:
"Natural uranium contains about 0.72% U-235, while the DU used by the U.S. Department of Defense contains 0.3% U-235 or less."
However, technically, you are correct as all of uranium is radioactive to varying degrees (see http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fue... ):
"Natural uranium (Unat) as found in the Earth's crust is a mixture of three isotopes: uranium-238 (U-238), accounting for 99.275%; U-235 – 0.720%;
and traces of U-234 – 0.005%."
So a more correct statement is that the highly radioactive U-235 is cut down to under 0.3% for depleted uranium.
[Edited on 10-2-2018 by AJKOER]
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zed
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Nickel?
I got a glassblower buddy, who says Nickel can be bad, very bad!
Claims guys who inhale a lot of Nickel vapor, during to their glassblowing activities, become drooling vegetables.
Art-glass..... Glassblowing isn't very healthy. Usta be, guys would blow Art-glass for maybe ten years, then undergo chelation therapy to purge
themselves of all the accumulated heavy metals, in route to retirement.
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