On 2014-01-19, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2014-01-18, Ignoramus23003 wrote:
On 2014-01-18, DoN. Nichols wrote:
As a kid, I used to reclaim Mercury from such relays, and
remember that Mercury is quite dense compared to a similar volume of
steel.

How did you reclaim them? Were they glass or epoxy encapsulated?

Some of each. The glass was broken in a container, and then the
glass (which floated on the mercury) could easily be picked off.

The other I just hacksawed until the mercury would pour out.

Have you ever lifted a bottle filled with it?

Yes. Feels odd.

A lot heavier than it has any right to be. :-) (Of course so are
gold and depleted Uranium. I've also once picked up a bottle of "heavy
water" (Deuterium Oxide) -- and yes, it, also, is notably heavier than
you would expect. (And no -- I have no idea why that lab at work had a
bottle of it -- but they did. :-)

I do not have any gold, but I have a piece of tungsten, which weighs
as much as a similar piece of gold, and it does feel odd. Of course
after collecting appx. 45 lbs of carbide scrap, it does not feel so
unusual any more.

i