wrote:
Is burning copper dangerous?
I am asking because I was camping and tossed some copper dust in the
fire to make the flames colorful. The flames were really nice, but
some drunken guy in the next camp was having a fit about it, saying
that burning copper emits dangerous fumes that when breathed are toxic
and of course, according to him, ALL the smoke was going his
direction. I told the guy to either get lost or to call the police on
us, and they would settle it. (since he was the one that was drunk,
and we were not, I knew that would be fun). Anyhow, I just wanted to
ask and find out if there really is any truth to his claim. (The
idiot packed up and left in the morning, which was great for us,
because we got rid of the moron and had a bigger camp).
.


Greetings,

Toxicity is not black and white. Many things are toxic (or toxic
enough to matter) only above certain levels. If you inject 6 oz of
water into an 8 oz lab rat it will die. Copper is toxic. Your small
amount of copper dust in the fire as a demonstration isn't going to
hurt anyone but I am sure that someone will tell you different if you
ask enough people. I am sure the drunkard lost more braincells that
night to what he had been drinking than injured his body due to the
copper.

Hope this helps,
William

PS: I'm not a doctor.

wrote:
wrote:
Is burning copper dangerous?
I am asking because I was camping and tossed some copper dust in the
fire to make the flames colorful. The flames were really nice, but
some drunken guy in the next camp was having a fit about it, saying
that burning copper emits dangerous fumes that when breathed are toxic
and of course, according to him, ALL the smoke was going his
direction. I told the guy to either get lost or to call the police on
us, and they would settle it. (since he was the one that was drunk,
and we were not, I knew that would be fun). Anyhow, I just wanted to
ask and find out if there really is any truth to his claim. (The
idiot packed up and left in the morning, which was great for us,
because we got rid of the moron and had a bigger camp).
.


Greetings,

Toxicity is not black and white. Many things are toxic (or toxic
enough to matter) only above certain levels. If you inject 6 oz of
water into an 8 oz lab rat it will die. Copper is toxic. Your small
amount of copper dust in the fire as a demonstration isn't going to
hurt anyone but I am sure that someone will tell you different if you
ask enough people. I am sure the drunkard lost more braincells that
night to what he had been drinking than injured his body due to the
copper.

Hope this helps,
William

PS: I'm not a doctor.

Some info about copper toxicity:

"
Copper is a heavy metal that is toxic in its unbound form. Almost all
of the copper in the body is bound to proteins, thereby reducing the
concentration of unbound copper ions to almost zero. Most diets contain
enough copper (2-5mg daily) to prevent a deficiency and not enough to
cause toxicity. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that
10-12mg per day may be the upper safe limit for consumption. If as
little as 2gms of a copper salt are ingested, usually with suicidal
intent, the resulting copper-induced hemolytic anemia and kidney damage
are generally fatal.
"

from http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C514620.html

PS: Yes, I know you were talking about the fumes but thought you might
find this interesting anyway.