warut

Probably the same mechanism, metal dust falls on your body (skin) and creates those ketones. Also, see http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19225754.400

Here is how we can smell metals: http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061023/full/061023-7.html

Thanks for the very interesting info, jdurg & woelen. IIRC, in basic organic chemistry lab we use ammoniacal solution of cuprous chloride to test for terminal alkynes. So is it a good idea to try using this instead of a simple copper salt solution? BTW, woelen, are you sure that the red ppt. is Cu2O, not Cu2C2. Have you tried detonating it? Do we need to dry it before igniting?

Wow! Is it possible to cut the cost by making Cu2C2 instead?

JCE has a very nice video of "Mercury Beating Heart" demo at http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/samples/cca3heart.html

Thanks, The Thing. I just suggested "mucic acid" for that web site, and Dr Paul May immediately accepted and put it on page 2.

Electrolysis of brine with mercury cathode can, in fact, produce sodium amalgam. It is used in the chlorine-alkali industry. To understand the involved electrochemistry, try reading this: http://www.iupac.org/didac/Didac%20Eng/Didac03/Content/R18%20-%20R19.htm

Soon after I read about spectacular reaction between burning Mg and hot water somewhere in this forum, I threw pieces after pieces of burning Mg ribbon in very hot water. Every time the result was the same; Mg fire went out immediately. So I'd very much like to see a video of a successful experiment.

Theo also has such valves in his collection: http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/011/index.s7.html#sample10

Thanks! I've known for a long time that acetaminophen (i.e. paracetamol in some other countries) is hepatotoxic but never knew exactly why. So those hepatitis B or C carriers should try to avoid using this drug.

What are those hepatotoxic compounds?

At least, the following articles use "absorb" or "absorption": http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1990/pdf/6211x2091.pdf http://www.psc.edu/science/Wolf/Wolf.html

Very nice experiment indeed, jdurg! I don't know which one is correct: "absorb" or "adsorb." But since the hydrogen molecules go directly into the interstitial space between palladium atoms, not just adhering to the surface of the ingot, I can't see anything wrong with using "absorb." BTW, I've heard that the volume of the palladium will be slightly increased when absorbing hydrogen gas, and the density of hydrogen in palladium can exceed that of liquid hydrogen!