Galileo thermometer broken, never had I seen such an aweful chemical reaction

Combat squirrel

Combat squirrel

Combat squirrel

Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2004
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As title, had the unfortunate mishap of dropping my Galileo thermometer as I was cleaning last night and it smashed on the corner of my table and dripped down the side of a shelf. What happened was:

-Melted a book and the ink was dripping off it like water
-Melted a CD, literally plastic was dripping off like lava
-Took the varnish clean off the shelf
-Dripped onto some weights I had on my floor as I quickly tried to move them a damp dumbbell rubbed against my hand and transferred the black paint on the metal to my hand burning it badly in the process.

- Finally obviously the fumes were terrible, we opened the windows and put a fan over it to try and evaporate it, not much was gone 3 hours later, we of course tried mopping it up with tissue and old towels but it just smeared, took all night to disappear, in the process however tissue paper had fused to the shelf and carpet :eek:

Anyways I think it was one from years ago (made outside UK regs?), HIGHLY DANGEROUS, just a warning to you all if you have one -cannot- believe these are allowed to be sold.

A quick google says some of them can contain Diethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether 2—(2-Butoxyethoxy) (ethanol) and Hydrotreated heavy naphtha (petroleum).

But I reckon it had other stuff also, any you guys had this happen ?
 
If anything like this were to happen to me I would be taking pics and videos like crazy! Poor show OP :(
 
Im at work now! will get pics when home and dig out victims (book etc) when im home

Besides it was genuinely awful, as I said about health concerns and trying to save my room - pics were the last thing on my mind!
 
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Energize said:
A solvent. Not exactly a rarity.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but anything off the shelf iv ever used (white sprits, paint stripper whatever etc i.e. anything you can legally buy) is no where near the potency of this stuff, it makes everything else iv ever seen look like water!

EDIT: Oh forgot say main point of this thread is a warning, and if any of your kids have one in there room, get it out now !! lol
 
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That's pretty crazy. Had to look up what it was, and just looking at it I'd assume it was water or something quite harmless inside, there is no warning given about it. Should certainly have a warning if it is to be sold, a mercury thermometer would do wouldn't it?
 
Was it just the liquid surrounding the coloured balls that leaked out or was it the liquid inside them that leaked out ?

I have one on my shelf now so I will definitely be more careful when moving it.
 
Combat squirrel said:
Yeah, but anything off the shelf iv ever used (white sprits, paint stripper whatever etc i.e. anything you can legally buy) is no where near the potency of this stuff, it makes everything else iv ever seen look like water!
Click to expand...

You can legally buy sulphuric acid from loads of places, this is nothing in comparison. Lots of chemicals "melt" plastics and paint but are relatively harmless to people.
 
Combat squirrel said:
Yeah, but anything off the shelf iv ever used (white sprits, paint stripper whatever etc i.e. anything you can legally buy) is no where near the potency of this stuff, it makes everything else iv ever seen look like water!

EDIT: Oh forgot say main point of this thread is a warning, and if any of your kids have one in there room, get it out now !! lol
Click to expand...

like energize says there are lots of solvents that will melt plastic paints and inks without blinking look horrific but really aren't a dangerous to people at all.

As shown by you still having skin.
 
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