Random
International Hazard
Posts: 1120
Registered: 7-5-2010
Location: In ur closet
Member Is Offline
Mood: Energetic
|
|
Have I been exposed to beryllium?
I have started coughing around february this year and still coughing all the time, dry cough.
Back in november 2010 I have dissolved a bigger piece of copper and produced about half a jar of copper carbonate with precipitated impurity. At first
it was yellow color I think now It's dark brown. It is heavier than copper carbonate I think because it settled at the bottom of the precipitate.
Might be silver carbonate which decomposed to metallic silver over time but also it might be beryllium impurity, or some other toxic metal? I handled
this impure stuff more than once.
I want to exclude this, read that very small amount of beryllium can cause big respiratory problems which appear after some time.
I also inhaled a lot of mold's spores by accident.
Is there a way to test this metal salt? I will try something soon. By the way I will post picture tomorrow.
|
|
|
12AX7
Post Harlot
Posts: 4803
Registered: 8-3-2005
Location: oscillating
Member Is Offline
Mood: informative
|
|
So Occam's suggests....??
Dissolving BeCu in acid will get Be in solution, which may tend to hydrolyze (I assume to a white floc or powder, if pure), but isn't an inhalation
hazard when wet. Aerosols produced during reaction or handling may present a hazard. Handling BeCu is no hazard; working the metal (forging,
machining, grinding, polishing, etc.) may be hazardous (I've heard reports that the alloy is more-or-less fine, and reports that its Be content is bad
in any form).
The orange to brown precipitate you speak of may be Cu2O (in various particle sizes), but more would have to be known about your process.
What was the copper from, what did it look like?
Tim
|
|
|
IrC
International Hazard
Posts: 2710
Registered: 7-3-2005
Location: Eureka
Member Is Offline
Mood: Discovering
|
|
Was the Cu hard like Brass or did it bend easily? Are you turning blue? If no to the above I would investigate the mold spores causing a long term
respiratory infection.
Even a small percentage of Be in Cu will make the metal quite stiff. If you have any left try bending it. If it bends back and forth easily (given the
dimensions of the piece) I would stop worrying about berylliosis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berylliosis
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
|
|
|
unionised
International Hazard
Posts: 5126
Registered: 1-11-2003
Location: UK
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
There are exceptions, but generally, if you have respiratory problems, it's due to something you inhaled.
Did you snort the copper solution?
I'm guessing not.
That means that the mold spores are a more plausible cause.
On the other hand, a combination of a run-of-the-mill infection and a psychosomatic effect is another strong possibility.
Anyway.
Go and see a doctor.
|
|
|
hyfalcon
International Hazard
Posts: 1003
Registered: 29-3-2012
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
The only test they have for berylliosis isn't all that accurate. Sometimes it will false positive and sometimes it will false negative. Never take
the results from one test as set in concrete.
|
|
|
unionised
International Hazard
Posts: 5126
Registered: 1-11-2003
Location: UK
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
OK, but maybe it's something totally different.
Go and see a doctor and find out.
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
