Beryllium Oxide insulators

Probably back when organic chemistry involved synthesising compounds and ha ndling them and the intermediates. Physical organic chemistry is probably a lot safer. As a physical chemist, the compounds I manipulated were all saf ely inside a vacuum line. I've got a tiny - but detectable - asbestos shado w on my lung from the time I made some paper-mache from asbestos paper to s eal the gap between my temperature-regulating oven and the glass tubes runn ing into it, but that's it.

My father - who was an industrial chemist all his life - died at 82, from a cancer which is more common in heavy smokers (which he'd stopped being at age 62). My mother - who got a degree in chemistry and worked for a few yea rs as an industrial chemist at the same firm as my father, until she marrie d at 24, died last year at 95.

One of my colleagues as a graduate student die about three years ago at 71, of stomach cancer. He'd been a risk-taker all his life, and we were all su rprised that he'd lasted as long as he had. Most of the people who taught m e chemistry fifty years ago are still with us and active, though some of th em look a bit frail.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

As in Leary?

I'd say Shulgin did more in that line. But I suppose he's not in the popular consciousness.

Tim

--
Seven Transistor Labs 
Electrical Engineering Consultation 
Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com

Is there a point to your examples?

--

Rick

g e

d handling them and the intermediates. Physical organic chemistry is probab ly a lot safer. As a physical chemist, the compounds I manipulated were all safely inside a vacuum line. I've got a tiny - but detectable - asbestos s hadow on my lung from the time I made some paper-mache from asbestos paper to seal the gap between my temperature-regulating oven and the glass tubes running into it, but that's it.

om a cancer which is more common in heavy smokers (which he'd stopped being at age 62). My mother - who got a degree in chemistry and worked for a few years as an industrial chemist at the same firm as my father, until she ma rried at 24, died last year at 95.

71, of stomach cancer. He'd been a risk-taker all his life, and we were al l surprised that he'd lasted as long as he had. Most of the people who taug ht me chemistry fifty years ago are still with us and active, though some o f them look a bit frail.

Classical organic chemists may die young, but other kinds of chemists seem to do at least a well as the rest of the population

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

A conclusion based on your three or four examples?

--

Rick

rs

and handling them and the intermediates. Physical organic chemistry is prob ably a lot safer. As a physical chemist, the compounds I manipulated were a ll safely inside a vacuum line. I've got a tiny - but detectable - asbestos shadow on my lung from the time I made some paper-mache from asbestos pape r to seal the gap between my temperature-regulating oven and the glass tube s running into it, but that's it.

from a cancer which is more common in heavy smokers (which he'd stopped bei ng at age 62). My mother - who got a degree in chemistry and worked for a f ew years as an industrial chemist at the same firm as my father, until she married at 24, died last year at 95.

at 71, of stomach cancer. He'd been a risk-taker all his life, and we were all surprised that he'd lasted as long as he had. Most of the people who ta ught me chemistry fifty years ago are still with us and active, though some of them look a bit frail.

eem to do at least a well as the rest of the population

There were about twenty other graduate students going through when I did, a nd Jan is the only one that I know of that has died. There were about a doz en staff members teaching us, and while two have died of heart attacks and two from cancer since then, the numbers are better than the population as a whole - the survivors have all got to be over eighty and the population-wi de expectation of life for males of that age group is about 77.

Getting a Ph.D. in any subject is associated with living about five years l onger than the population average so there's nothing unexpected about the r esult, but it is a big enough sample to suggest that your claim that organi c chemists die ten years younger than average doesn't generalise.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

The EPA has listed Beryllium as a "probable" human carcinogen (rating B1). This is based on limited human data (increases in lung-cancer mortality in humans exposed to the dust), and also on some animal studies (osteosarcomas caused by IV injection of beryllium metal and compounds).

IARC considers Beryllium a "Group 1" human carcinogen, with "sufficient evidence" of carcinogenicity in both humans and animals. The IARC seems to feel that the human lung-cancer data is stronger than the EPA does - the difference appears to be how well each group believes that the studies corrected for the question of whether the people being studied were tobacco smokers.

Neither group's studies make any claims about it being a "100% carcinogen". The EPA summary says "Osteosarcomas have been induced by intravenous and intramedullary injection of various beryllium compounds into rabbits, and possibly mice." The report doesn't have a link to the original lab studies, so I can't quote the incidence or dosage involved... but the "and possibly mice" phrasing makes it clear that in mice, at least, there's open question as to whether these osteosarcomas formed as a result of beryllium injection.

Larkin

on,

yours?

How could you ever have found a wife then?

?-)

--
And yet...

And yet he comes here to talk to... people! But of course his favorite topic is himself... so people are boring, but either that doesn't include himself or he isn't people...

--

Rick

He does expect to harvest all the admiration that he feels that is his due.

People who don't deliver enough admiration are definitely boring, not to mention tedious and insulting.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 01:32:03 -0700 (PDT), Bill Sloman Gave us:

Bwuahahahahahaaha!

Hilarious.

You are so much better than "most of us", eh, Bill? You and JL?

On Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:46:41 UTC+11, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno w rote:

e

ue.

mention tedious and insulting.

It does have it's funny side.

JL makes much more money than I do. Jim Thompson has designed integrated ci rcuits that I've used (not all that enthusiastically). John Fields can make an NE555 do things that nobody in their right minds would use it to do. Ev en Jamie has worked with higher-voltage circuits than I've ever looked at.

"Better" is a relative term, and you haven't defined the context where I'm "better". I'm sure one exists ... There may even be one where you're better - probably involving believing five impossible things before breakfast.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

Consider rickman and sloman

Both are failed chemists

Both are content-free, droning insult machines

Neither has much useful to say about electronics (or much else)

Their names are similar

They are probably the same person.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

te

due.

o mention tedious and insulting.

Scarcely failed. I was an excellent chemist, as attested by the fact that I got a Ph.D. in the subject. I'm probably a better electronic engineer than I was chemist, but I was doing rather more complicated electronic engineer ing than John Larkin does, and he really doesn't appreciate anything he can 't understand.

Which is to say we don't praise John Larkin. The only content he's interest ed in is stuff that confirms his own view of himself. Anything that suggest s that he's less than perfect is an insult.

Nothing that John Larkin is interested in. Winding his own transformers - o r getting someone to wind specials for him - is beyond his comfort zone, so some of the advice he's got hasn't been anything he sees as useful.

A "rick" and a "slough" are rather different entities. "Sloman" is a west c ountry name - there are a couple of pages of Slomans in Taunton telephone d irectory - many more than in the London directory, despite the fact that Lo ndon has about a hundred times the population.

To somebody as self-obsessed as John Larkin, this might appear reasonable. The category "not-me" isn't interesting enough to deserve much categorisati on.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 16:55:25 -0700 (PDT), Bill Sloman Gave us:

If you did not acquire a degree in electrical engineering, you were not... no not ever, an electrical engineer.

Lol, comments like this from Larkin are funny. As if he knew anything about chemistry. But I am happy to admit I didn't like being a chemist. I only got into it because of a bad teacher in high school. I would have studied EE in college but the high school experience turned me off so much I majored in Biochem. But I got an A in P-chem... :) I once saw a bumper sticker that said, "Honk if you passed P-chem". lol

Oh, come on Bill. The jig is up. Why don't you just admit we are the same person. We are also the same person as krw, amdx, Jim Thompson and oddly enough, John Larkin... :)

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Rick

favorite

due.

to mention tedious and insulting.

Not bloody likely. Sloman may harbor many wild ides but i have yet to see him uncivil. Not so rickman.

?-)

On Friday, 17 October 2014 12:07:07 UTC+11, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wro te:

A statement that I agree with completely. You don't seem to appreciate the difference between an electronic and an electrical engineer. In fact you ca n also learn all you need to know about electrical engineering by reading b ooks and a certain amount of real-world practice, but the stuff you need to practice on for electrical engineering is a bit bigger and more expensive than you need for electronics, and the consequences of getting stuff wrong can be more dramatic.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney