Electronics > Beginners
Life expectancy vs Lead exposure?
Nominal Animal:
--- Quote from: Mr. Scram on August 21, 2019, 03:31:24 pm ---Meanwhile the other 99% seem to be roaming your body until excreted a few weeks later.
--- End quote ---
If you consider exactly how heavy metals cause cellular damage, that may be much less dangerous than you think.
Anyway, the small slug of leaded solder I ate has tiny surface area compared to its mass, and does not really dissolve in hydrochloric acid (stomach acid). It is basically the safest form of lead to ingest. I believe it has basically passed unchanged from my system, with only some of the surface alloy possibly passing through to my blood; insignificant amounts to worry about -- and only a fraction of the already minuscule amounts I calculated before. But very interesting to consider in a rational fashion, definitely!
If a kid had eaten a solder ball, I do not think it would warrant using emetics, overall. A few, or a length of solder, might. Using emetics, there is always the risk of getting stomach acids in the lungs, which definitely causes irreparable damage. I am not sure if charcoal would make any difference. Milk might suffice.
I believe the calculations in my earlier post would match the worst case scenario, eating lead dust. In macroscopic form, only the surface layers are really subject to dissolving (in stomach acid) and passing to the blood stream. Also, diet affects lead absorption a lot, and indeed milk is an effective protection against lead being absorbed.
Mr. Scram:
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on August 21, 2019, 04:14:23 pm ---If you consider exactly how heavy metals cause cellular damage, that may be much less dangerous than you think.
Anyway, the small slug of leaded solder I ate has tiny surface area compared to its mass, and does not really dissolve in hydrochloric acid (stomach acid). It is basically the safest form of lead to ingest. I believe it has basically passed unchanged from my system, with only some of the surface alloy possibly passing through to my blood; insignificant amounts to worry about -- and only a fraction of the already minuscule amounts I calculated before. But very interesting to consider in a rational fashion, definitely!
If a kid had eaten a solder ball, I do not think it would warrant using emetics, overall. A few, or a length of solder, might. Using emetics, there is always the risk of getting stomach acids in the lungs, which definitely causes irreparable damage. I am not sure if charcoal would make any difference. Milk might suffice.
I believe the calculations in my earlier post would match the worst case scenario, eating lead dust. In macroscopic form, only the surface layers are really subject to dissolving (in stomach acid) and passing to the blood stream. Also, diet affects lead absorption a lot, and indeed milk is an effective protection against lead being absorbed.
--- End quote ---
I've tried finding actual absorption rates of alloyed or pure lead but pretty much all materials seem to focus on more commonly found environmental hazards like lead paints. The lead acetate in paint is presented in thin neat flakes with a huge surface area and is water soluble. Worse still it's sweet so children eat it as a candy instead of just occasionally. Combined with the large lead absorption rate in children it's an accident waiting to happen.
bjdhjy888:
Though I believe you guy's confident comments on safety for soldering, I seriously think I need to get one of these:
Nominal Animal:
bjdhjy888: When you solder, there are fumes from the flux too; and if you are anything like me, there's always some piece of plastic melting or burning (from wires or whatever plastic happened to lay on the bench too close to the iron tip when I was looking at some detail).
These fumes are nasty. You do not want to breathe those fumes. We just recommend ventilation over a mask, that's all. :-+
maginnovision:
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on August 22, 2019, 03:45:39 am ---bjdhjy888: When you solder, there are fumes from the flux too; and if you are anything like me, there's always some piece of plastic melting or burning (from wires or whatever plastic happened to lay on the bench too close to the iron tip when I was looking at some detail).
These fumes are nasty. You do not want to breathe those fumes. We just recommend ventilation over a mask, that's all. :-+
--- End quote ---
For some reason I always manage to tag my microscope cover. |O
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