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submitted 8 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 59 points 8 months ago

I had to search for "organic mercury", it's dimethylmercury and it doesn't look like mercury at all. Do people really call it "mercury" or "organic mercury"? It's on par with pounds as a measure of mass, weight, and force by the amount of confusion, I'd say 🤔

::: spoiler sad story that was in the top of search results about dimethylmercury: sad but also a bit ironic fate 🫡 that's why I prefer not to do dangerous things even when protection and/or safety is in place.

[-] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 27 points 8 months ago

Do people really call it "mercury" or "organic mercury"? It's on par with pounds as a measure of mass, weight, and force by the amount of confusion, I'd say

No, I doubt it. There aren't very many uses for dimethylmercury due to its potential lethality. I would assume the people who actually use it in a lab setting are going to call it dimethylmercury, especially considering organic mercury usually refers to methylmercury, or one of the other less harmful organomercury compounds.

I think the confusion probably stems from the original article about the scientist who passed. Dimethylmercury is made from a reaction of methylmercury, and they are both organomercuric compounds.