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 Gumby
Fishnologist
 
Registered: 06/13/01
Posts: 23,945
Loc: BRICK CITY, NIGGA! 
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 I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery 
#9055981 - 10/09/08 08:11 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Alright, here's a really weird one for you guys...
A guy that lives in my building is a hoarder. He walks around the city looking for stuff that people might use. The other day he found a lab grade glove box in the middle of a park in Newark, NJ. He thought that I might be able to use it because I'm a scientist. He was right.
So we walk over to the park and he gets the glove box. As I'm picking it up I'm thinking "fuck, this is a REALLY stupid idea, I don't know what the fuck this was used for."
Anyway, we get back to our building and start examining it in the light. The inside has a grate that looks like stainless steel with holes punched in it. The box... eh, fuck the description, I'll post a picture. Description isn't the important thing right now.
The important part is coming up... while we were dismantling the glove box, there was a gas line going in (blue plastic tube) which was hooked up to a regulator and what looked like a burner valve. I've pulled everything from the box that I don't need, so I can't get pictures of that.
What concerns me is that the box has about a 1" port on the back with a rubber gasket, it was obviously either hooked up to a vacuum line or something like that. When I tipped the thing to the side a bunch of purple crystalline powder came out the big port on the back. It has the consistency of large grain sand, and reflects light pretty well. I went outside and collected some of the powder in the street and brought it in to see if I could figure out what it was. It's insoluble in water, when I added water top the beaker it was in, it just formed a bunch of globules of the substance, anywhere from 1-4mm in diameter. It didn't seem to dissolve in the water at all. probably the most notable thing is that it glows a bright magenta color under a black light.
I was wondering if anyone had ANY idea of WTF this mysterious substance could be, and if I should get rid of this glove box ASAP. I don't want to die from some big stupid piece of plastic someone found in a park.
I will update the thread with pics shortly.
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SkekTek
Lurker
Registered: 03/21/08
Posts: 287
Loc: South Florida
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 Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9055994 - 10/09/08 08:14 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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It's Super Aids.
sorry, I couldn't help myself.
But maybe the crystals are some type of desiccant?
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clorox
Crossing theDoors ofPerception
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: SkekTek]
#9056029 - 10/09/08 08:20 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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damn dude, thats so rediculously dangerous lol, the chances of that having been used for some illicit drug manufacture - slim, being used for something increadibly noxious and dangerous about 100% (its a freaking fume hood.)
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 DieCommie
El Guapo
Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 22,787
Loc: Street of Dreams
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9056084 - 10/09/08 08:30 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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You found that shit in a park?  ?
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Gumby
Fishnologist
Registered: 06/13/01
Posts: 23,945
Loc: BRICK CITY, NIGGA!
Last seen: 3 hours, 19 minutes
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: DieCommie]
#9056199 - 10/09/08 08:51 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Alright, here are pictures of the chemical, pics of the glove box to come...
And yeah, it was found in a park in Newark. Hey man, what can I say, it's fuckin Newark, I've learned that anything is possible here. Although I was kinda dumbfounded when the guy told me what he found. Who the fuck dumps a lab grade glove box in a park? My best guess is some bum(tons here) found it in a dumpster and thought it was worth something but ditched it because he was sick of carrying it.
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Gumby
Fishnologist
Registered: 06/13/01
Posts: 23,945
Loc: BRICK CITY, NIGGA!
Last seen: 3 hours, 19 minutes
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9056426 - 10/09/08 09:34 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Well, I tried mixing the mystery chem with isopropyl alcohol... No dice, didn't dissolve in that either.
That said, time for pics of the glove box:
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Gumby
Fishnologist
Registered: 06/13/01
Posts: 23,945
Loc: BRICK CITY, NIGGA!
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9056443 - 10/09/08 09:36 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Picture with beer can was for size reference.
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Hematite
Newbee
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9056457 - 10/09/08 09:38 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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I know of a few chemicals that look like that-- potassium hexacyanoferrate, potassium dichromate, ammonium dichromate-- but all of those are water soluble. Is it really composed of crystals, or might it be a ground plastic/wax? If crystals, knowing their shape (cubic, rhomboidal, etc.) would help with id.
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Gumby
Fishnologist
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Posts: 23,945
Loc: BRICK CITY, NIGGA!
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Hematite]
#9056498 - 10/09/08 09:44 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Well, I do have a microscope. I might take pics of the mystery chem under the scope tomorrow. Not tonight though, have plans.
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus
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Posts: 8,527
Loc: Las Vegas
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9056514 - 10/09/08 09:47 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Gumby said:
This yellow label at the bottom made me think it may have been a bead-blasting box. Perhaps the purple material is the abrasive material used for blasting. I used a few sand-blasting boxes like this in the past but they were always loaded with silica sand.
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You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus
Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 8,527
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: ToTheSummit]
#9056531 - 10/09/08 09:50 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus
Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 8,527
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 15 hours, 22 minutes
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: ToTheSummit]
#9056618 - 10/09/08 10:05 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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From the pics and description I would bet you are dealing with some sort of plastic-based abrasive media there, not a chemical.
See here
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You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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ChuangTzu
starvingphysicist
Registered: 09/04/02
Posts: 2,633
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: ToTheSummit]
#9056656 - 10/09/08 10:10 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
ToTheSummit said:
From the pics and description I would bet you are dealing with some sort of plastic-based abrasive media there, not a chemical.
See here
I concur.
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supra
computerEnthusiast
Registered: 10/25/03
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: ToTheSummit]
#9056812 - 10/09/08 10:47 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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damnit, beat me to it...its a sand blaster man...still cool though
peace
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JacquesCousteau
Being.
Registered: 06/10/03
Posts: 7,776
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: supra]
#9057553 - 10/10/08 07:02 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Well that's pretty sweet... looks like you got a sweet new lab grade glovebox, man.
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Gumby
Fishnologist
Registered: 06/13/01
Posts: 23,945
Loc: BRICK CITY, NIGGA!
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: ToTheSummit]
#9057620 - 10/10/08 07:28 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
ToTheSummit said:
BINGO
I was right!
Heh, I knew I could count on The Shroomery to help me out. ToTheSummit, FTW! 
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Wiccan_Seeker
gold foil hat admin
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9058216 - 10/10/08 10:07 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Gumby if you get sick in the next 10 days go right to the hospital OK?
Just because its a sandblaster box doesnt mean it was used as that.
Nightmare scenario would be Cobalt(II)oxide enriched with 60Co extracted from radio-sterilizing equipment.
Edited by Wiccan_Seeker (10/10/08 10:12 AM)
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Wiccan_Seeker]
#9058438 - 10/10/08 10:44 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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> Cobalt(II)oxide enriched with [super]60[/super]Co
Hmmm... does it glow in the dark? That would be a bad sign.
Not as far fetched as it sounds... when I was young, my mother picked up some kind of demonstration apparatus at a garage sale knowing that I was into science stuff. There were two metal leafs inside a glass jar with a squeeze bulb that sprayed some kind of cream/tan colored powder between them along with a metal rod with a ball on top coming out of the jar. Turns out that the cream/tan colored powder was thorium.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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zouden
Neuroscientist
Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 7,091
Loc: Australia
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: Gumby]
#9060901 - 10/10/08 08:23 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Gumby said:
That looks a lot like something we have at work! There are jars of it on a bench, but not in my lab group. I'll ask my neighbouring group what it is. I asked before, ages ago, and I can't remember the answer though I suspect it contains urea. Which would fit with this page that Summit found.
Urea is really soluble in water, but I guess it can be bound up in a plastic (like the abrasive) which might also make it a very good desiccant, which is why that lab would have it.
So what gives it the colour? The photo on that website doesn't show any colour. It might change colour with moisture? The jar at work looks exactly the same as your photo - pink with speckles of other colours.
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I know... that just the smallest
part of the world belongs to me
You know... I'm not a blind man
but truth is the hardest thing to see
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ChuangTzu
starvingphysicist
Registered: 09/04/02
Posts: 2,633
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Re: I have a story of stupidity and a chemical mystery [Re: zouden]
#9061182 - 10/10/08 09:50 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Maybe it was being used to sandblast the paint off of a purple thing.
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