Happy Medical Monday (which isn’t every Monday, and sometimes isn’t on Monday, but I try my best) 👨⚕️👩⚕️🚑 PS Why do people in these videos have 2 letter initials for names? It’s a didactic tradition in presenting case reports. It lightly de-identifies the patient while upholding their humanity. They are, and will always be, more than just “the patient.” Thanks for watching :)
*NOTE:* This video is about *DIMETHYL MERCURY LIQUID* and *not* mercury metal. Comments about mercury metal are as irrelevant as comments about *mustard* would be to a video about "mustard gas"!
This is very true. Can everyone please stop commenting about how "but they played with mercury in school and nothing happened". There is a massive difference. Also since my comment has caused so much confusion, dimethyl Mercury is an atom of elemental mercury joined to a dimethyl group (2 carbons and 6 hydrogens) meaning that it has significantly different priorities. Kinda like how hydrogen is a flammable gas, but attach 2 hydrogen atoms to an oxygen and you've got regular old water.
WOW thanks for this. I was kinda worried because I'd seen this video a long time ago and yesterday at my class a student broke his mercury thermometer and I got really worried
This is a well-known story to us chemists. She's a hero too. Essentially okayed every form of experimental medicine and procedure that was known at the time, called medical teams super early in advance knowing she was basically going to die once it was found out that the glove type used was actually NOT good for the chemical used (contrary to what was understood at the time). A lot about mercury poisoning was learned from this case to be applied to future medical cases. It also changed procedure in how to grade PPE used for toxic organomercury compounds and other heavy metals.
Well said! She knew better than most what could be learned from this experience. And it can definitely be said she saved lives because of her contributions.
"dimethyl mercury" me (a chemist): what the hell, why wasn't she wearing proper protection for that...oh.......oh so she's the one who warned us. Here's to you KW, I honor you for protecting all those who came after you (including me)
@@eyeofcthulhu9602 its already public anyways so people who want to know more can also search the name. I get that its for privacy but its on the internet anyways, and the incident happened on 1997 and she is also a well known scientist
I took a bioinorganic chemistry course last semester and our professor had personal connection with her, sharing her story as we learned about heavy metals. RIP
I remember as a child , being sick in bed and dropping the mecury filled thermometer onto the floor. The glass must have shattered spilling the liquid mecury onto the floor. I was fascinated staring at the liquid metal and how it moved. I don't remember if I touched it , but do remember wanting to play with it. This was in the late 70s, early 80s.
@@jonforhan9196 still, while touching elementary mercury is harmless, it evaporates and gets absorbed in your lungs, creating the same pathology as described in this video.
"Upon autopsy" I always get so heartbroken when I hear that. So many of Emu's stories make it to recovery, it always hurts to hear about the ones who don't.
TRIX TRIX No. It’s not. Her being amazing or not had nothing to do with her death, though she was an amazing scientist. It was the faulty safety systems put in place, that was the reason she died. She died because the dimethyl mercury got absorbed into her skin through the glove. Whether she was amazing or not wouldn’t have changed the outcome. So no, it’s not true. She is an amazing person nonetheless.
Her name was Karen Wetterhahn, and she was an extraordinary chemist. She worked at Dartmouth College, where she established the Women in Science Project, doubling the percentage of women pursuing science degrees. She was exposed to a lethal dose of dimethylmercury in 1996, and less than a year later, in 1997, the scientific world lost one of its brightest and most inquisitive minds. Her legacy lives on in both her efforts to involve more people, especially women, in the sciences, and her colleagues' efforts after her death to increase workplace safety and the regulation of harmful chemicals. Karen Wetterhahn: Oct 16, 1948 - Jun 8, 1997.
Due to bioethical reasons, you should not reveal the name of the patient. That is exactly why the presenter used her initials only to identify her. Those in the medical field will know that one should only be identified by their initials in presentations for privacy and confidentiality. Edit your comment and remove the name please. You can pay homage to her by other means but certainly not here.
@@hedayatsm553 Hi. I'm *in* the medical field, and have been for some time. Not only is the Wetterhahn case widely known and distributed in medical and safety literature, she's right there in the description. Perhaps condescend about bioethics to somebody else. I'm well aware of HIPAA, and have been since before my days treating patients in the Navy. Using initials is standard, but Wetterhahn's story outside her diagnosis and treatment are just as valuable to industrial hygiene and science education as her treatment was to medicine. Thank you, and have a lovely day.
With that much dimethyl mercury in her brain, she was lucky, or should I say extremely unlucky, to survive that long. She was an absolute legend. She kept her composure and decided we should learn from her tragedy.
and all these blowhard 'wannabe-tough' guys always bragging about: tough under pressure.... this woman was the absolute epitome of tough! Hard-fucking-core! RESPECT! 'Never met a wise man, always was a wo-man..' -Kurt Cobain (I miss you GrandmaLu)
7:47 That got me. That's incredibly sad and horrifying to think about: "There's someone inside, but that person is trapped in a prison of her own comatose body." Nothing less than a tragedy, I can only hope that with the awareness brought by this case, lives have been saved. Thank you for your work, Professor Wetterhahn.
Should be mandatory to watch this video in college for any chemist course or any educational course that even has the remotest possibility of coming in contact with this form of mercury.
I had a friend who studied chem at Sydney uni who told me a story about a girl in his prac class who pipetted potassium cyanide with her mouth. The teacher turned and saw her as she was doing it and just froze. Luckily for her, it was perfect, but as soon as she finished and took her lips of the pipette the teacher lost his shit at her. She was expelled from the course immediately. No matter how clear you are with safety instructions, consequences etc, some people will just never get it.
@@LordPrometheous Better than the professor having to explain to a parent why their child is in the morgue for sure. Most people prefer embarrassment to death.
Y’know, while pondering on all this something occurred to me: There’s no telling how many people have had to die throughout history in the process of establishing laws, regulations, procedures, protocols, and practices on safety. Many safety rules are in place because someone died or was seriously/life-changingly injured.
@@129140163 If you think that's sad, consider the number of people who, to this day, must still die before many civil governments will install a traffic light.
Nothing worse than being an expert in a field, seeing the symptoms and slowly realising that you know exactly what is happening and what's to come. The description of her appearing to be screaming, then back to no response... That is terrifying... either she was suffering from some type of locked in syndrome, or briefly comes back to sentience, like dying multiple times. This is just absolutely terrifying.
Dude you are awesome ... the fact that you .. 1. explained the mercury toxicity 2. Physiology of cerebellum 3. Basic pharmacokinetics concept All in such an interactive way. I dont think people realise how genius your case discussions are. Thank you.
*One of her former students said that "Her husband saw tears rolling down her face. I asked if she was in pain.* *The doctors said it didn't appear that her brain could even register pain."* *Wetterhahn was removed from life support and died on June 8, 1997.*
@@PP-qi1nk This video is about dimethylmercury, not Thimerosal. Other types of mercury (such as thimerosal or elemental mercury) are nowhere near as harmful as dimethylmercury.
The fact that she knew... and the possibility that there could be even a glimpse of a moment in which she was fully cognitive on the inside but felt the limbs and senses started to become unresponsive is literally making me walk around the room in fear of what such moment would feel
I read an article in which KW was interviewed about this incident. She didn't ignore the spill. She was wearing two pairs of latex or neoprene gloves. She saw the two drops hit her gloved hand, she immediately removed her gloves and washed her hands. She then went to the hospital and received treatment for heavy metal poisoning. It didn't help she was dying by the time the magazine article was written and new she would not survive. That stuff is so toxic that lethal dose got through the gloves in seconds and her skin and remained toxic despite immediate treatment. Keep that stuff locked up.
@@tsjoencinema Maybe, but then there's all that loss of blood to deal with. There's also the question of how quickly does it move through the body from the initial site. By the time you get to the saw and setup it might be too late. Kind of like cyanide, once its in you it's pretty much over.
My mother has had classic MS, which attacks the milan sheath of the nervous system since she was 31 and she’s now 91. The thought of suffering such a fate compressed into mere months is horrifying. My mother is finally in a wheelchair, but she and my 94-year-old father still enjoy life together as they finally wear out.
Learned about this case last semester in a chemical engineering safety course. The wild part that wasn't mentioned here was that the safety data sheet that's printed on every chemical bottle stated that the type of gloves she was using was the correct material to handle it. So despite doing everything correct given what she knew, she still died. To fact check me search CSB safety dimethyl mercury
Not the wildest part, the saddest part. This wasn't a human error, this was a mistake in science that lead to the death of a prominent researcher. I learned about this event first thing in my chemistry class as a warning about material hazards and safety.
Gosh this is so sad, it's actually a famous case. She followed all of the proper established safety procedures but said procedures and gloves were unknowingly insufficient. Because of her they've been updated today to prevent this in the future... at least this tragedy has a silver lining that will benefit future scientists, if not her.
@@TheReaper569 She was different though she exposed herself on purpose because she believed that we shouldn't test on humans or animals unwillingly so her AND her husband ( who died in a carriage crash I believe ) exposed themselves willingly and studied the effects.
I'm an RN and read years ago that the purple nitrate gloves could allow some liquids and chemicals to seep through during exposure. Some cancer medications and a few other medications are extremely toxic if skin touches them. Always be very careful with chemicals and medications, even with gloves on. Such a sad story.
@@alpheusmadsen8485 two drops of nicotine concentrated to the level of dimethyl mercury she was using would have killed her outright in a day. that's about the level of nicotine from 30 packs of cigarettes. the difference being when you smoke cigarettes, you aren't smoking 300 all at the same time, so your body gets a chance to process the nicotine before it builds up enough toxicity to become lethal. that said, I would still rather have gotten the immediate kill from the nicotine, instead of the long, drawn out, brain shutdown she experienced. that is probably the worst way to die I can imagine.
I love how you also explain the meaning behind the words by using their stems. It makes the terminology so much easier to understand for us non-medical folks!
it reminds me of a chemistry teacher I had in high school. She was terrible at her job and so many students hated her. The students were so confused why she acted so strangely and how did she keep her job? Was it because she was old and senile? It got out that she had previous exposure to mercury and it changed her demeanor. because of the exposure she got irrationally mad, and get easily confused. It made her hair go completely white early and other symptoms I'm sure I never noticed. This video reminded me of her, I hope she's doing ok.
For months she saw her body slowly deteriorate until she went into a coma then she was trapped in her own body. Just a conscience thinking in and on and on and on until she died
A lot of people actually die that way, but from different illnesses. Imagine heart failure, some are instant, some paralyzes half your body, 1 side. Some causes brain damage, if you live through all of these, it will be a bad story. The end of most people's lives will humble THE FUCK out of you. Welcome to life, beginning til end, good luck everyone.
@maddie When was the original commenter implying it was actually mercury... Never... -_- Also, the person who replied to you meant to say "That's not what they meant"...
@@peppigue there are private schools that are owned by universities, with uni professors teaching the students so it's technically possible, dunno if that's the case here tho
This made me cry... She must have been so terrified as she helplessly died trapped in her breaking body. Death might have been a merciful end. I am so heartbroken for her. She died from the work she did to protect others
What a horrible way to die. I hope she was not “in there” during the last moments of her life. Trapped with no way to communicate, but fully aware and processing thoughts would be just the worst way to go.
I'd use the last cognition I did have when I realized what was destined to happen to get to a state with assisted suicide and get it over with, it would be the last thing I did while I still could.
Given her specialty she might have focused on studying this rare case. Just like that Russian scientist reporting on his own death from an infectant he was studying.
I think this is so fascinating yet still heartbreaking at the same time. KW (aka Karen Wetterhahn) was a great mind and inspiration to many other scientists, especially female scientists (which were not common fields for women then). This just goes to show how dangerous certain chemicals can be, and in general, just how dangerous it is to be a chemist. To all of my fellow chemists, always always always always be very cautious. And to Karen Wetterhahn, thank you for the sacrifice and knowledge you have given this generation. Rest well Professor.
It's so hard to wrap my head around, and so scary, that a drop of something falling on a GLOVED hand for a few seconds could result in something like this 5 months later. Mind blowing. Fascinating video as always
And the fact that they didn't know Latex was insufficient is really troubling. Karen did everything exactly as she should have: she removed the gloves immediately, washed her hands, and went straight to the hospital for heavy metal poisoning. But if you had a drop or 2 of dimethylmercury on your hand when you wrote this comment, you would probably already be dead.
I remember reading about this. She was a well known and highly respected professor who was following all protocols. Unbeknownst to her (and the entire research field) was that the gloves that were prescribed to be worn when working with this do not prevent it from permeating to the skin. Tests after her poisoning showed that dimethylmercury permeated the gloves in as little as 15 seconds. This is really nasty sh*t
This is a truly sad story. I just couldn’t help but notice the tragic irony in her last name. Karen Wetterhahn died because she “wet her hand”, w a very poisonous substance. I don’t mean to be disrespectful in any way. It’s just something that came to mind and wouldn’t go away. My deepest condolences to her husband, family and those who knew her personally. Rest well Karen.
I find stories like this fascinating. Scientists who know exactly what is happening to them but they still do their jobs as scientists. In a similar vein, in the 1940s, one of the leading nuclear scientists in the world lived in Nagasaki and survived the bomb but got a massive exposure to radiation. He documented his radiation sickness and that information is still used today.
I sent this video to my chemistry teacher and got her to show the video to the entire class to promote lab safety. Thank you for making the content that you make!
although lab safety is the most important thing when working with chemicals and such, i assume that most chemicals you will work in class though are laughable compared to this mercury compound. that doesnt mean you shouldnt take things serious though. im working in a lab as well and trying to minimize exposure to chemicals is always a good thing. many things can have effect on you when working with these things for years.
Corey91666 Yeah, we used to play with a different grade of mercury in class while wearing no protection and many kids had old mercury thermometers break in their mouth and were perfectly fine. Safety is good but people act like hysterical lunatics around old mercury thermometers now. A kid in Florida brought one in to his science class and they evacuated the school and called in a Hazmat team to remove it. It was completely in tact. No cracks, breaks, etc.
"many kids had old mercury thermometers break in their mouth and were perfectly fine." Except those who were not, or over time accrued enough mercury and lead (given that there was lead in petrol in those days) to die. You just made the all to common error of "survivorship bias". Just because what happened to you did not kill you immediately, does not make it safe.
ilovedeblob It's what you call interesting titles or eyecatching presentation. Clickbait is pretty much writing A Celebrity Nude Leaked as the title while the video itself is just a 10-minutes long video of emptiness.
This is the first time I say it in public. I am a medical student myself and this happened to me in my first year of studying. 3 years ago I was exposed to mercury intoxication which was present in fish. I felt very bad after eating the meal and immediately after 20 minutes my body reacted by vomiting all that bad food. I did not even really think it could have been an intoxication. Without any thoughts I went to sleep and nothing happened in the next days. Exactly one week later I started to have really strange discomfort in my abdominal region such as pain and cramps. I left the lecture and went home. On my way home I experienced disorientation and difficulties in my balance or motoral functions. That day I couldn't move out of my couch. I was laying there straight with only being able to move my eyes for three hours. After this my most horrific time in my life started. I called ambulances every evening straight for 4 days. The doctors could not find anything in my blood, urine, organs, x-rays, CT's, MRI's and ultrasound. Pain started in my chest, which made no sense, because there can't be any type of pain in the areas and it was not caused by any organs or muscles. Finally, after very precise examination and diagnostic tests, my doctor was able to diagnose an intoxication with fish product which was mercury. He told me that he had already a patient with the same symptoms and it took him up to three years to get back to "normal" life and health. Exactly as he told, I gained slowly my health back over three years. During this time I had extreme pain and discomfort in my whole body, fatigue, decrease of concentration and the ability to memorize things and loss of weight due to loss of appetite. All this together also created a type of depression. For you guys, I really want to remind you to pay high attention to every food and product you buy. Always check for the date of production or preparation! I don't wish anyone to experience such a horrific time in their life. I can't even imagine how Karen Wetterhahn must have felt after her intoxication. Rest in peace.
What you went through sounds horrible, and I'm glad you made it through it. I don't think it's fair to say that you went through the same thing as KW though, what you were exposed to was not dimethylmercury. If it was, you almost certainly wouldn't still be with us today. Hope med school is going well for you though! Best of luck, from a random stranger on the internet.
This has happened to me with mercury ingestion from Albacore Tuna. I'm at about year 7 and slowly recovering. I'd be interested to see what you did to recover. Thanks.
@@ClaudiaM-f1y mercury comes up through the food chain in the ocean. The larger predatory fish like albacore tuna accumulate mercury in their flesh. If you eat enough, like me, your body will be unable to detoxify quickly enough and mercury gets into your cells. Conventional medicine doesn’t recognize you can get poisoned by eating too much fish. So there would be no use to pursue legal action as I couldn’t back it up with much medical research. It was also my ignorance to eat so much of their product.
I struggled to comprehend medical science and biology in high school and college, but I was able to follow his detailed explanations completely. His delivery was concise and had a level of seriousness that had my attention. Well done.
And that's why he has over 12 million views on just this one video. People enjoy understanding these types of concepts but don't have a teacher that can express it in the proper way/ in laymans terms. Chubbyemu does just that, if not a bit dryly though
I had a science teacher in my secondary school (located in a city in southwest England called Bristol). Amazing guy, Very, very smart and always adding to our learning by supplementing other general science facts which I and many others even minutely interested in the subject found utterly fascinating all the time. He told us this story about him as a young child getting a temprature reading, most of the thermometers at the time contained Mercury, this is probably sometime in the 60s/early 70s as he was in his late 50s teaching us in 2015. But he bit the thermometer too hard causing it to break releasing a few grams of pure mercury into his mouth, he was expected to pass away by most estimates or survive with severe neurological decline. Luckily he survived and amazingly even with that certain neurological decline he got a Degree in chemistry and became a teacher. Still one of my favourite teachers and I really hope he's doing well as I don't remember seeing him again after 2018. Thanks for reading, Rest in Peace KW
In high school chem class someone asked the teacher what would happen if you ate a little mercury metal. He said it would come out the other end fast enough that it probably wouldn’t do much if any damage. He wasn’t a doctor so I’m not sure how correct he was, but considering the many decades we used mercury thermometers with kids, I doubt it was a death sentence. UPDATE: After googling a bit it seems my teacher was right. Of course you shouldn’t intentionally eat mercury, but a one time accidental exposure like swallowing a drop from a broken thermometer is unlikely to be harmful.
And this is why you report all chemical spills and exposures to your lab manager, no matter how small or insignificant you think it is. I should make this mandatory watching for my lab.
That wouldn't work, since it would acclimate the lab manger to the idea that most reported to him/her are harmless, and may result in spills receiving less attention than they should. Unfortunately there is no solution here that is more simple than making sure all lab employees understand and regularly review the relevant chemistry and safety procedures.
@@RendezvousWithRama Well, (good) IT always says that each and every suspicious event should be reported, be it an unexplained webcam light or a harmless spam mail. Because almost always it is noting, but that one time there is something wrong, you know it immediately. Referring to iron monkey, I don't know if there would have been hope for rescue after the exposure, but the chances are better the sooner you treat it. Reviewing the safety protocols and prosedures as well as executing utmost care should just be augmented by tighter reporting habits, never replaced. Prevention is paramount, anything else is damage control. :)
@@RendezvousWithRama You might not have to report spilling water or something the potency of vinegar, but if we start talking sulfuric acid it might be good to know. Just in case you didn't leave the place spotless or there are still gases lingering and there is a potentially dangerous reaction with components of the following experiment. I'd rather report more than not enough, just in case.
@@NochSoEinKaddiFan I agree with that. You don't have to report insignificant spills. You do have to report ones that need reporting. That's kind of what I was saying - that there is no simplistic militant solution to this. Education is really the only answer. Make sure that the lab employees know the difference between methylcellulose and HFIP, and what needs to be done in those cases, etc.
Sure you can, but if your appetite is really that huge, it would be best for everyone if you passed away in the same manner as the scientist. Big population, limited food resources you know.
That doctor of chemistry was so accomplished and gave her life in pursuit of research. Terrible loss. When I worked in labs, way back in the 1980’s, a problem we had was finding gloves and other safety equipment which fit. The women omen wore XS or S, but very few were ordered in those sizes. We would request more of those and fewer Large and XLarge. The reply was that each lab was stocked with what the majority of employees used. The empty box of small gloves can lead to a snap decision to use a different type of glove. Each type of material has different properties. Some might absorb liquids you’re using and others would protect you. In my case, large gloves worn to protect up to the elbow were so loose, the liquid I needed to avoid splashed inside the opening and ran down my arm. I was working with HF acid solution. Luckily, I was barely injured, but I was rushed to the hospital just in case. (my boss also threw a bucket of dilute base on me, to help and surprise me) Glove protection was just part of the problem, but there were many problems regarding what was considered average size. I hope now that the women in the lab now can have more influence over lab design, equipment layout, and accessory sizes. We were advanced enough to start earning more science degrees, but still had much to prove to gain respect. Safety can make all the difference. The situation in the video really brings back so much.
That's really sad. The idea of being trapped in your increasingly-disabling body and only being able to let out cries or moans periodically is so horrible. RIP for that woman.
Yes, I watched to the end (which I rarely do) to see exactly what gloves could have saved her life. I use nitrile gloves once in a while and I swear stuff like acetone feels like it goes right thru.
@@thzzzt Same, unfortunately not all gloves provide the same protection. Acetone, DCM, DMF, and THF all go through nitrile gloves pretty quickly. I think DMSO does too but it's not that toxic, although it dissolves so many other chemicals that it provides a way for more toxic compounds to get into the body.
O.P. Yates Yeah THF is nasty. Sometimes DMSO almost smells like olives to me. I mostly use the deuterated form for NMR but maybe that smells different than normal DMSO?
as someone who struggles with what-ifs and anxiety and ocd but still likes content like this, i really really appreciate the comments about the salmon. it helps to qualm those things and i think you should include comparisons like that and likelihoods in your videos when applicable :D
My friend, OCD and anxiety are symptoms of mercury toxicity. Lots of people have it in smaller degrees than this scientist had and it causes all kinds of physical and psychological disorders. Comes from amalgam fillings, immunizations, and other sources. I have mercury toxicity. I'm going to chelate with Andy Cutlers protocol. The IV protocols plus cilantro and chlorella are all unsafe, surprisingly.
The thought that hospital staff caught a glimpse of the true suffering during her random short bursts screaming, crying, and flailing, surrounded by much longer periods of unresponsiveness...that always gets to me.
Cases such as this is one of the few times assisted suicide should be legal. Assisted Suicide should be THE final thing to consider and she was not living anymore, only suffering. As much as I want to live, if I were in the same situation and had the opportunity to off myself in a way that isn't messy, I or my next of kin would have taken that option.
My condolences to KW's family. Thank you for sharing her story. The accident may have taken her future, but she chose to make preparations so it wouldn't happen to others. What a human being.
Fuc kYourAds if you think every depressed person eventually commits suicide you're dumb as fuck. The amount of depressed people that do suicide is very low.
Fuc kYourAds so only people who suicide are considered depressed? Mam you should consider growing up a bit and doing some research before saying bullshit
This has quickly become one of my favorite channels on YT. Karen Wetterhahn was a leader in her field and an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College. Great story and reporting!
I suggest you watch the story of a man exposed to high level of radiation ua-cam.com/video/BTa46EKzl_g/v-deo.html And the firebombing of the German city of Dresden ua-cam.com/video/tU5u7aoSxFQ/v-deo.html
XxSteamStreamxX I have heard stories of DEA agents cleaning up after raiding lsd laboratories and coming into contact with a few drops of pure lsd unintentionally. I guess it was the equivalent of like 10,000 doses.
I hate how some people in the comment sections keep saying when they were young they played with mercury and nothing happened... Different mercury.....
Same reason some people make a ridiculous to-do about the mercury compounds used in vaccine storage. Chemistry isn't always immediately intuitive and unfortunately people don't know that.
I like it when people make content that explains things in a way even laymen can understand them. This series, along with others like the Chevrolet videos from the 1930s are some really good ones to watch.
Vi Con like you? Because you know you can get neurological disorders without being exposed to mercury right? There are Other things that can give you neurological disorders.
@@americanjoe5486 I heard stories my father in hight school told me there was a guy that had some in his locker and it fale and broke and the guy didnt know it and his hair and teeth fale out .🤔
@@erex9875 organic mercury is very different to elemental mercury used in thermometers etc so it doesnt come into contact with many people. Only scientists specializing in organometallic chemistry deal with it so luckily the risk to people is low.
Fuck man, that must be so scary to go through. Slowly becoming a vegetable, and then becoming a vegetable. Being stuck in your head, not being able to use your body, but you're still aware. Truly a nightmare come true.
Zara surely you have seen Alice in wonderland , or through the looking glass! Look at the illustrations of the man with the big hat .Hes the mad hatter , Hence the reference to Mad Hatter in the books & the connection to mercury
When i was in 12th grade, my chemistry teacher was showing in lab about some phenolic compound which goes to solid state at room temperature and becomes liquid when it's heated. He also told it's highly flammable and not to play with it. By this time i had already kept it aside in spatula and it spilled on my hand. I washed my hads immediately and my skin became pale. I showed to the chemistry teacher and told the phenolic compound fell on my hand, he scolded and opened a jar with a base chemical that can absorb the acidic compound that fell on my hand. He took the powder and held my hand inside that. After sometime he removed and told me to go take rest and observe if anything happens. I kept observing my fingers and i saw a burned dot forming on tip of my finger. He didn't put the base powder on my finger tips. Since it was just small burn the size of a mole i ignored it and everything went back to normal. If the chemistry teacher didn't act on time, i would have been handicapped. Always remember not to wash hands if you touched anything acidic. You need to neutralize with base.
I think, given her background, at that point she had likely already deduced what was causing the problem, and she knew there was not much that could be done for her. that's what makes this story so crushing
@@noone3734 How? Medical breakthroughs were (and still are) made by pushing the limits. Just because accidents that happen like this doesn't mean the entire practice should be banned.
@@noone3734 what do you gain from always staying in your comfort zone? you have to push the envelope to make worthwhile progress, and that includes in chemistry and medicine.
Now there are TWO excellent Chubbyemu episodes on this topic, both effective lessons, the second even closer to home for most! Thanks so much! (You're looking better, from that flu you picked up 😊)
This story should come as no surprise to anyone with a history or science background. Up until top hats went out of style part of the tanning process for beaver pelts involved boiling mercury. This caused brain and mental disorders in many hat makers and is the origin of the term 'mad hatter'.
this video is about a different compound. the symptoms aren’t even that similar to what hatters experienced; this chemical can basically cause dyspraxia - grossly impacting motor skills - as well as interrupting brain perception. the kind of mercury hatters were exposed to caused behavioural problems, it was much more psychological and the physical symptoms were painful but not extreme like the ones shown in this video (headaches, shaking. things you can really live with, as horrible as they must’ve been. jagged handwriting is a symptom but it usually comes in much later than this woman experienced, with prolonged exposure without any form of protection.)
When I saw the title I immediately knew who KW was and what was to become of her, I think there is few people in the chemistry community who don't know her story. Thank you for the in-depth explanation of what happened.
KW was Karen Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 - June 8, 1997). She was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, who specialized in toxic metal exposure.
Wow 0.0 I live in New Hampshire. I wasn't expecting that. What do they even use that stuff for? Why mess around with stuff that's so dangerous? I just don't understand some of the frontiers of science.
@@MaximvsDread You wouldn't be commenting here if those scientists didnt take risks to study things. All you could do is show appreciation on what they do to help us.(or fund them if you're rich).
dont touch anything, dont kiss anyone or god forbid have sex with anyone, dont even breathe as it will make you uglier - and more lessons i’ve learned from these kind of videos!
For those who are unaware - Karen was a(the) leading, and to this day, quite possibly the most, mercury compound researcher. This not only included mercury, but salts, organic and inorganic compounds as well. At that time we knew that organic mercury was extraordinarily dangerous - mostly thanks to her. People already wouldn’t work with the stuff, but she refused to let her findings deter her. We knew there were compounds like this, but because of her the entire lab safety and material awareness protocol changed. There’s only been a handful of deaths like this since - I entirely contribute that to her. Even as she was approaching death, she used the experience to allow others to learn from. I’ve worked with organic mercury and DMM. I would feel safer working with a hydrogen bomb. We would suit up and even then, only feel comfortable in a fume hood, with tongs, multiple layers of protection, specialized equipment, and a well in advance planned disposal. If it wasn’t for her, no doubt many many more would have died. Only her extreme expertise and focus could have been able to determine the cause - thank you Karen.
"At that time we knew that organic mercury was extraordinarily dangerous" It was known for decades before her. Organic compounds are generally more dangerous than inorganic. Her sloppiness in the lab was caused by her arrogance, and if she hadn't died, someone else dying would have automatically raised the restrictions and safety protocols. Failure is not a virtue.
@@andychow5509 a woman died lad have some humility, sloppiness and arrogance dont apply to this case as she didnt think she was invulnrable rather it was the ignorence around the general compound that caused it and no anyone dying would have caused the restrictions and safety protocols to be raised, we are standing on the shoulders of many peoples sacrifices and "failures" if it werent for them we would be the ones dying everyday for what we consider to be elementery in modern times. so shut the fuck up
@@andychow5509 Failure? Failure of what? The PPE company that made the gloves stated that they were capable of protecting against dimethylmercury, and she performed all the safety precautions at the time.
I remember finding a pint sized bottle (completely full) of mercury in an abandoned paper factory when I was 13yrs old. I'll never forget how astonishingly heavy it was for the size. My friends and I thought it was coolest thing ever... We were pouring it in our hands, throwing it at each other, some of it even went the river... I don't remember what happened to that bottle. But I recall finding tiny beads of it in my bedroom carpet for VERY, very long time... This was almost 30 yrs ago, I sometimes wonder if I'll eventually pay the price for this... Then again, maybe I already am.
Metallic mercury (the kind you found) is on another planet compared to the toxicity of the mercury compound in this video. I mean it’s still not good for you and maybe you lost a brain cell or two but you’ll be fine lol. It’s like how inhaling chlorine is super deadly but ingesting chlorine when it’s in a different compound (like table salt) is fine.
No this is what you should do if you’re a scientist. If you spell the stuff on your glove our hands immediately go to the hospital and get it checked out
There should be a movie about this woman. Maybe one that starts with her growing up as a curious child, becoming an adult who had an intense passion for Chemistry, and finding the love of her life in her husband...all of this, taken away by failure of lab safety. She became a cautionary tale...
God. Imagine doing everything right to the best of your knowledge, and one extremely tiny, immediately remedied mistake destroys your brain and body while you’re one of the experts on what’s happening to it.
I am no chemist or anything near it but this fellow did an outstanding job of explaining everything in an interesting and understandable fashion. Most impressed.
A history tidbit for the few seeing this comment: Decades ago, NASA was trying to get higher thrust out of rocket engines, and this time they were looking for propellants with higher density than the usual kerosene or hydrazene. Dimethal Mercury is one of the densest combustible molecules, so they ordered several tons of the substance featured in this video for testing. Earlier, the lab producing Dimethal Mercury had this _exact same thing_ happen to one of their scientists, the one you mentioned. Understandably, they declined to provide the substance, and made sure that the engineers received a very, very detailed lecture on Mercury toxicity.
Hmm, yes, let's burn an incredibly toxic organic mercury compound as rocket fuel, i'm sure this won't be the worst ecological decision humanity has ever made
Similar happened with chlorine trifluoride. Basically this chemical burns ridiculously easily, and the Nazis wanted to use it for flamethrowers and bombs. They made 30 tons of the stuff before realizing that it was far too dangerous. Aside from being required to store the chemical in specially fluorine treated metal tanks which stopped it from burning the metal, ClF3 was basically capable of burning anything on contact including concrete, asbestos and metal. In one later incident the chemical burned through 3 feet of concrete floor and then through gravel, spewing out hydrofluoric acid in the process which burned everything it touched. Fires set by using it can’t be extinguished with water or other materials either, which generally make it worse. Luckily for everyone it never saw combat use and was banned in international law.
@@davydiver No. That was a combination of UDMH and nitric acid. Nitric acid is extremely corrosive to most metals (and humans). UDMH, or Unsymmetrical DiMethylHydrazine, is for once exactly as bad as it sounds. It's extremely reactive with many substances, and is both highly toxic and carcinogenic to humans. Nitric acid rockets have long since been replaced, but UDMH (and its cousins MMH and plain-old hydrazine) along with Nitrogen Tetroxide are still used as propellants because there really isn't anything to fill their niche. Fortunately, their combustion products are fairly safe, and they aren't toxic enough to kill with such little exposure.
There's no such thing as "better gloves," because with all the variety of chemicals out there, you'd make a glove that's impervious to one type of chemical but susceptible to another. In this case, I bet these gloves were great against, say, acids, but their structure let in organic mercury. Chemicals are funny things.
That's the thing though, not all mercury is created equal. Ethyl mercury isn't the same as Methyl mercury. Ethyl mercury safely leaves the body. Methyl mercury sticks around much longer, which isn't good. I suppose this could have been explained better in this video, but in the end the message should be to take as many precautions as possible when handling chemicals known to harm living tissues.
When i was a kid i held mercury in my hands and played with it my dad was really angry when he caugth me being stupid so i think it explains why im so retarded xD
We are so gifted to have our scientist take sometimes daily risk of fatal infections for our own safety and concerns of survival. I praise and bless each and every.
Decades before there was the show "House," I think back to realize that one of my physiology professors was a forerunner. He kept us interested in the scientifically mind numbing details by telling us unusual and puzzling case histories where the things we were supposed to be learning came out in a most human and relevant way.
English isn't my first language and even I can understand him very well! The way he breaks down complicated scientific terms into their component parts really helps, too.
Happy Medical Monday (which isn’t every Monday, and sometimes isn’t on Monday, but I try my best) 👨⚕️👩⚕️🚑
PS Why do people in these videos have 2 letter initials for names? It’s a didactic tradition in presenting case reports. It lightly de-identifies the patient while upholding their humanity. They are, and will always be, more than just “the patient.” Thanks for watching :)
Chubbyemu it's always a good Monday when you upload a video this was another good informative and interesting video happy medical Monday
Chubbyemu hi
pls dont stop making videos like your older ones.
Awesome video as always! Helping this future nurse a bunch! Much love and thanks from south Florida!
Chubbyemu Why is there 2 of these comments?
*NOTE:* This video is about *DIMETHYL MERCURY LIQUID* and *not* mercury metal. Comments about mercury metal are as irrelevant as comments about *mustard* would be to a video about "mustard gas"!
This is very true. Can everyone please stop commenting about how "but they played with mercury in school and nothing happened". There is a massive difference.
Also since my comment has caused so much confusion, dimethyl Mercury is an atom of elemental mercury joined to a dimethyl group (2 carbons and 6 hydrogens) meaning that it has significantly different priorities. Kinda like how hydrogen is a flammable gas, but attach 2 hydrogen atoms to an oxygen and you've got regular old water.
WOW thanks for this. I was kinda worried because I'd seen this video a long time ago and yesterday at my class a student broke his mercury thermometer and I got really worried
Hey what's the difference
@@killadomain Extreme differences; dimethyl mercury attracts to fat and easily absorbs through the skin; this is harder with elemental mercury.
@@RyanTosh thank you for answering. Just a follow up question. Would over exposure to regular mercury have a similar affect on the body?
This is a well-known story to us chemists.
She's a hero too. Essentially okayed every form of experimental medicine and procedure that was known at the time, called medical teams super early in advance knowing she was basically going to die once it was found out that the glove type used was actually NOT good for the chemical used (contrary to what was understood at the time). A lot about mercury poisoning was learned from this case to be applied to future medical cases. It also changed procedure in how to grade PPE used for toxic organomercury compounds and other heavy metals.
Even in her dying days, she still contributed to science and safety.
May she rest in peace...
@@OverseerMoti yes... R.I.P
May she Rest In Peace ❤️
Well said! She knew better than most what could be learned from this experience. And it can definitely be said she saved lives because of her contributions.
You're saying it wasn't known by anyone that this stuff penetrates latex?
"dimethyl mercury"
me (a chemist): what the hell, why wasn't she wearing proper protection for that...oh.......oh so she's the one who warned us. Here's to you KW, I honor you for protecting all those who came after you (including me)
Karen Weterhann is her name
@@tobiassiagian2562 💜
@@tobiassiagian2562 why would you say that the name is hidden for a reason
@@eyeofcthulhu9602 its already public anyways so people who want to know more can also search the name. I get that its for privacy but its on the internet anyways, and the incident happened on 1997 and she is also a well known scientist
@@tobiassiagian2562 Adding to ypur point, 1:52
I took a bioinorganic chemistry course last semester and our professor had personal connection with her, sharing her story as we learned about heavy metals. RIP
Hell yeah dude! Megadeth!
I remember as a child , being sick in bed and dropping the mecury filled thermometer onto the floor. The glass must have shattered spilling the liquid mecury onto the floor. I was fascinated staring at the liquid metal and how it moved. I don't remember if I touched it , but do remember wanting to play with it. This was in the late 70s, early 80s.
@@lucialuciferion6720nice story but that’s elemental mercury and not the dimethyl mercury seen here
@@jonforhan9196
still, while touching elementary mercury is harmless, it evaporates and gets absorbed in your lungs, creating the same pathology as described in this video.
"Upon autopsy" I always get so heartbroken when I hear that. So many of Emu's stories make it to recovery, it always hurts to hear about the ones who don't.
Fallon Wetzel Especially given who she was... Truly a an amazing scientist and a tragic loss.
TRIX TRIX wow
TRIX TRIX that’s fucked up. Why would you say something like that?
ATLaS
Because it’s true
TRIX TRIX No. It’s not. Her being amazing or not had nothing to do with her death, though she was an amazing scientist. It was the faulty safety systems put in place, that was the reason she died. She died because the dimethyl mercury got absorbed into her skin through the glove. Whether she was amazing or not wouldn’t have changed the outcome. So no, it’s not true. She is an amazing person nonetheless.
Her name was Karen Wetterhahn, and she was an extraordinary chemist. She worked at Dartmouth College, where she established the Women in Science Project, doubling the percentage of women pursuing science degrees. She was exposed to a lethal dose of dimethylmercury in 1996, and less than a year later, in 1997, the scientific world lost one of its brightest and most inquisitive minds. Her legacy lives on in both her efforts to involve more people, especially women, in the sciences, and her colleagues' efforts after her death to increase workplace safety and the regulation of harmful chemicals.
Karen Wetterhahn: Oct 16, 1948 - Jun 8, 1997.
I heard about this story from my College Geology professor who was studying under Wetterhahn for her doctorate. really chilling story.
I never thought it would get this kind of exposure
Due to bioethical reasons, you should not reveal the name of the patient. That is exactly why the presenter used her initials only to identify her. Those in the medical field will know that one should only be identified by their initials in presentations for privacy and confidentiality. Edit your comment and remove the name please. You can pay homage to her by other means but certainly not here.
It's right in the video captions, lol. Lighten up; this is UA-cam, and context matters.
@@hedayatsm553 Hi. I'm *in* the medical field, and have been for some time.
Not only is the Wetterhahn case widely known and distributed in medical and safety literature, she's right there in the description.
Perhaps condescend about bioethics to somebody else. I'm well aware of HIPAA, and have been since before my days treating patients in the Navy. Using initials is standard, but Wetterhahn's story outside her diagnosis and treatment are just as valuable to industrial hygiene and science education as her treatment was to medicine.
Thank you, and have a lovely day.
With that much dimethyl mercury in her brain, she was lucky, or should I say extremely unlucky, to survive that long. She was an absolute legend. She kept her composure and decided we should learn from her tragedy.
My uneducated ass would have been dead in a week. I wouldn't have had enough brain matter to last as long as she did.
and all these blowhard 'wannabe-tough' guys always bragging about: tough under pressure.... this woman was the absolute epitome of tough! Hard-fucking-core! RESPECT! 'Never met a wise man, always was a wo-man..' -Kurt Cobain (I miss you GrandmaLu)
@@mostevokish calm down go talk with your friends
@@jaigoyal1382 presumptuous to think i have any isn't it?
@@mostevokish with your comments, yes yes it is
7:47 That got me. That's incredibly sad and horrifying to think about: "There's someone inside, but that person is trapped in a prison of her own comatose body."
Nothing less than a tragedy, I can only hope that with the awareness brought by this case, lives have been saved. Thank you for your work, Professor Wetterhahn.
Should be mandatory to watch this video in college for any chemist course or any educational course that even has the remotest possibility of coming in contact with this form of mercury.
This is a well-known case among Chemistry students.
I had a friend who studied chem at Sydney uni who told me a story about a girl in his prac class who pipetted potassium cyanide with her mouth. The teacher turned and saw her as she was doing it and just froze. Luckily for her, it was perfect, but as soon as she finished and took her lips of the pipette the teacher lost his shit at her. She was expelled from the course immediately. No matter how clear you are with safety instructions, consequences etc, some people will just never get it.
@@alaricgoldkuhl155 That is horrifyingly and alarmingly stupid.
@@LordPrometheous Better than the professor having to explain to a parent why their child is in the morgue for sure. Most people prefer embarrassment to death.
@@alaricgoldkuhl155 then her expulsion was a win-win.
Karen Wetterhahn was her name, rest in peace
She was a (ethnic) german🇦🇹🇩🇪
Spoilers
@@WASletter Her name sounds german
@@papercuts777 nobody really cares
@@papercuts777 yeah im sure every viewer is reading all 31k comments. Jackass.
It’s sad that many safety rules are written in blood. Thank you Dr.
You did a very impressive job, on explaining this!!
I appreciate you for all of this ❤️
God Bless 🙏
progress is made one funeral at a time 😞
Unfortunately, no one knew in the WORLD that dimethal mercury could penetrate latex gloves. A fatal flaw obviously.
Y’know, while pondering on all this something occurred to me:
There’s no telling how many people have had to die throughout history in the process of establishing laws, regulations, procedures, protocols, and practices on safety. Many safety rules are in place because someone died or was seriously/life-changingly injured.
@@129140163 If you think that's sad, consider the number of people who, to this day, must still die before many civil governments will install a traffic light.
Nothing worse than being an expert in a field, seeing the symptoms and slowly realising that you know exactly what is happening and what's to come. The description of her appearing to be screaming, then back to no response... That is terrifying... either she was suffering from some type of locked in syndrome, or briefly comes back to sentience, like dying multiple times. This is just absolutely terrifying.
btw one thing the stupid indians of the world continue to forget is that subtitles are really read.
@@Brandon_Polen What do you mean, why don't people care anymore?
@@Brandon_Polenyou will be falling over unalive four days
@@Brandon_Polen what are you talking about?
Bro hit the mercury a little too hard that night
Dude you are awesome ... the fact that you ..
1. explained the mercury toxicity
2. Physiology of cerebellum
3. Basic pharmacokinetics concept
All in such an interactive way.
I dont think people realise how genius your case discussions are. Thank you.
Agreed . He is a treasure.
@@thomassutherland5188 totally
Are you a doctor or pharmacist?
@@George30302 Almost doctor aka med student
@@MrJunomein Very nice... It's truly a dream come true to become doctor after clearing AIPMT and Neet...All the best di for future endeavours 👍🏻
The scary thing is that she was still conscious, but neurologically trapped and unable to act.
One foot in, one foot out. Neither nor either.
Probably the worst way to go.
I have no mouth and I must scream
It's like sleep paralysis.
@@wecare9192 but you arent comfy in bed
*One of her former students said that "Her husband saw tears rolling down her face. I asked if she was in pain.*
*The doctors said it didn't appear that her brain could even register pain."*
*Wetterhahn was removed from life support and died on June 8, 1997.*
@@PP-qi1nk This video is about dimethylmercury, not Thimerosal. Other types of mercury (such as thimerosal or elemental mercury) are nowhere near as harmful as dimethylmercury.
@@PP-qi1nk Autism is better than dying of tetanus tho
@@PP-qi1nk VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM. FFS
@@PP-qi1nk Also, autism is not a "behaviorial issue". It's a neurological difference that people are born with.
@@PP-qi1nk Oh ho ho, we got an anti-vaxxer on our hands!
The fact that she knew... and the possibility that there could be even a glimpse of a moment in which she was fully cognitive on the inside but felt the limbs and senses started to become unresponsive is literally making me walk around the room in fear of what such moment would feel
Hi
That's how ALS and other Neurodegenerative diseases work. It's scary
Thank god I only tend to eat 64,000 kgs of salmon in one sitting... I wouldn't want that to happen to me
@Locust Hypnosis haha that's actually what my house happens to look like, yes. Except, my bed is made entirely of salmon XD
@Locust Hypnosis all of the above. It's really hard to watch tv when all they seem to broadcast is a pale, fleshy shade of pink haha
@Locust Hypnosis haha, salmon is always on the menu! No worries, thanks to you, too 😂😋
The Mercury can slowly build up with each normal serving of salmon
@@drabnail777 STAP IT STAAAAP STAAAAAAAAAAAP STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I read an article in which KW was interviewed about this incident. She didn't ignore the spill. She was wearing two pairs of latex or neoprene gloves. She saw the two drops hit her gloved hand, she immediately removed her gloves and washed her hands. She then went to the hospital and received treatment for heavy metal poisoning. It didn't help she was dying by the time the magazine article was written and new she would not survive. That stuff is so toxic that lethal dose got through the gloves in seconds and her skin and remained toxic despite immediate treatment. Keep that stuff locked up.
Jesus...
Hypothetically speaking, could sawing off her hand have saved her?
@@tsjoencinema it absorbs so fast into her blood stream it would be too late before she even realised it
@@tsjoencinema Maybe, but then there's all that loss of blood to deal with. There's also the question of how quickly does it move through the body from the initial site. By the time you get to the saw and setup it might be too late. Kind of like cyanide, once its in you it's pretty much over.
I would like to read the article. May I know the link or title of the article? or where it can be found?
organomercury compounds of one of the few things i refuse to work with for exactly this reason. Keep up the good work. Awesome video
NurdRage nice seeing you here :)
NurdRage it's cool how UA-camrs watch each other's videos
ua-cam.com/video/-g3EpSTiAO8/v-deo.html
Ayyyyyy lmao
Come on guys. Calm down.
My mother has had classic MS, which attacks the milan sheath of the nervous system since she was 31 and she’s now 91. The thought of suffering such a fate compressed into mere months is horrifying. My mother is finally in a wheelchair, but she and my 94-year-old father still enjoy life together as they finally wear out.
Learned about this case last semester in a chemical engineering safety course. The wild part that wasn't mentioned here was that the safety data sheet that's printed on every chemical bottle stated that the type of gloves she was using was the correct material to handle it. So despite doing everything correct given what she knew, she still died. To fact check me search CSB safety dimethyl mercury
Not the wildest part, the saddest part. This wasn't a human error, this was a mistake in science that lead to the death of a prominent researcher. I learned about this event first thing in my chemistry class as a warning about material hazards and safety.
@shane I'm in steel fab so I use one of those daily...I just try and ignore the thought..
@shane it was actually a CSB video comment that brought me here. Crazy stuff.
If the type of gloves was correct, how did the mercury get through to her skin?
@@ysammo214 because it wasn't really correct, that's the 'lesson' her case gave
Gosh this is so sad, it's actually a famous case. She followed all of the proper established safety procedures but said procedures and gloves were unknowingly insufficient.
Because of her they've been updated today to prevent this in the future... at least this tragedy has a silver lining that will benefit future scientists, if not her.
ValensBellator lol nah this don’t benefit her she died
Madam curie died of radiation as well.
@@TheReaper569 She was different though she exposed herself on purpose because she believed that we shouldn't test on humans or animals unwillingly so her AND her husband ( who died in a carriage crash I believe ) exposed themselves willingly and studied the effects.
@@narthic No No No.
At her time radioactivity was not fully understood especily its harmful effects. She didnt know that it was very dangerous.
I'm an RN and read years ago that the purple nitrate gloves could allow some liquids and chemicals to seep through during exposure. Some cancer medications and a few other medications are extremely toxic if skin touches them. Always be very careful with chemicals and medications, even with gloves on. Such a sad story.
She played her part in advancing science, but, oh man, this story is just so sad every time I hear it.
Indeed. And it kindof terrifies me that we live in a universe with things that are this deadly!
@@alpheusmadsen8485 two drops of nicotine concentrated to the level of dimethyl mercury she was using would have killed her outright in a day. that's about the level of nicotine from 30 packs of cigarettes. the difference being when you smoke cigarettes, you aren't smoking 300 all at the same time, so your body gets a chance to process the nicotine before it builds up enough toxicity to become lethal.
that said, I would still rather have gotten the immediate kill from the nicotine, instead of the long, drawn out, brain shutdown she experienced. that is probably the worst way to die I can imagine.
I love how you also explain the meaning behind the words by using their stems. It makes the terminology so much easier to understand for us non-medical folks!
Well said
it certainly has helped me decode all these long ass medical terms!
The fact that she suffered... It wasn't just an immediate death and she was fully aware and trapped in her body... I just want to cry at that fact.
it reminds me of a chemistry teacher I had in high school. She was terrible at her job and so many students hated her. The students were so confused why she acted so strangely and how did she keep her job? Was it because she was old and senile? It got out that she had previous exposure to mercury and it changed her demeanor. because of the exposure she got irrationally mad, and get easily confused. It made her hair go completely white early and other symptoms I'm sure I never noticed. This video reminded me of her, I hope she's doing ok.
Maty Boi umm is that my husband hwang hyunjin 😍
Straykidstrash_ :/
For months she saw her body slowly deteriorate until she went into a coma then she was trapped in her own body. Just a conscience thinking in and on and on and on until she died
A lot of people actually die that way, but from different illnesses. Imagine heart failure, some are instant, some paralyzes half your body, 1 side. Some causes brain damage, if you live through all of these, it will be a bad story. The end of most people's lives will humble THE FUCK out of you. Welcome to life, beginning til end, good luck everyone.
I like how he says, "two drops" as the actor drips like 10 on her hand.
maddie that’s not what they meant “dumbass”
@maddie When was the original commenter implying it was actually mercury... Never... -_- Also, the person who replied to you meant to say "That's not what they meant"...
maddie it could be glue
@maddie why did you need to call OP a dumbass? Who hurt you?
maddie Where did they imply that is was mercury??? Oh and dumbass isn’t that big of an insult think of something better, thank you :)
Just discovered this channel a few days ago. Really enjoy these case studies and the scientific approach to their presentation.
That's why i'm subscribed these vids are really entertaining
These videos could easily be a TV show. I would watch it!
I think it would have been ok if you mentioned her full name,--Karen Wetterhahn, a renowned and amazing scientist.
Uh no. He can get sued and besides it's his thing with initials
Her name is widely known. He just kept to the same video format.
@@planerdude88she's an extremely public figure in modern science
@@planerdude88It’s not just his thing, it’s standard practice in human subjects research.
@@planerdude88 *For what ?!!**
She went to my high school and her chemistry professor was still there when I went there.
He told us about this.
Wow!
This happened when I was a chemistry undergrad. It scared the hell out of me.
Professor in high school?
@@peppigue Kids these days. 😂 They so silly.. so stupid. 🤣
@@peppigue there are private schools that are owned by universities, with uni professors teaching the students so it's technically possible, dunno if that's the case here tho
This made me cry... She must have been so terrified as she helplessly died trapped in her breaking body. Death might have been a merciful end. I am so heartbroken for her. She died from the work she did to protect others
Reverie626 shut up
Yeah, stfu.
Fuck it I’m gonna shoot mercury into my groin
A Mercuriful end
Tyler Minegar wtf???
What a horrible way to die. I hope she was not “in there” during the last moments of her life. Trapped with no way to communicate, but fully aware and processing thoughts would be just the worst way to go.
Wasn't she, though? When she eventually develops impaired cognition at 7:43, don't know for how long until she passed away.
He said that she was trapped inside her body and she would have known what is happening sadly smh
I'd use the last cognition I did have when I realized what was destined to happen to get to a state with assisted suicide and get it over with, it would be the last thing I did while I still could.
@@cipley yes stfu
Given her specialty she might have focused on studying this rare case. Just like that Russian scientist reporting on his own death from an infectant he was studying.
I think this is so fascinating yet still heartbreaking at the same time. KW (aka Karen Wetterhahn) was a great mind and inspiration to many other scientists, especially female scientists (which were not common fields for women then). This just goes to show how dangerous certain chemicals can be, and in general, just how dangerous it is to be a chemist. To all of my fellow chemists, always always always always be very cautious. And to Karen Wetterhahn, thank you for the sacrifice and knowledge you have given this generation. Rest well Professor.
Not just this generation. To humanity forever.
It's so hard to wrap my head around, and so scary, that a drop of something falling on a GLOVED hand for a few seconds could result in something like this 5 months later. Mind blowing. Fascinating video as always
And the fact that they didn't know Latex was insufficient is really troubling. Karen did everything exactly as she should have: she removed the gloves immediately, washed her hands, and went straight to the hospital for heavy metal poisoning. But if you had a drop or 2 of dimethylmercury on your hand when you wrote this comment, you would probably already be dead.
@@MisterFribble I honestly can't believe the small contact was enough to kill. Chemicals are scary
The dimethyl moiety in the pipette spilled on my dorsum causing ataxic gait..🧟
I know right bro, it’s scary
@@badmonkey2222 do what lol?
I remember reading about this. She was a well known and highly respected professor who was following all protocols. Unbeknownst to her (and the entire research field) was that the gloves that were prescribed to be worn when working with this do not prevent it from permeating to the skin. Tests after her poisoning showed that dimethylmercury permeated the gloves in as little as 15 seconds. This is really nasty sh*t
Was the illness caused from the mercury appeared quickly or slowly? Sorry for bad english
Just say shit you pussy
So she died or survived and if survived she will stabilize or not?
@@lomek4559 Did you watch video? Do word "autopsy" tells you anything?
What I don't understand is why those gloves wasn't tested before someone died ^^
Rest in pease Karen Elizabeth Wetterhahn. She passed on June 8, 1997.
This is a truly sad story. I just couldn’t help but notice the tragic irony in her last name.
Karen Wetterhahn died because she “wet her hand”, w a very poisonous substance.
I don’t mean to be disrespectful in any way. It’s just something that came to mind and wouldn’t go away.
My deepest condolences to her husband, family and those who knew her personally.
Rest well Karen.
@@robremorse im sure her relatives are laughing their asses off reading your poetry
"Prof." and "peace"
@@robremorse Do you feel any regret over this comment?
@@tonywallens217 Why? He didn't say anything disrespectful.
I find stories like this fascinating. Scientists who know exactly what is happening to them but they still do their jobs as scientists.
In a similar vein, in the 1940s, one of the leading nuclear scientists in the world lived in Nagasaki and survived the bomb but got a massive exposure to radiation. He documented his radiation sickness and that information is still used today.
This is scarier than those horror stories.
Leh yeah
Ikr, this could happen to anyone if they mishandled or underestimate the danger of these materials.
Cause it is real
I sent this video to my chemistry teacher and got her to show the video to the entire class to promote lab safety. Thank you for making the content that you make!
i need hazmat to protecc me from dissecc froggo
although lab safety is the most important thing when working with chemicals and such, i assume that most chemicals you will work in class though are laughable compared to this mercury compound.
that doesnt mean you shouldnt take things serious though. im working in a lab as well and trying to minimize exposure to chemicals is always a good thing. many things can have effect on you when working with these things for years.
Corey91666 Yeah, we used to play with a different grade of mercury in class while wearing no protection and many kids had old mercury thermometers break in their mouth and were perfectly fine.
Safety is good but people act like hysterical lunatics around old mercury thermometers now. A kid in Florida brought one in to his science class and they evacuated the school and called in a Hazmat team to remove it. It was completely in tact. No cracks, breaks, etc.
I'm fairly sure chem teachers know about lab safety, considering for the most part THEY TEACH IN A LAB
"many kids had old mercury thermometers break in their mouth and were perfectly fine."
Except those who were not, or over time accrued enough mercury and lead (given that there was lead in petrol in those days) to die.
You just made the all to common error of "survivorship bias".
Just because what happened to you did not kill you immediately, does not make it safe.
I like how you get into the point instead of clickbaiting
Ilovetheblob forreal this guy is good af... straight with the title start literally it’s the first sentence.. this guys a good ass youtuber
I almost didn't click because of the title
If only every single video was like that
ilovedeblob It's what you call interesting titles or eyecatching presentation. Clickbait is pretty much writing A Celebrity Nude Leaked as the title while the video itself is just a 10-minutes long video of emptiness.
And kev dog...maybe you should hit the library to expand your vocabulary lol
This is the first time I say it in public. I am a medical student myself and this happened to me in my first year of studying. 3 years ago I was exposed to mercury intoxication which was present in fish. I felt very bad after eating the meal and immediately after 20 minutes my body reacted by vomiting all that bad food. I did not even really think it could have been an intoxication. Without any thoughts I went to sleep and nothing happened in the next days. Exactly one week later I started to have really strange discomfort in my abdominal region such as pain and cramps. I left the lecture and went home. On my way home I experienced disorientation and difficulties in my balance or motoral functions.
That day I couldn't move out of my couch. I was laying there straight with only being able to move my eyes for three hours. After this my most horrific time in my life started. I called ambulances every evening straight for 4 days. The doctors could not find anything in my blood, urine, organs, x-rays, CT's, MRI's and ultrasound.
Pain started in my chest, which made no sense, because there can't be any type of pain in the areas and it was not caused by any organs or muscles.
Finally, after very precise examination and diagnostic tests, my doctor was able to diagnose an intoxication with fish product which was mercury. He told me that he had already a patient with the same symptoms and it took him up to three years to get back to "normal" life and health.
Exactly as he told, I gained slowly my health back over three years. During this time I had extreme pain and discomfort in my whole body, fatigue, decrease of concentration and the ability to memorize things and loss of weight due to loss of appetite. All this together also created a type of depression.
For you guys, I really want to remind you to pay high attention to every food and product you buy. Always check for the date of production or preparation! I don't wish anyone to experience such a horrific time in their life.
I can't even imagine how Karen Wetterhahn must have felt after her intoxication. Rest in peace.
What you went through sounds horrible, and I'm glad you made it through it. I don't think it's fair to say that you went through the same thing as KW though, what you were exposed to was not dimethylmercury. If it was, you almost certainly wouldn't still be with us today.
Hope med school is going well for you though! Best of luck, from a random stranger on the internet.
So sorry for what you went through. What type of fish did you eat that caused this?
This has happened to me with mercury ingestion from Albacore Tuna. I'm at about year 7 and slowly recovering. I'd be interested to see what you did to recover. Thanks.
@@taylor6552 how do you get so poisoned by mercury in fish? Where did this fish came from and why didnt you sue thw company that sell it?
@@ClaudiaM-f1y mercury comes up through the food chain in the ocean. The larger predatory fish like albacore tuna accumulate mercury in their flesh. If you eat enough, like me, your body will be unable to detoxify quickly enough and mercury gets into your cells. Conventional medicine doesn’t recognize you can get poisoned by eating too much fish. So there would be no use to pursue legal action as I couldn’t back it up with much medical research. It was also my ignorance to eat so much of their product.
Thats a very sad story :(
Techtastisch | Experimente und Lifehacks ahah Deutsche hier!
Hätte nicht gedacht das man dich hier sieht
Zum glück ist gallium ungefährlich
:)
TheNerds19 ...this Story actually happended.
Also it wouldnt be Count as Suicide
Techtastisch | Experimente und Lifehacks ಠ_ಠ It is!
This is a true story. KW is Karen Wetterhahn. Even the wiki on dimethylmercury mentions this story as a “common toxicology case-study”.
I struggled to comprehend medical science and biology in high school and college, but I was able to follow his detailed explanations completely. His delivery was concise and had a level of seriousness that had my attention. Well done.
@@sparkie996 Amen
This guy rates a 10 in my book for his ability to disseminate complex information to dull normals like me.
@@sparkie996 exactly
The writers did a really good job. The delivery was dispassionate, but clear.
I mean he's not going as in depth as a class would.
I love the way he explains the meaning of each medical term by breaking it down
Me too sure helps out
Indeed
Right!??
Facts
And that's why he has over 12 million views on just this one video. People enjoy understanding these types of concepts but don't have a teacher that can express it in the proper way/ in laymans terms. Chubbyemu does just that, if not a bit dryly though
I had a science teacher in my secondary school (located in a city in southwest England called Bristol). Amazing guy, Very, very smart and always adding to our learning by supplementing other general science facts which I and many others even minutely interested in the subject found utterly fascinating all the time. He told us this story about him as a young child getting a temprature reading, most of the thermometers at the time contained Mercury, this is probably sometime in the 60s/early 70s as he was in his late 50s teaching us in 2015. But he bit the thermometer too hard causing it to break releasing a few grams of pure mercury into his mouth, he was expected to pass away by most estimates or survive with severe neurological decline. Luckily he survived and amazingly even with that certain neurological decline he got a Degree in chemistry and became a teacher. Still one of my favourite teachers and I really hope he's doing well as I don't remember seeing him again after 2018. Thanks for reading, Rest in Peace KW
In high school chem class someone asked the teacher what would happen if you ate a little mercury metal. He said it would come out the other end fast enough that it probably wouldn’t do much if any damage. He wasn’t a doctor so I’m not sure how correct he was, but considering the many decades we used mercury thermometers with kids, I doubt it was a death sentence.
UPDATE: After googling a bit it seems my teacher was right. Of course you shouldn’t intentionally eat mercury, but a one time accidental exposure like swallowing a drop from a broken thermometer is unlikely to be harmful.
The most toxic aspect of metallic mercury is that it it can easily evaporate, and then be inhaled/breathed in.
metalic mercury is a lot less dangerous than organic compounds of it. Due to how comparatively badly its absorbed. Still toxic though.
I'm not certain that the mercury found in thermometers (elemental or metallic mecury) is the same as dimethylmercury
@@lalathebenificent1335 its nothing like it
And this is why you report all chemical spills and exposures to your lab manager, no matter how small or insignificant you think it is. I should make this mandatory watching for my lab.
That wouldn't work, since it would acclimate the lab manger to the idea that most reported to him/her are harmless, and may result in spills receiving less attention than they should. Unfortunately there is no solution here that is more simple than making sure all lab employees understand and regularly review the relevant chemistry and safety procedures.
@@RendezvousWithRama Well, (good) IT always says that each and every suspicious event should be reported, be it an unexplained webcam light or a harmless spam mail. Because almost always it is noting, but that one time there is something wrong, you know it immediately.
Referring to iron monkey, I don't know if there would have been hope for rescue after the exposure, but the chances are better the sooner you treat it.
Reviewing the safety protocols and prosedures as well as executing utmost care should just be augmented by tighter reporting habits, never replaced. Prevention is paramount, anything else is damage control. :)
@@NochSoEinKaddiFan Well, you didn't say every suspicious spill. You said every spill no matter how small or insignificant.
@@RendezvousWithRama You might not have to report spilling water or something the potency of vinegar, but if we start talking sulfuric acid it might be good to know. Just in case you didn't leave the place spotless or there are still gases lingering and there is a potentially dangerous reaction with components of the following experiment.
I'd rather report more than not enough, just in case.
@@NochSoEinKaddiFan I agree with that. You don't have to report insignificant spills. You do have to report ones that need reporting. That's kind of what I was saying - that there is no simplistic militant solution to this. Education is really the only answer. Make sure that the lab employees know the difference between methylcellulose and HFIP, and what needs to be done in those cases, etc.
You're telling me I can't eat 144,000 pounds of salmon in one sitting?
Challenge accepted imma do it
Sure you can, but if your appetite is really that huge, it would be best for everyone if you passed away in the same manner as the scientist. Big population, limited food resources you know.
There goes my weekend plans
@@EmeraldEyesEsoteric your extra fun at parties aren't ya?
I wouldn't know, I never get invited to any...
A truly incredible video. Great work as always!
I just came from your video
Just saw your reply at Chubbyemu's comment on your vid lol
Edit: and also, your video was awesome by the way!
just finished your vid man
I came from your video
Came here because of Mrballin, subbed for the incredible job you did!
That doctor of chemistry was so accomplished and gave her life in pursuit of research. Terrible loss.
When I worked in labs, way back in the 1980’s, a problem we had was finding gloves and other safety equipment which fit. The women omen wore XS or S, but very few were ordered in those sizes. We would request more of those and fewer Large and XLarge. The reply was that each lab was stocked with what the majority of employees used. The empty box of small gloves can lead to a snap decision to use a different type of glove. Each type of material has different properties. Some might absorb liquids you’re using and others would protect you. In my case, large gloves worn to protect up to the elbow were so loose, the liquid I needed to avoid splashed inside the opening and ran down my arm. I was working with HF acid solution. Luckily, I was barely injured, but I was rushed to the hospital just in case. (my boss also threw a bucket of dilute base on me, to help and surprise me)
Glove protection was just part of the problem, but there were many problems regarding what was considered average size. I hope now that the women in the lab now can have more influence over lab design, equipment layout, and accessory sizes. We were advanced enough to start earning more science degrees, but still had much to prove to gain respect.
Safety can make all the difference.
The situation in the video really brings back so much.
That's really sad. The idea of being trapped in your increasingly-disabling body and only being able to let out cries or moans periodically is so horrible. RIP for that woman.
Not RIP for that woman , it is : Let Her RIP / may her soul RIP . A minute of silence for her story .
@@ssksleepyboy Nah just Rip
Agreed. Have you ever read the book watched the movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?
@@ssksleepyboy dont be a dick
She now in heaven...May god bless her.
You contributed so much with your sacrifice and your knowledge. Rest well Professor Karen Wetterhahn.
Karen "wet her hand" God has a sick sense of humor.
@@Smile200-z4y More like no sense of humor and no brain cells.
@@sanxxxx it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. the death is nothing to joke around, I agree, but I don’t think they meant any harm
It's sad though the sweet name Karen is now used for offending people 😞
Man, the most terrifying part is that it went through her glove immediately.
Yes, I watched to the end (which I rarely do) to see exactly what gloves could have saved her life. I use nitrile gloves once in a while and I swear stuff like acetone feels like it goes right thru.
@@thzzzt Same, unfortunately not all gloves provide the same protection. Acetone, DCM, DMF, and THF all go through nitrile gloves pretty quickly. I think DMSO does too but it's not that toxic, although it dissolves so many other chemicals that it provides a way for more toxic compounds to get into the body.
thzzzt acetone feels like that regardless of what gloves you wear. Because it boils off your hand
O.P. Yates Yeah THF is nasty. Sometimes DMSO almost smells like olives to me. I mostly use the deuterated form for NMR but maybe that smells different than normal DMSO?
How expensive is the hair test? If cheap it seems like doing that monthly for persons that work with organic mercury is a good idea.
as someone who struggles with what-ifs and anxiety and ocd but still likes content like this, i really really appreciate the comments about the salmon. it helps to qualm those things and i think you should include comparisons like that and likelihoods in your videos when applicable :D
My friend, OCD and anxiety are symptoms of mercury toxicity. Lots of people have it in smaller degrees than this scientist had and it causes all kinds of physical and psychological disorders. Comes from amalgam fillings, immunizations, and other sources. I have mercury toxicity. I'm going to chelate with Andy Cutlers protocol. The IV protocols plus cilantro and chlorella are all unsafe, surprisingly.
The thought that hospital staff caught a glimpse of the true suffering during her random short bursts screaming, crying, and flailing, surrounded by much longer periods of unresponsiveness...that always gets to me.
Cases such as this is one of the few times assisted suicide should be legal. Assisted Suicide should be THE final thing to consider and she was not living anymore, only suffering. As much as I want to live, if I were in the same situation and had the opportunity to off myself in a way that isn't messy, I or my next of kin would have taken that option.
She should've offed herself.
Same here I can't even wrap my head around it that is just tragic
The body feels pain even I the brain doesn't seem to respond.
What if the nurse sent her home without seeing a dr. Playing Dr prevents early treatment, costs lives
Did anyone else cringe when the gloved hand rubbed the non gloved hand to see if there was anything there??🤦🏽♀️
I screwed up my face so hard like WTF
wtf is with thw emojis
@@pintilgorf you probably can't see what the emoji is supposed to be because you don't have it. That's what my phone does
Well if she literally did that when it happened then, welp, we have our answer as to why she got exposed lmao
ha ha ha ha ha yip!
My condolences to KW's family. Thank you for sharing her story. The accident may have taken her future, but she chose to make preparations so it wouldn't happen to others. What a human being.
Finally a good comment. Everyone is just making jokes, but someone passed away. What's funny about that?
It might sound weird but I like to read the comments while I hear the videos and your comment was a spoiler, you could've warned me 😂
Fuc kYourAds if you think every depressed person eventually commits suicide you're dumb as fuck. The amount of depressed people that do suicide is very low.
Fuc kYourAds so only people who suicide are considered depressed? Mam you should consider growing up a bit and doing some research before saying bullshit
This has quickly become one of my favorite channels on YT. Karen Wetterhahn was a leader in her field and an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College. Great story and reporting!
I have never been more afraid to touch anything in my entire life
Agreed :/
crunchy limestone you eating worst everyday you just fo not feel it yet!!!
med kiss no you’re not eating anything worse than mercury smh
med kiss no
med kiss no just no.....
This was probably the scariest thing I have seen all year
And its still january
I suggest you watch the story of a man exposed to high level of radiation
ua-cam.com/video/BTa46EKzl_g/v-deo.html
And the firebombing of the German city of Dresden
ua-cam.com/video/tU5u7aoSxFQ/v-deo.html
rob rotten maybe I'll let this one sink in for a couple weeks before I try the links you suggested. Ha i can only take soo much terror at a time
yeah, its crazy how sensitive the body is to some substances, it really makes me rethink what my skin touches because it absorbs just about anything.
XxSteamStreamxX I have heard stories of DEA agents cleaning up after raiding lsd laboratories and coming into contact with a few drops of pure lsd unintentionally. I guess it was the equivalent of like 10,000 doses.
I hate how some people in the comment sections keep saying when they were young they played with mercury and nothing happened... Different mercury.....
When I was younger... Haha. I won't do it.
I listed to Freddy MERCURY and nothing happened.
I listened to Freddy Mercury and I got really damaged. I mean, a great artist like him dying sucked.
Drama Queen i broke a Thermometer... and nothing happened:b
Same reason some people make a ridiculous to-do about the mercury compounds used in vaccine storage. Chemistry isn't always immediately intuitive and unfortunately people don't know that.
I like it when people make content that explains things in a way even laymen can understand them. This series, along with others like the Chevrolet videos from the 1930s are some really good ones to watch.
Karen Wetterhahn 1948-1997
Thank you for your contribution to the scientific community
Aon Arts
Stop making shit up
fei likes cereal~
This is not fake. It’s very real.
This is actually real look it up.
fei likes cereal She's even on Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn
fei likes cereal ????? you claim its fake when you don't know jack shit on the subject lol
“Take care of yourself, and be well.”
me: *puts down tabasco bottle filled with dimethyl mercury*
There goes my Friday
_yeet_
I was loading a bowl of ice when he said that :/
yngfljm did you quit your meth habit yet
I hope you had properly disposed of it as per hazardous material...
Some people in comments seems to have a neurological disorder without having any kind of exposure to mercury.
Vi Con like you? Because you know you can get neurological disorders without being exposed to mercury right? There are
Other things that can give you neurological disorders.
Vi Con I giggled
I love this
That’s called retardation.
u wot m8?
It feel so bad knowing that someone as smart such as her didn't make it while other people doing dumb stuff gets through.
Think about how many lives she has saved because of what we learned from her.
Unfortunately since he said there are only a few recorded cases, probably not many. As time progressed though, I'm sure she will save lives
@@harryleiter6164 he was saying how many people will be way more careful around mercury
Lol, about how useful women are in stem
@@americanjoe5486 I heard stories my father in hight school told me there was a guy that had some in his locker and it fale and broke and the guy didnt know it and his hair and teeth fale out .🤔
@@erex9875 organic mercury is very different to elemental mercury used in thermometers etc so it doesnt come into contact with many people. Only scientists specializing in organometallic chemistry deal with it so luckily the risk to people is low.
Fuck man, that must be so scary to go through. Slowly becoming a vegetable, and then becoming a vegetable. Being stuck in your head, not being able to use your body, but you're still aware. Truly a nightmare come true.
Sounds like watching Fox News
Dazed too true man 😂😂😂
hold my breath as i wish for death, oh please god wake me!
Oh man if you hate this then read flowers for Charlie, truly suffocating
Dazed 😂 so true
Mad as a hatter. That’s where the phrase comes from- hatters used to work with mercury and inevitably went mad from chronic exposure
Anna Costello Wisniewski what is a hatter?
Zara a person that makes hats
Zara surely you have seen Alice in wonderland , or through the looking glass! Look at the illustrations of the man with the big hat .Hes the mad hatter , Hence the reference to Mad Hatter in the books & the connection to mercury
@@Zuvie77 a milliner
@@higashiwhy Maybe they wanted to experience conversation?
When i was in 12th grade, my chemistry teacher was showing in lab about some phenolic compound which goes to solid state at room temperature and becomes liquid when it's heated. He also told it's highly flammable and not to play with it. By this time i had already kept it aside in spatula and it spilled on my hand. I washed my hads immediately and my skin became pale. I showed to the chemistry teacher and told the phenolic compound fell on my hand, he scolded and opened a jar with a base chemical that can absorb the acidic compound that fell on my hand. He took the powder and held my hand inside that. After sometime he removed and told me to go take rest and observe if anything happens. I kept observing my fingers and i saw a burned dot forming on tip of my finger. He didn't put the base powder on my finger tips. Since it was just small burn the size of a mole i ignored it and everything went back to normal. If the chemistry teacher didn't act on time, i would have been handicapped.
Always remember not to wash hands if you touched anything acidic. You need to neutralize with base.
I like how you break down what a word means.
GoofyKing me too it’s very informative
Now I know the meaning of "A" lol
GoofyKing Same!
GoofyKing for all of us plebs who don't know what they mean😂😂
Me too Ikr makes the vid so much better
"kw noticed something wrong when she would walk into walls" GIRL
it be like dat sometimes doe
😂
Ernie the Giant Chicken ok
I'm just wondering how wide the walls were? Like, beams in the video or a whole ass wall?
I think, given her background, at that point she had likely already deduced what was causing the problem, and she knew there was not much that could be done for her. that's what makes this story so crushing
I know this video is old but respect to the scientific community for their work. Humanity owes you a great gratitude. RIP KW
Or maybe everything would be better of people were content not to mess with all the crap scientists mess with.
@@noone3734 Many lives are saved because people risk their lives messing with this kind of crap.
@@alpheusmadsen8485 that's highly debatable.
@@noone3734 How? Medical breakthroughs were (and still are) made by pushing the limits.
Just because accidents that happen like this doesn't mean the entire practice should be banned.
@@noone3734 what do you gain from always staying in your comfort zone? you have to push the envelope to make worthwhile progress, and that includes in chemistry and medicine.
Now there are TWO excellent Chubbyemu episodes on this topic, both effective lessons, the second even closer to home for most! Thanks so much! (You're looking better, from that flu you picked up 😊)
Excellent explanation of a very convoluted medical situation in a logical and easy to understand way. Thank-you.
This story should come as no surprise to anyone with a history or science background. Up until top hats went out of style part of the tanning process for beaver pelts involved boiling mercury. This caused brain and mental disorders in many hat makers and is the origin of the term 'mad hatter'.
patrick Wall wow did not know that thanks .. We have same 1st name cool too lol
This is a different compound is it not?
this video is about a different compound. the symptoms aren’t even that similar to what hatters experienced; this chemical can basically cause dyspraxia - grossly impacting motor skills - as well as interrupting brain perception. the kind of mercury hatters were exposed to caused behavioural problems, it was much more psychological and the physical symptoms were painful but not extreme like the ones shown in this video (headaches, shaking. things you can really live with, as horrible as they must’ve been. jagged handwriting is a symptom but it usually comes in much later than this woman experienced, with prolonged exposure without any form of protection.)
Mmmhm...
Lol!! Thanks for that info.....
I was just going to eat 68.000 kilograms of salmon in one siting thanks for saving my life!
I'm pretty sure your stomach would rupture first.
Darth Bacon you're* ;)
Tovarsul Now that's embarrassing.. i'm usually very aware about my spelling to avoid just that! I guess, me too, am stupid as a pile of bricks. :)
If I was in a wheelchair it would be much easier to eat that amount of salmon without getting up.
I can eat maybe 3 pounds, and save your life whilst doing it :-) friends??... give me salmon?
I love how you break down the prefixes and suffixes for words we don't know. It's a great way to learn and helps me understand other videos
I learned more in this video than I did all last year in science class
You should probably pay attention a bit more
Patrick Santos we never even get taught anything
so true
Yah same bro. I ejacualted so hard at the end of the video to 🎉💧😏
They dont teach you english either, huh..?
A man got rejected from a art school...
This is what happened to Europe
a boy doesnt want to become a priest
a man doesnt get to be in an art school
*time for world war two*
Isn’t that hitler
Hairless Chicken hitler
You really had to ruin this by editing in a thanks, its only 200 likes m8
Twice
When I saw the title I immediately knew who KW was and what was to become of her, I think there is few people in the chemistry community who don't know her story. Thank you for the in-depth explanation of what happened.
KW was Karen Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 - June 8, 1997). She was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, who specialized in toxic metal exposure.
Thank you. Some people don't have the balls to say who it was.
Wow 0.0 I live in New Hampshire. I wasn't expecting that. What do they even use that stuff for? Why mess around with stuff that's so dangerous? I just don't understand some of the frontiers of science.
Whattttt my birthday is October 16
@@MaximvsDread You wouldn't be commenting here if those scientists didnt take risks to study things. All you could do is show appreciation on what they do to help us.(or fund them if you're rich).
@@MaximvsDread moron
Okay, don't touch anything, ever. That's what I've learned.
Bradon Hoover yes!
Don't get MRIs with contrast CT scans with contrast immunizations fillings or anything else..
Bradon Hoover but how did you write this comment??
dont touch anything, dont kiss anyone or god forbid have sex with anyone, dont even breathe as it will make you uglier - and more lessons i’ve learned from these kind of videos!
Wanna play tag lol
For those who are unaware - Karen was a(the) leading, and to this day, quite possibly the most, mercury compound researcher. This not only included mercury, but salts, organic and inorganic compounds as well. At that time we knew that organic mercury was extraordinarily dangerous - mostly thanks to her. People already wouldn’t work with the stuff, but she refused to let her findings deter her.
We knew there were compounds like this, but because of her the entire lab safety and material awareness protocol changed. There’s only been a handful of deaths like this since - I entirely contribute that to her. Even as she was approaching death, she used the experience to allow others to learn from.
I’ve worked with organic mercury and DMM. I would feel safer working with a hydrogen bomb. We would suit up and even then, only feel comfortable in a fume hood, with tongs, multiple layers of protection, specialized equipment, and a well in advance planned disposal.
If it wasn’t for her, no doubt many many more would have died. Only her extreme expertise and focus could have been able to determine the cause - thank you Karen.
Well, getting something wrong with a hydrogen bomb, wouldn't lead to such an agonizing prolonged death...
"At that time we knew that organic mercury was extraordinarily dangerous" It was known for decades before her. Organic compounds are generally more dangerous than inorganic. Her sloppiness in the lab was caused by her arrogance, and if she hadn't died, someone else dying would have automatically raised the restrictions and safety protocols. Failure is not a virtue.
@@andychow5509 a woman died lad have some humility, sloppiness and arrogance dont apply to this case as she didnt think she was invulnrable rather it was the ignorence around the general compound that caused it and no anyone dying would have caused the restrictions and safety protocols to be raised, we are standing on the shoulders of many peoples sacrifices and "failures" if it werent for them we would be the ones dying everyday for what we consider to be elementery in modern times. so shut the fuck up
Hi Chev , totally agree with you
If less Ppm Dimethylmercury (2-3) still dangerous or thats curable if someone touch it
@@andychow5509 Failure? Failure of what? The PPE company that made the gloves stated that they were capable of protecting against dimethylmercury, and she performed all the safety precautions at the time.
I remember finding a pint sized bottle (completely full) of mercury in an abandoned paper factory when I was 13yrs old. I'll never forget how astonishingly heavy it was for the size.
My friends and I thought it was coolest thing ever... We were pouring it in our hands, throwing it at each other, some of it even went the river...
I don't remember what happened to that bottle. But I recall finding tiny beads of it in my bedroom carpet for VERY, very long time...
This was almost 30 yrs ago, I sometimes wonder if I'll eventually pay the price for this... Then again, maybe I already am.
Metallic mercury (the kind you found) is on another planet compared to the toxicity of the mercury compound in this video. I mean it’s still not good for you and maybe you lost a brain cell or two but you’ll be fine lol.
It’s like how inhaling chlorine is super deadly but ingesting chlorine when it’s in a different compound (like table salt) is fine.
@@MotorcycleWrites . . . but ingesting the compond Sodium Chloride (NaCl), table salt is fine.
@@candicezinnick3449That's what he just said.
That's enough internet for one night
That's enough science for tonight...
The English Gentleman Lmao 😂
How I’m ending tonight
SUGAKOOKIESWITH ACUPOFTAE army btw
@@yumiaffirmations7083 yayy armies are everywhere
"How should i handle dimethyl merc-"
"YOU DONT"
No this is what you should do if you’re a scientist. If you spell the stuff on your glove our hands immediately go to the hospital and get it checked out
@@xacobthegreat2335 thanks doctor obvious
i broke a lightbulb a few days ago by accident and though i took a literal cdc level cleanup i’m shook
@@ethenoodle1 Dimethyl Mercury isn't the same as elemental (pure) Mercury, which is far less dangerous.
Some things are just not to be touched
There should be a movie about this woman. Maybe one that starts with her growing up as a curious child, becoming an adult who had an intense passion for Chemistry, and finding the love of her life in her husband...all of this, taken away by failure of lab safety. She became a cautionary tale...
maybe netflix could just distribute it
I was a curious child I’m a curious adult now.
That sounds too sensationalized tbh
Doesn't suit the agenda of the powers that be
pretty sure there is an episode of house
God. Imagine doing everything right to the best of your knowledge, and one extremely tiny, immediately remedied mistake destroys your brain and body while you’re one of the experts on what’s happening to it.
I am no chemist or anything near it but this fellow did an outstanding job of explaining everything in an interesting and understandable fashion. Most impressed.
i am a chemist and agreed.
A history tidbit for the few seeing this comment:
Decades ago, NASA was trying to get higher thrust out of rocket engines, and this time they were looking for propellants with higher density than the usual kerosene or hydrazene. Dimethal Mercury is one of the densest combustible molecules, so they ordered several tons of the substance featured in this video for testing.
Earlier, the lab producing Dimethal Mercury had this _exact same thing_ happen to one of their scientists, the one you mentioned. Understandably, they declined to provide the substance, and made sure that the engineers received a very, very detailed lecture on Mercury toxicity.
N i c e
Hmm, yes, let's burn an incredibly toxic organic mercury compound as rocket fuel, i'm sure this won't be the worst ecological decision humanity has ever made
Similar happened with chlorine trifluoride. Basically this chemical burns ridiculously easily, and the Nazis wanted to use it for flamethrowers and bombs. They made 30 tons of the stuff before realizing that it was far too dangerous. Aside from being required to store the chemical in specially fluorine treated metal tanks which stopped it from burning the metal, ClF3 was basically capable of burning anything on contact including concrete, asbestos and metal. In one later incident the chemical burned through 3 feet of concrete floor and then through gravel, spewing out hydrofluoric acid in the process which burned everything it touched. Fires set by using it can’t be extinguished with water or other materials either, which generally make it worse.
Luckily for everyone it never saw combat use and was banned in international law.
Was this propellant called by the Russians Devils Venom?
@@davydiver No. That was a combination of UDMH and nitric acid. Nitric acid is extremely corrosive to most metals (and humans). UDMH, or Unsymmetrical DiMethylHydrazine, is for once exactly as bad as it sounds. It's extremely reactive with many substances, and is both highly toxic and carcinogenic to humans.
Nitric acid rockets have long since been replaced, but UDMH (and its cousins MMH and plain-old hydrazine) along with Nitrogen Tetroxide are still used as propellants because there really isn't anything to fill their niche. Fortunately, their combustion products are fairly safe, and they aren't toxic enough to kill with such little exposure.
Well, that was a depressing way to go to bed. Why did I watch this?!
Yesica1993 Same. It has you think about some awful shit and now it’s hard to go to bed
same😐
It's not too late to watch a Finger Family or chocolate egg surprise opening video...
Same here at 12:05 am :(
I fucked up on my brain right now
being trapped in a body that's unresponsive is probably my biggest fear. What a terrible fate for someone so intelligent.
in conclusion; we need much better gloves.
MibMoot Make robots do it.
Mr. W then make them take over.
There's no such thing as "better gloves," because with all the variety of chemicals out there, you'd make a glove that's impervious to one type of chemical but susceptible to another. In this case, I bet these gloves were great against, say, acids, but their structure let in organic mercury. Chemicals are funny things.
MibMoot yup :p
minetruly, double layered!
this is sad. and if we stop to thinks about it, the advance of science is built in a LOT of sadness.
This is so sad, can we hit disabled vegetables?
+Rage99
you drunk?
Lesson learned don’t fuck with mercury
That's the thing though, not all mercury is created equal. Ethyl mercury isn't the same as Methyl mercury. Ethyl mercury safely leaves the body. Methyl mercury sticks around much longer, which isn't good. I suppose this could have been explained better in this video, but in the end the message should be to take as many precautions as possible when handling chemicals known to harm living tissues.
unless your cody's lab, the dude lives and breathes mercury
I Wear A Fez Now was thinking the same thing this whole video 😂 pretty sure he bathes in it
When i was a kid i held mercury in my hands and played with it my dad was really angry when he caugth me being stupid so i think it explains why im so retarded xD
elemental mercury is safe to handle as long as you dont get any inside you (cuts, etc) not sure where you got hold of mercury at a young age though
I love how you always give a word of warning but without any fear mongering. Here to educate not scare
We are so gifted to have our scientist take sometimes daily risk of fatal infections for our own safety and concerns of survival. I praise and bless each and every.
Be thankful but not all. Scientists treat their lab subjects, very inhuman and toeturous.
@@ayingchanda that is very true. I can imagine that in this day and time. You have a point, it just slipped by me in the moment, thanks.
@@minaimtiznot4327 :(
Don’t use fingers to handle chems
@@ayingchanda Those are some.
This is actually a very famous case in chemistry lab safety. It changed the gloves requirements for Dimethylmercury.
Decades before there was the show "House," I think back to realize that one of my physiology professors was a forerunner. He kept us interested in the scientifically mind numbing details by telling us unusual and puzzling case histories where the things we were supposed to be learning came out in a most human and relevant way.
“It was awkward, imbalanced and disorderly” my life summed up in one sentence.
w o w
same bro
*w a s*
OMG, THE EDGE!!!
lmao yes
This guy speaks in the clearest voice. Even when talking somewhat fast, you know the words he's saying.
English isn't my first language and even I can understand him very well! The way he breaks down complicated scientific terms into their component parts really helps, too.