Re: Russian chess player poisons rival's board with mercury

JAB <here@is.invalid> writes:

In world first, Russian chess player poisons rival's board with
mercury
 
At least it wasn't novichok.
 
Russia is no stranger to unique poisonings. State agents have been
known to use everything from polonium-laced tea to the deadly nerve
agent "novichok" when making assassination attempts against both
defectors in the UK and internal political rivals like Alexei Navalny.
But a new "first" in the long history of poisonings was opened this
month in the Russian republic of Dagestan, where a 40-something chess
player named Amina Abakarova attempted to poison a rival by depositing
liquid mercury on and around her chess board.
 
https://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/08/in-world-first-russian-chess-player-poisons-rivals-board-with-mercury/

This a very curious.  Many kids of my generation played with elemental
mercury as a toy substance.  Some teachers allowed students to put Hg
metal on a coin to demonstrate silver/mercury amalgam and allowed the
students to take the Hg-bearing coin home.  None of us has exhibited
chronic "mad hatter" symptoms, let alone immediate acute poisoning
effects.

Yes, elemental Hg is potentially toxic and Hg at room temp does
evaporate, emiting tiny amounts of Hg vapor.  But engendering prompt
symptoms of illness or cognitive impairment from "depositing" Hg
(which doesn't stick to much of anything except metals w/ which it
formas amalgams and rolls away as tiny beads) from a thermometer around
the chess board puts my bogometer in the red.

--
Mike Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada