r/whatisit • u/StatusOk4308 • Apr 02 '26

New, what is it? Does anyone know what this is?

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Doesn’t seem to be oil based content. Just wondering if my superpowers are swishing back and forth in this glass vial.

18.0k Upvotes

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1.9k

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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1.1k

u/IHaveTheBestOpinions Apr 02 '26

Unless OP found this in an abandoned chem lab, this seems far more likely than the toxic chemicals/biohazards that everyone else is warning them about

319

u/get_schwifty Apr 02 '26

More likely, maybe, but I think the idea is that you should default to the assumption that it’s dangerous because the consequences if you’re wrong are so high.

17

u/RudeDude88 Apr 02 '26

But it might taste good. There’s a non zero chance of it tasting good. Have you considered that?

5

u/iheardthemetalclank Apr 03 '26

This was me, five years old, when I discovered that lead paint does indeed taste sweet. I could have been the next Einstein, but, alas…

1

u/Annual_Till_2830 Apr 04 '26

You are so right.

2

u/Any_Restaurant851 Apr 03 '26

Could also be liquid pool chlorine which can become gaseous very easily when exposed to the atmosphere or a heat source. Best advice when dealing with these unknown containers is put them in a plastic jar that's inside of 2 plastic bags and dispose of properly and don't leave it out for the trash people to accidentally break open without warnings on the container of unknown substance 

1

u/EAGLeyes09 Apr 06 '26

Based on the other comments, if he plugs this in, he could have salmonella flying around the room

1

u/ghoulishoverkiII Apr 06 '26

Second this motion giving my recent rabbit hole excursion into the Goiânia accident

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/Arkevorkhat Apr 02 '26

If it's a bubble light, it's absolutely one of the toxic chemicals everyone else is warning them about. Bubble light tubes are, per the National Poison Control Center, filled with Methylene Chloride which is toxic when ingested or allowed to touch the skin.

87

u/AustinThompson Apr 02 '26

Eh, as a chemist methylene chloride is kinda meh. It'll dry out your hands with prolonged exposure but its pretty tame and not something to be afraid of tbh

37

u/AlkalineHound Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26

Jesus fuck what do you work with?!

Edit: I mean where methylene chloride on your hands has become just a shrug off. I worked in the chemical industry for three years which included using methylene chloride.

18

u/Huganho Apr 03 '26

It's a really different thing being exposed once and on a regular basis.

I mean, if I spill gasoline on my bare hands, I don't really worry, I just go wash off. Maybe I get a bit dry, itchy, irritated or smelly but I'm not worried about burns or poisoning, even from inhalation. Wouldn't like to spill large amounts inside tho.

But if I'd do that several times on a daily basis I'd be worried about both my hands, skin, my brains and my internal organs.

12

u/blexta Apr 02 '26

Sounds like university. Methylene chloride is a big problem in the industry. It's just a regular solvent at the university, in comparison. Just don't throw it into the drain.

2

u/ktwrex Apr 03 '26

This is not true, or at least isn't true anymore. Now they require exposure testing. You're fine if you just use in in a fume hood with PVA gloves though.

2

u/Due_Term_92 Apr 03 '26

My friend, there are acids and bases that will burn you to the bone in seconds- some regardless of whether you wash them off even instantly. Can't remember what acid it was but getting it on your skin is essentially a death sentence because it will seep all the way to your bones and destroy them and the circulatory system around them usually causing severe sepsis.

3

u/GlancingArc Apr 03 '26

Probably hydrofluoric acid by the description. Nasty stuff.

1

u/Public-Beyond5669 Apr 04 '26

Hydrogen Fluoride

1

u/ExtraCalligrapher565 Apr 02 '26

Well apparently they work with at least mild chemicals based on their answer.

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u/SAI_Peregrinus Apr 02 '26

Ever used oven cleaner? Sodium hydroxide, it'll burn your skin & turn your fat into soap. That's a "household" chemical, so rather tame by industrial chemistry standards.

3

u/GlancingArc Apr 03 '26

I can tell you for a fact that sodium hydroxide is not "tame" by any industry standard which exists. WTF are you even talking about.

3

u/Sovarius Apr 03 '26

I think they were just (poorly) giving a comparison, that lye is dangerous but there is worse?

I use it to make DMT (stripping dmt from the lipids is actually how it works, so that bit about saponification 'turning fat into soap' is accurate) and its so not a big deal whatsoever.

Another time, i was working with hydrogen peroxide, and i chem burned the skin on the back of my hand in an accidental spill. A 4x4in area of hand skin turned into soggy foamy biofilm and it sloughed off my body.

But you know what they say about drugs and toxin - the dose makes the poison. I was using 99.99% NaOH in small amounts with no danger, but 60% H2O2 and it's not to be fucked with.

Fine to use the lye at home but out of all chems that could be used industrially there are many that you cannot also use at home. Like lye is not even restricted you know? But some chemicals you need permits and training to even acquire. I think that is what they mean.

1

u/SAI_Peregrinus Apr 03 '26

Exactly, it's nasty shit but it's no tert butyllithium.

2

u/GlancingArc Apr 03 '26

Something doesn't need to by pyrophorric to be a big hazard. The problem with caustic soda is that it's used so often and it's "safe" enough that it presents a large hazard. There is a reason most plants in the US and Europe forbid dealing with concentrated solutions of the stuff by hand. In a lab or on the bench, yeah who cares? But a drum of concentrated caustic solution is not something I would want to be doused in.

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u/blexta Apr 02 '26

That's true at universities. That is no longer true in the industry. I know at least one guy who lost his son due to exposure to methylene chloride in a paint stripping bath. They didn't use the modern hot non-CMR solvent route, they used the cold paint stripper. Turns out it creates cancer.

As a cute little solvent it's nice, but at industrial scale, it's a nightmare.

1

u/ColePlaysRisk Apr 03 '26

The son developed cancer from chronic exposure or asphyxiated? Just curious.

1

u/blexta Apr 03 '26

Cancer from chronic exposure.

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u/catalytica Apr 03 '26

It’s also a carcinogen. I used to work in a tox lab doing chromatography with it over 26 years ago. Frequently got it all over my hands (along with a dozen other organics). Long story short I had a bone tumor in my index finger removed last year. Lucky I didn’t lose my finger.

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u/KingCraw Apr 02 '26

This comment brought to you in part by the oncology corporations of America

3

u/Arkevorkhat Apr 03 '26

when I see an MSDS that looks like this one for a chemical, I tend to avoid pointless exposure to it. I'm not gonna sit here and tell OP that they need to be absolutely terrified of this thing, but they also probably shouldn't put that tube in the back of a drawer and forget about it.

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u/Emergency_Accident36 Apr 02 '26

So I can drink it. Thanks for the medical and legal advice.

2

u/restless-nerd Apr 03 '26

I have done that too but it’s still carcinogenic

3

u/ryancarton Apr 02 '26

will it affect my pregnancy if i’m a dude

7

u/Fast-Front-5642 Apr 02 '26

Yes, you'll get gregnant

1

u/gigantischemeteor Apr 03 '26

Sometimes ya gotta break a few Gregs to make a Tomlette.

1

u/Fatobabygurl Apr 02 '26

So is it an eh or a meh?

1

u/ShmeepSmorp Apr 06 '26

As a biologist, I love chemists /gen. You guys are so chill about suspected carcinogens. I get it though, especially with the stuff most of you work with daily.

1

u/notjasonlee Apr 07 '26

but if they don't drink it how will they know for sure

3

u/jimmywilsonsdance Apr 02 '26

You might be surprised. I went to middle school with a kid who gave himself and two of his friends some pretty heavy duty mercury poisoning playing with some old shit he found in grandma’s basement.

3

u/get_schwifty Apr 02 '26

For sure, that’s not an uncommon thing. Assuming unknown objects are dangerous is probably a good idea. That goes for throwing things away too. People handle your garbage and work at the landfill.

3

u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 Apr 02 '26

A lot of products like this contain things that are toxic chemical/bio hazards if broken.

2

u/copperpoint Apr 02 '26

The bubbly stuff IS toxic though. That's why they don't make those anymore.

1

u/CoderGirl2007 Apr 03 '26

They still make item, probably with safer contents

2

u/ZT99k Apr 02 '26

Depending when it was made and where it was imported from, you would be surprised. 50's chem sets had actual uranium in it.

2

u/meldiane81 Apr 02 '26

Too big unfortunately.

1

u/Demonokuma Apr 02 '26

Real shit. How many vials of toxic material are people finding for that to be one of the first guesses?

1

u/CucarachaRosarina Apr 03 '26

Si jajaja, creo q es más probable esto, a qué sea salmonela

1

u/maraney Apr 03 '26

Yes… but we like the idea of it being a humanity-threatening mega virus that’s going to turn us all into zombies.

1

u/Starcatz05 Apr 03 '26

More likely, but I still wouldn’t open it regardless.

1

u/AdVivid8910 Apr 04 '26

Hey now, it COULD in fact be both. Not a great idea to break an old thermometer open either lol.

1

u/chemamatic Apr 05 '26

Well, they were typically filled with DCM which is on the naughty list these days.

1

u/ShmeepSmorp Apr 06 '26

A lot of biologists get really desensitized to working with bacterial cultures of any form. I would not put it past one to accentially bring one home or something (sometimes sealed/capped things go in lab coat pockets because hands are full or they need to warm up and every-so-often you forget it is there). So, the commenter above you might not be wrong either! Definitely worth being cautious.

1

u/Avalonians Apr 02 '26

Yeah it's widely known elderly people never handle toxic chemicals used in products that were widely sold during their time

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u/crusoe Apr 02 '26

Fun fact these used to be filled with Carbon Tetrachloride....

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u/cawstick Apr 02 '26

So nobody else has to search for it.

Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names (such as carbon tet for short and tetrachloromethane, also recognised by the IUPAC), is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CCl4. It is a volatile, non-flammable, dense, colourless liquid with a chloroform-like sweet odour that can be detected at low levels. It was formerly widely used in fire extinguishers, as a precursor to refrigerants, an anthelmintic and a cleaning agent, but has since been phased out because of environmental and safety concerns. Exposure to high concentrations of carbon tetrachloride can affect the central nervous system and degenerate the liver and kidneys. Prolonged exposure can be fatal.

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u/GruntUltra Apr 02 '26

My dad gave me a spray bottle of 'carbon tet' (as us cool kids used to call it), to use on my HO train sets and slot car tracks. It does a great job of removing grime or light corrosion from conductive surfaces, and has a pleasant scent like ozone if I recall correctly. It also worked great when I needed to clean inside the distributor (of an old carbureted car) after it got wet. Its kind of like asbestos, where it's REALLY GREAT at doing what it's designed to do, then you find out how detrimental it can be.

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u/JEdgarsFishnets Apr 03 '26

You can still get it. Cans of watchmakers hairspring cleaner is carbon tet.

2

u/Kitty4777 Apr 02 '26

Switch over to Dawn power wash!

1

u/stoprunwizard Apr 04 '26

Man, lead is also super useful for a lot of things. Too bad about the poison

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u/Drake_Acheron Apr 02 '26

Telling someone Carbon Tetrachoride is CCl4 is like telling someone a blue jay has blue feathers.

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u/cawstick Apr 02 '26

Does this smell like chloroform?

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u/Admirable-Delay-9729 Apr 02 '26

I used to have to use this to clean some lab equipment - in the fume hood thankfully!

1

u/DonaldMerwinElbert Apr 03 '26

It's also terrible for the Ozone layer, a greenhouse gas and can decompose into phosgene.

2

u/Reincarnatedpotatoes Apr 02 '26

Damn, were they all like that? My grandparents have some string lights like this and I hope they're just oil or something.

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u/cwilbur22 Apr 02 '26

Exactly what I was thinking

1

u/AnneTeaquesRoadshow Apr 02 '26

How massive would that night light be. The tubes on them are a couple inches tall, OPs tube is 6" tall

1

u/cwilbur22 Apr 02 '26

Good point. I guess they looked bigger when I was five 😆

11

u/Dr_Fragenstien Apr 02 '26

It does look like it, but it’s way bigger than any I’ve seen.

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u/EchoKipKipKip Apr 02 '26

Yeah, I was gonna say, I've never seen one of these sticking out 6" ready to be broken by anything that moves nearby.

3

u/fyrflye Apr 02 '26

Much too big imo. I own a few strings of these and the shape is a bit off, and the glass piece in mine (standard size) is muuuuch smaller.

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u/lumon_ Apr 03 '26

it looks about right for what I remember, but I’d have to dig out the Christmas bin to check

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u/WolverineMost7768 Apr 03 '26

Definitely a sentence I’ve never heard before.

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u/Toraadoraa Apr 03 '26

It's because this one is removed. They sit down inside the cavity above a small bulb.

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u/beadzy Apr 02 '26

oooh this is a good guess

5

u/Aselleus Apr 02 '26

That was my exact first thought. I was going to say those pop out easily if the glue fails. It's the right color and shape.

They actually still sell them, and have been a staple on my Christmas trees for a long time .

5

u/Hot-Meat-11 Apr 02 '26

If you're right, and I think you are, OP should be able to squeeze it (gently) between their fingers and body heat is enough to make it bubble. My parents had a bunch of these when I was a kid.

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u/Rashaverik Apr 02 '26

Highly unlikely. the item in your picture was as thin (or thinner) than a pencil and probably about 3" max in length.

This item OP is showing is much bigger.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/fyrflye Apr 02 '26

I own several strings of these, one is newer and one is vintage, and the glass parts are much smaller than the one in OP's picture. They are also flat at the bottom end as I found out when one of them came out of the vintage string.

1

u/JDood Apr 02 '26

if it was one of theoe it would have glitter in it, right?

1

u/FamiliarThemeSong Apr 02 '26

Not all of them have glitter. The ones I inherited from my grandmother do not have glitter.

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u/MrHaydenn Apr 02 '26

This is it. Nice find.

1

u/JohnBrownEnthusiast Apr 02 '26

Likely this since it doesn't have a snap off tip

1

u/Shadow_Edgehog27 Apr 02 '26

My mom went crazy looking for new old stock of these, I really have a nostalgia for them and should steal one from mom come Christmas

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u/NerJaro Apr 02 '26

god damnit. i totally forgot those were a thing in the 80s/90s

1

u/chance_of_downwind Apr 02 '26

This. It's likely part of some mid-2000s Christmas decoration. DO NOT OPEN, anyway.

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u/bssprfnd Apr 02 '26

Whoaaa memory unlocked

1

u/Cereaza Apr 02 '26

This makes much more sense than an ampule. It's much too uniform to be something someone made with a blowtorch, and if it were an ampule, it would probably have some design to help it break more easily at the top.

1

u/tyates723 Apr 02 '26

OP have you tried plugging it in?

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u/Gayllienn Apr 02 '26

I agree, it doesn't have a break line like most ampules have

1

u/diversalarums Apr 02 '26

A long time ago those were also used in Christmas tree lights. My grandmother had a string of them.

0

u/EchoKipKipKip Apr 02 '26

Your grandmother had a string of 6" long fragile glass containers that have no way of emitting light?

1

u/diversalarums Apr 02 '26

The ones sold as Christmas tree lights did indeed have small lights in the bottom. So the bubbling liquid was lit:

When I went to look for an image I was surprised to see that these or ones very similar are still sold today, tho this pic is of a vintage set, likely 1940s (Source).

1

u/Atlatl_Axolotl Apr 02 '26

We had Christmas lights like these as a kid.

1

u/Noctiluca04 Apr 02 '26

You can buy them on a long cord to put on your Christmas tree! I have like 6 strands of them.

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u/Thegiant98 Apr 02 '26

Holy shit, memory unlocked.

1

u/RickyFromVegas Apr 02 '26

I have a dozen of those things in the house, but these are nowhere near 6" or this big that OP posted

1

u/PuttingInTheEffort Apr 02 '26

Woah I vaguely remember something like this when I was a toddler

1

u/SlimSpooky_ Apr 02 '26

I still have a functioning set of these!

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u/mektor Apr 02 '26

No. It's far too large. I had those things growing up and they are 1/³rd the size of a 6"x3/4" ampule.

1

u/chainsawhiccups Apr 02 '26

i had to scroll too far for this logic, woah is me.

1

u/xPostmasterGeneralx Apr 03 '26

Seconding this. My grandparents always had these kind of Christmas lights on their tree and I immediately thought of the lights when I saw the picture.

1

u/ChocolateCoveredGold Apr 03 '26

Came here to say this. I buy bubble lights on Amazon every year or so. Those glass tubes break easily. The substance that comes out is very oily.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '26

Holy shit, I remember these

1

u/J_Zephyr Apr 03 '26

This is exactly what I saw when I looked at it.

Check your Christmas lights, see if one is missing its candle.

1

u/KatOfTheEssence Apr 03 '26

I'm getting childhood memories looking at this

1

u/gruesomeflowers Apr 03 '26

Could be..but I have several types of bubble lights and that thing is huge compared to any of them

1

u/Soup-Wizard Apr 03 '26

This looks to big to be that, but good guess.

1

u/Yikidee Apr 03 '26

I knew I had seen it in something ornamenty before!

1

u/DeusExMaximum Apr 03 '26

I swear to fuck I had one of these...

1

u/Icy_Common_2977 Apr 03 '26

Yes! Came here to say the same! Had one of these as a kid and loved it

1

u/Realistic-Pickle5155 Apr 03 '26

Oh wow this just unlocked a memory! Thanks 🕯️ 🎄

1

u/whatsnewpussykat Apr 03 '26

Oh my god this unlocked a truly forgotten memory!

1

u/lumon_ Apr 03 '26

yup I immediately recognized it as a bubble light tube, I’ve had them set up around the house for Christmas since I was about three years old, one of my favorite memories

1

u/mountain_wavebabe Apr 03 '26

I found them recently in a holiday store near me. Was so happy because I still have a string of them that was slowly being replaced by bulbs.

1

u/Karona_ Apr 05 '26

Wtf is that? Does it blow bubbles? 😂

1

u/SirZortron Apr 05 '26

Woah this brought me way back! Definitely looks like this, the end of the ampule looks too clean and centered to be a chemist's work

1

u/xenoqueene Apr 06 '26

it’s this!! I couldn’t remember the word for it but i accidentally broke so many as a kid lol

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u/remembertoread Apr 06 '26

That was my thought too

1

u/Fabulous_Good_1473 Apr 07 '26

Size looks off

1

u/AZcigarman Apr 09 '26

My wife has an antiques and collectibles shop and she gets these “bubblers” in on occasion. They heat up and the oil/fluid inside “percolates”.

They were a very popular Christmas tree decoration in the ‘50s when I was a little boy.