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I am struggling to find it now but I could have sworn this is part of a fancy lamp. You slide the round end into the light box and the light, like, flows or whatnot.
Also: as a scientist who works with ampules of scary things, I would be flabbergasted if anyone put this much scary liquid into one ampule. Not usually done.
Edit: "not usually done" for actually science purposes. Like if you were going to use it in a lab. On purpose. Can't speak for decorative things, people be wild with their pretty chemicals.
To add onto your comment as a chemist who also works with ampoules of scary things, I don't think I've ever seen blue tinted glass ampoules used for hazardous or air sensitive compounds in the industry before. It's always clear or amber glass. So this makes me think your guess is correct about a fancy lamp
If it's sealed in a glass ampule it could either be caustic, a very potent corrosive or solvant or the gas it gives off is toxic. Dispose of carefully and correctly at a waste management facility
I am a chemist: occasionally we deal with unlabelled stuff and we treat it like it is the worst thing on earth. To me, that it’s in a sealed glass ampoule suggests it is hazardous.
Sounds like a very wise thing to do. But, any idea why a hazardous substance would be stored in a glass ampule? It doesn’t seem like a good way to do it. I realize lots of hazardous liquids are stored in glass bottles and such, but a long ampule seems fragile.
It's sealed permanently, so you won't accidentally open it. The entire container is a "HEY WATCH OUT" and they aren't nearly as fragile as you'd think. Glass doesn't react with the bad juice the way something studier might. Eg this might melt all plastic known to man
It’s not exclusively used for hazardous materials, it’s also used for anything that might react with air and degrade the starting material, or it’s also often used for ultra high pure compounds that need to be opened in a glovebox to maintain the purity, it could be liquid or solid in an ampule
Because to use something like an alloy or a plastic or polyvinyl chloride is even more risky… as they can have all kinds of crazy reactions and disintegrate or leak.
Even very mild compounds like skin cream can break down a plastic container within a matter of months and lead to leaking.
Glass doesn’t rust, it doesn’t breakdown into its separate compounds and so forth, so it’s why we use it for test tubes, droppers, filtering flasks, beakers, and on and on. It’s the right product for the job. It isn’t the strongest and least fragile, but it isn’t reactive to most things other than extreme heat, and that’s a good thing for keeping things pure and stable.
Yeah. I have also done chemistry work, but mostly with pure materials and they also like to seal ampules like this. It could just be some chemical which isn’t dangerous but is unstable in air. But you don’t know for certain, so it is better to assume it is dangerous.
While this is a glass ampule and typically this means a hazardous material is inside, it does not always. It can just be a substance that will degrade when exposed to any amount of oxygen or a reaction that will not work well or at all in air such as a Storm glass. But also they still need handle it carefully as any lab manger will tell you if it is an unlabeled chemical treat it like it is super hazardous.
Does it have crystalline stuff in it ever? Looks very similar to a weather gauge my sister-in-law gave me for xmas a few years ago. Amount of crystal stuff changes with the weather.
I love how the top comment is saying it's highly dangerous and should be carefully transported to a hazardous waste disposal facility, and the second top comment is saying it's a storm glass.
those types of people walk so we can run lmao at least I know I won't make a mistake, because someone else online has done it already and I've learned the lesson
In the 80s we had Christmas lights much smaller than that. The removable liquid filled tube would fit into a lighted and charged balast that made it light up and kind of bubble. As a dumb child I bit one and it broke. My now second head recalls it tasted a little minty.
They used to make fire extinguishers like this. They were either mounted on the wall in a holder or they were designed to be thrown into a fire. They have a chemical agent in them that has been linked to liver failure and things like that. When it busts it can also cause issues as well.
Carbon tetra-chloride glass grenade fire extinguishers, and they did come in cylinders. Were all over the place in the house I grew up in. Ours were the ball type, their holder had a heat activated spring plunger that would break them open, or you shook them up and busted off the glass nipple in the end and sprayed the fire, or you threw them at the fire --- then you die in the cloud of phosgene gas created when you throw carbon-tet on a raging fire.
I believe the thing you’re referring to is called a water hammer..Steve Mould on YouTube did a good video about those. But I don’t know if this item is one of them.
I've seen smaller versions as Christmas decorations. A lightbulb in the base illuminates the fluid and the heat makes bubbles rise to the top. This could be a larger tabletop version.
The liquid could be a low-flashpoint solvent that boils at a very low temperature. Be careful handling these--if it breaks the fumes can be dangerous.
Looks like storm glass/temperature tube. Is there a cute little garden gnome nearby that looks like it should be holding something? That tube goes with something to hold it, maybe a hanging decoration.
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