PSA about harmful health effects of ruthenium jewelry 

Huh. Today we learned: Ruthenium jewelry is actually really bad to have

ruthenium metal is perfectly harmless on its own, but it reacts very quickly with bleach to form extremely toxic, bioaccumulating ruthenium salts and, even worse, ruthenium tetroxide gas

this doesn't have to be strong industrial-strength bleach either. common household bleach will do it, like you'd use when cleaning things or doing laundry

-F

re: PSA about harmful health effects of ruthenium jewelry 

@Felthry That is, um, good to know.

How do I know if something's ruthenium? Is it usually mentioned as such, or is it like used to make cheap jewelry that doesn't really say?

re: PSA about harmful health effects of ruthenium jewelry 

@IceWolf They'll say. Ruthenium is nearly as expensive as gold.
-F

Follow

re: PSA about harmful health effects of ruthenium jewelry 

@IceWolf It's popular in jewelry for the novelty of being nearly immune to acids. Even aqua regia won't dissolve it. Caro's acid might, never seen anyone try.
-F

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Awoo Space

Awoo.space is a Mastodon instance where members can rely on a team of moderators to help resolve conflict, and limits federation with other instances using a specific access list to minimize abuse.

While mature content is allowed here, we strongly believe in being able to choose to engage with content on your own terms, so please make sure to put mature and potentially sensitive content behind the CW feature with enough description that people know what it's about.

Before signing up, please read our community guidelines. While it's a very broad swath of topics it covers, please do your best! We believe that as long as you're putting forth genuine effort to limit harm you might cause – even if you haven't read the document – you'll be okay!