Are those the bullet shaped weights weighing just under 400grams?waiting for my depleted uranium order from leisure pro to arrive.
Michael
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Are those the bullet shaped weights weighing just under 400grams?waiting for my depleted uranium order from leisure pro to arrive.
Could it be salt?I don't know how wide the affects are, so I'll leave that to the chemists, etc. BUT, I will say that after rinsing and drying our shot bags, when I lift them off of whatever drying surface I used, a majority of the time there is a white residue left in the shape of the weight. I've assumed that it was/is lead.
Could it be salt?
...Lead birdshot was outlawed for hunting of migratory waterfowl in the 1970s, with restrictions gradually affecting other types of hunting also.
Lead has three useful properties for diving:
1) It is dense, at 11 grams/cc, so that weights need not be large.
2) It has good compatibility with salt water.
3) It is relatively inexpensive.
There are other alternatives.
... A couple thoughts, though I'm not a chemist so take it with a grain of salt.
... 2. I think with lead shot in lakes is an issue because of the quantity added. It's not really very soluble, but eventually you get enough lead in the sediments it becomes an issue. It'l end up reacting with something and form the nasty compounds like you might see in paint....
Apparently it is corrosion. Here is one manufacturer's video and website page that at least partially describes some issues.Could it be salt?
Soldering creates fumes. That is the biggest issue.This as interesting thread; thanks for starting it. A couple thoughts, though I'm not a chemist so take it with a grain of salt.
1. Lead paint has specific hazards you won't find in lead weights. You get lead compunds that are more easily absorbed into blood.
2. I think with lead shot in lakes is an issue because of the quantity added. It's not really very soluble, but eventually you get enough lead in the sediments it becomes an issue. It'll end up reacting with something and form the nasty compounds like you might see in paint....
3. Solder is interesting. Not sure itsi a concern for workers or just the sheer quantity of electronics going to landfills.
I suspect lead will be around for awhile in diving. That said, the less surface area exposed the better. My old 11.5 pound waist weights have low surface area relative to the mass. New shot weights have high surface area. Coating could limit the surface area.
Thanks for the thoughful response. I'm curious as to what would happen to lead shot in anaerobic, high organic content mud. Would that tend to make it more or less soluble?I am.
Lead shot is extremely durable, since it's quickly covered with a dense layer of oxides. Unless it's ground down in the bird's gizzard, it's basically harmless. The scientific reason for banning lead shot for waterfowl hunting is that the waterfowl don't have an ample supply of gravel for their gizzard, so they'll pick and swallow any gravel-like thing they find. So the shot is lodged in their gizzard and is slowly ground to small, more-easily-dissolved particles. And the hunter(shots fired)/area ratio is noticeably smaller in waterfowl hunting areas, so the lead shot load on the environment is rather noticeable.
Bottom line: unless there are special circumstances, lead weights and lead shot are mostly harmless.
Should have banned eg. plastic straw yrs ago!The amount of lead released into the environment from the miniscule number of divers world wide is stupendously low. If you want to go after a real problem, try plastic.