"NobodyMan" <none@none.net> wrote in message
news:71ip50hb6579u93jdm45lkq1md07pcrfp9@4ax.com...[color=blue]
> On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 15:24:19 -0500, "Ray Drouillard"
> <cosmicNospam@comcast.net> wrote:
>[color=green]
> >
> >"Dan Rock" <danrock@wowway.com> wrote in message
> >news:-sadnbpGcZT70MHd4p2dnA@wideopenwest.com...[color=darkred]
> >> You will also get by products from engine wear. Most piston rings[/color][/color][/color]
are[color=blue][color=green]
> >coated[color=darkred]
> >> with chromium, a toxic metal.[/color]
> >
> >Chromium is toxic? Funny... I take chromium supplements.[/color]
>
> Let's be serious. The chromium you take in medication supplements is
> different than that in an engine.
>
> Think about Nitro. Used in a person it can stop chest pain/angina by
> dilating cardiac blood vessels. In a slightly different formulation,
> it can be used to blow holes in solid rock.
>[/color]

As D. Taylor pointed out, medical nitro is the same as the explosive
stuff.

As far as the metals... the truth is that you can chew pure lead or
swallow mercury without raising your blood level of the metal in
question by very much. It essentially passes right through.

The compounds, on the other hand, are a different story. That's one of
the problems with tetraethyl-lead (the stuff used in leaded gas).

Most of the nasty stuff in oil is soot, some acids from the little bit
of sulfur and chlorine that's in gasoline, and the like. You might also
find a tiny amount of lead from the bearings that are used in some
engines. Still, the engines are carefully designed to avoid shedding
their guts. If they did, they wouldn't last very long. Chrome rings
are used because chromium is very hard and doesn't wear out. (By the
way, chrome rings are very rare in production cars. Cast iron is
generally used. Molybdenum is also on occasion.)

So, an oil pan full of used motor oil that has been in the car for ten
or fifteen thousand miles might have a tiny bit of metal in it, but not
enough to cause any problems -- even if you extracted it all and ate it.

If you happen to swallow a drop of motor oil, you are not going to get a
detectable amount of anything nasty -- except for the hydrocarbons
themselves.

If you carefully scrub everything off of the pot, then put boil five
gallons of wort in it -- well, I really doubt if anyone has made an
instrument that will detect the tiny amounts that make it into the beer.


Ray