Lightswitch So GOOD They Made it ILLEGAL

The world's only 100% SILENT LIGHTSWITCH was taken from us & made illegal. See why this unusual switch is so amazing & its outlaw history. I hope you enjoy this electrical oddity.
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Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of Silver Cymbal, I cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of this information. Silver Cymbal assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. Use this information at your own risk. Silver Cymbal recommends safe practices when working on machines and or with tools seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of Silver Cymbal, no information contained in this video shall create any expressed or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage, or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or from the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not Silver Cymbal.

[@SilverCymbal]

Thanks for watching please LIKE & SUBSCRIBE - Closest modern day switch: amzn.to/3e6Krqw

[@soundspark]

How does clickbait not get you banned?

[@Supremax67]

I bet a blind man would disagree. Why would they need to have a light switch? For their guests of course. So turning off the sound on a light switch forces one to remember if it was in an upright position. Not to mention guests in other rooms turning them off/on, how is one blind man supposed to know?

[@Knulppage]

@@soundspark I agree the "too quiet" part in the thumbnail is misleading. It makes you believe that the reason they are banned is strange, which is not true. However, I'm very glad I clicked.

[@soundspark]

@@Knulppage Of course I already knew it was because the element is a mercury switch.

[@Knulppage]

@@soundspark I knew that I had these lights switches but I didn't know why they were quiet. I've never had experience with mercury switches but the concept behind it is simple.

[@Victor-hb4hj]

My dad installed them throughout our house in the fifties and sixties. Didn’t understand how special they were til now.

[@SilverCymbal]

I have a feeling at the time they were a nice upgrade. The feeling of the switch is so strange. Feels like a dimmer as you put it on or off, just the right amount of resistance.

[@ColeRees]

Your dad was always special ❤

[@Riverrockphotos]

Yeah they are in my moms house to this day.

[@PhrontDoor]

They were terrific.

[@CptJistuce]

My dad, meanwhile, installed X10 switches throughout the house in the 70s and 80s.

[@ByWire-yk8eh]

I remember replacing these mercury switches in the 1950's. The mercury inside the capsule would get dirty from the internal arcing, and a fine layer of powdery stuff would accumulate on the surface of the mercury. This powder inhibits a good contact, and the lights dim while heating up the switch. My dad used a hammer to open the capsules and show me the mercury covered with powder. Good thing the switch housings were made of ceramic, and that kept the house from burning down. Also, one can easily and quickly destroy these switches by slowly turning them to the OFF position. As the connection is just barely lost, they arc inside, quickly destroying the switch. Modern switches quickly make and break the connection to greatly reduce the arcing. This action makes the clicking sound.

[@RobinHagg]

Well, i was thinking it would wear out like that. But strangely to comment that they last forever in the video. In any way. I would love a switch like this just for the hell of it.

[@Veso266]

Thanks for the expirience, I guess the guy in the video just doesnt have that so thats why he thought they would last forever

[@robotnikkkk001]

=CAN BE COUNTERED WITH SOME MAGNET THAT PULLS IN THE SWITCH WHILE IN "ON" POSITION SO IT'S ABOUT TO COVER ARCING RANGE ................ALSO IT'S POSSIBLE TO DO THE SAME LIGHTSWITCH BUT WITHOUT ANY MERCURY IN IT,ONLY 2 MAGNETS ON ON SND OFF POSITIONS,CONDUCTIVE ROLLERS ON SPRINGS AND CIRCLE SHAPED SWITCH SURFACE UNDERNEATH WITH A CONDUCTIVE PLATE......

[@JimTheZombieHunter]

Hmm .. not that i'm for a contest here - just a conversation, (I'm also not a chemist) and I sure may be wrong. That said. Wasn't hg used for decades specifically arcing as use as a rectifier? i suppose anything can be destroyed by misuse, and I suspect the powder may have been the electrode material rather than the mercury itself - although the little vial I have on the bench does appear to have some floating dull bits. Mercury was also used in high power contactors .. and may still be. i still wouldn't call (modern) spring contact switches as hands down superior though .. as the powers that be chince ever greater for the almighty dollar - even the name brands. Contact arcing is simply probability .. at least on a resistive load. 'Where' in the AC cycle that the throws are separated will determine severity with every switch click. All non hermetic mechanical contacts will arc. Indeed the rating of a switch is not the amount of power it can conduct while closed, but the amount that it can safely break some number of times determined by the build to cost vs. life expectancy. i suspect that most of these old switches were replaced in perfect working order .. wonder if we'll be able to say that in 2072 about the leviton just installed. An odd little aside because I have a glass of whiskey and it came to mind .. One interesting forgotten bit of mechanical contact tech were kettering ignition points: Able to break a 75 Watt eight Henry inductive load 400 times per second for over 1500 hours. yes, the condenser helped .. but that's actually a pretty impressive feat for a switch!

[@benjaminshropshire2900]

@@JimTheZombieHunter Yes, mercury arc valves are a really cool bit of kit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-arc_valve

[@life_with_bernie]

Years ago, my then-girlfriend (now wife) and her brothers "volunteered" me to drive across the country and remodel their mother's kitchen as a Christmas gift. They paid the materials and expenses, and I did the labor. Well, the house had been built in '56, and still had the original service entrance and wiring, which was now overloaded and a dangerous mess, so before I could start on the kitchen I had to rewire the house from the weather head down. One of the crazy things I found when doing this was exactly why they sometimes had no hot water. The water heater had been replaced sometime in the 90s by "the best plumbing company in town". They fed the heater (single element, 120v) with 12 gauge Romex, no conduit, no bonding, no insulated nipples and screwed a J-box to the floor joist over the heater and installed a switch there to act as a disconnect for the heater, The box was kinda horizontal with a single screw into the joist, and they used a mercury switch. If you stood in a certain part of the kitchen next to the countertop (where my father-in-law would stand to dry dishes as my mother-in-law washed them), the joist flexed and the switch would often shut off. There was a slew of other violations I corrected as I went along but that switch still makes me shake my head and wonder what they were thinking.

[@243wayne1]

I enjoyed your story. Thank you. Now a question if you don't mind- I had a brand new Rheem Marathon electric water heater installed in my home last month. I noticed that it too is powered by 12 Guage Romex wire rising from the top of the heater to the bottom of the floor joists and ultimately to the electrical panel. There is no conduit or nipples around the Romex. I thought it a little strange, but it was installed professionally. It must be up to code, buy why no conduit surrounding the Romex? Thank you in advance for your answer.

[@scottbc31h22]

@@243wayne1 It is illegal to install Romex inside a conduit. The sheathing on the romex inside of the conduit can cause heat build up. However, it is also illegal to install Romex that is not protected inside a wall or on the side of a rafter or joist. Free hanging Romex is a really bad idea. Depending on the size and recovery rate (element wattage), #12 may be sufficient, If the heater specifies 20 amp breakers.

[@243wayne1]

@@scottbc31h22 Thank you Scott. I appreciate it.

[@life_with_bernie]

@@scottbc31h22 This was a 30 amp breaker. The heater was rated at 24 amps if memory serves me. I replaced the 12 with a 10 gauge run and the connection from the J-box with an appliance whip.

[@Riverrockphotos]

They didn't understad how thw switch worked I guesse. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@NatetheNerdy]

I was expecting it to be illegal because of some obscure reason why switches have to make a sound, but this was just as interesting.

[@mine7172]

So that thing in the video clicbaited us.

[@NatetheNerdy]

@@mine7172 not really, no.

[@thefallen66]

@@mine7172 they are illegal because mercury is too bad for the environment

[@jimtekkit]

To be fair the thumbnail said "it was too quiet". It wasn't too quiet, it was the mercury.

[@goldenagegamer5851]

The thumbnail did make it out too make us believe that

[@funknick]

My grandpa had these in his house. When he and my grandma sold their home, I remember someone admiring the silent light switches and me being a kid I said "yeah, they're old, the sound is broken". He chuckled at me as I was too young to realize that they were designed to be perfectly quiet. Really cool to now learn that they were special and had mercury inside.

[@TheNarratorworld]

The sound is broken 😃

[@LeivenFrestea]

The sound is broken 😃

[@SiddharthGargYT]

The sound is broken 😃

[@triple._d]

The sound is broken 😃

[@Orchid.Mantispede]

The sound is broken 😃

[@allenwiddows7631]

I grew up in a house that was built in 1929 in California that had mercury switches. They worked perfectly when we sold the house in 2001. One side effect, though: In 1971, there was a 6.6 magnitude earthquake centered about 12 miles away. The shaking was so severe that the mercury connected and disconnected rapidly and randomly, causing all the lights in the house to flash in such a way for my mother to think that the house was on fire. That’s something you won’t see again in a house with modern switches.

[@Birch_ON]

Huh, maybe that's where the movie trope of flickering lights in an earthquake comes from, especially if these switches we're so common!

[@herzglass]

Oddly enough that's what I thought when he showed the switch's inner working.

[@u2bear377]

@@Birch_ON *were

[@_DarkKnight2301_]

@@u2bear377 *weir

[@K4inan]

@@Birch_ON lights will actually flicker during earthquakes. This guy described it like they flickered a thousand times per second

[@cabhaal876]

I was an instructor at one of the tech schools for the US Air Force. The base was located in Texas and one group of students were hot and wanted the AC to turn on. They decided the best way to do this would be to: 1. Remove the mercury module from the thermostat 2. Put it in the microwave 3. Turn the microwave on for several minutes Fast forward to an entire floor being evacuated and dispatch of the hazardous cleanup team.

[@ranpatoamami7048]

As if they couldn't simply short the mercury switch

[@TheWaynester101]

@@ranpatoamami7048 or just put a lighter to it lmao

[@ranpatoamami7048]

@@TheWaynester101 Not as dumb as microwaving the thermostat, but still a bit dumb, they had to disassemble it anyway

[@BillLaBrie]

Sounds military. Probably all generals by now.

[@axilleas]

And these are the people that make sure your jets don't fall out of the sky, ladies and gentlemen...

[@lmitz]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the length of this video? It's exactly right; there is a reasonably comprehensive history and explanation, physical demonstration, and good information throughout. At no point is it derailed for any nonsense filler or sponsor spots or anything, just very tightly packed information. KZbin needs more videos like this, well done.

[@Kindhamster]

I was just thinking how much I loved the format and presentation style! The algorithm brought me here and the quality of this content made this an easy subscription for me. Technology Connections is like a luxurious Cadillac cruise, and this channel is like riding a motorcycle. Not as comfy, but way faster.

[@RedHeadForester]

This is how informative videos should be. High information density. This tells me far more in a few minutes than I could learn from reading for a few minutes.

[@zacharytracy3797]

Yeah Technology Connections is a bad case for that. His topics are so interesting…but I am NOT watching a half-hour long video on the history of a singular common object.

[@vyor8837]

The problem of this video is that it's entirely clickbait and wrong in places.

[@livebungusreaction]

KZbin punishes shorter videos and destroys the algorithm

[@warren7327]

I remember as a kid in the '60s getting to hold a glob of mercury in 3rd grade science class. People had no idea of how dangerous that was.

[@svenjorgensen5]

I did it in 8th grade science class in the late 90's. Touching it is fairly safe as it isn't easily absorbed by the skin. The real danger is when mercury vaporizes and you breathe it in, which it does very little at room temperature. Most mercury poisoning is from it accumulating up in the body over a very long period of time or off-gassing when exposed to high heat.

[@bonnome2]

People absolutely knew that it was dangerous back than It's just that people care a lot more about safety and the environment For example the death caused by car accidents per miles traveled has plummeted massively in the united states since the 1960's!

[@MadameMinty]

People knew, just like climate change was predicted for over a century, asbestos was a recognized threat for decades, every single cigarette ad from the 50s was going against scientific findings, and leaded fuel and CFCs were known to be dangerous from their very inception. Metallic mercury isn't very dangerous if handled quickly to minimize evaporation. The same vial's worth could be reused for educational purposes for ages. As long as the room is ventilated, only the teacher would be exposed to non-infinitesimal quantities.

[@bonnome2]

@@MadameMinty you forgot to mention the lead that they put in gasoline. That one as well 😂

[@SushiVolcano]

100% pure Mercury is a different story. A woman spilled two drops on her gloved hand and died from Mercury poisoning within two weeks.

[@allhonesty848]

My grandparents' house has these noiseless switches. I'd awlays wondered how they worked. I'm gonna have to replace them before we sell the house because things like this fascinate me.

[@animeloveer97]

careful not to break the mercury holder cause its elemental mercury which is very toxic and absorbs into your bloodstream

[@crusher9z9]

@@animeloveer97 elemental is probably the second least toxic form for mercury to be in when spilled. Basic salts being safest as they wouldn't make vapor or be impossible to clean, the elemental mercury does make fumes and gets stuck in the floor which means you need to pour like chlorine on it to turn it into salt and etc before you can go in the house again but you can stick your whole arm in liquid elemental mercury and have no problem. Organic mercury is the stuff that you touch for a split second and die.

[@MadLadCustoms]

Can I buy them off you please?? 🙏

[@dx9s]

Dad converted a van into a camper (back in the 70's) and put two of those in it for the overhead lights. When traveling, it had the side effect of occasionally flickering if we drove over some major bump in the road and the flash at night would be starling. Not sure why, but this memory brought back good vacation memories in that van!

[@gentle285]

Honestly, my feelings are confused 😶😐

[@snackspositive]

the mercury in the switch was moved by the g forces and created the flickering.

[@banata21]

I wired a mercury switch into an old bike I had. It went from the battery to a keyed switch to the mercury switch in the air box, to the horn. When I got off, I would lock the "Alarm". If anyone tilted the bike up, it would set off the horn until they put it back on the kickstand.

[@gilgabro420]

@@banata21 that is genius but also bad for the environment if you crash. :,D

[@peterjanis2455]

I think switches are made today with a distinct click and they’re spring loaded so that they don’t get stuck in the middle, possibly causing an arc. These ones don’t seem to have that ability, theoretically it seems like you could have the switch just barely on or off and could be unsafe, especially with 120v, whereas the thermostats are 24v

[@terrafirma9328]

A simple fix would be to redesign with a spring, but the environmental issues of mercury was most likely the reason for the ban.

[@humanistwriting5477]

@@terrafirma9328 mercury was banned for most electronics in Europe, manufacturers across the world just followed suit and shut down production rather then get banned from a possible future product...

[@humanistwriting5477]

Peter; the mercury was fully enclosed and isolated, even though you could create an arc it would be fully contained and safe. Well, it would waste energy by turning the switch into a UV light source but safe all the same. Mercury switches are still in service in manufacturing environments where explosive gasses can get into the atmosphere for excatly this advantage. Although my understanding is these are used in safety switches as light switches went to transistors.

[@jonsworld5307]

@@terrafirma9328 yet at the same time they pushed everyone to buy cfl lights with it in them

[@CptJistuce]

Electrical switches were spring-loaded even before the silent mercury switches. Nor only does it prevent the switch being "half-closed" and arcing continuously, it also makes them open and close faster than if they were fully hand-powered, greatly reducing the time they will be arcing even in proper operation.

[@chrislaws4785]

Back in the late 70s and 80s, mercury was used in ALL KINDS of things. They even made a light stick game controller for the Atari that had full motion controls by using mercury inside the stick to make connections on a 4 axis tilt that allowed you to control the game.

[@danatyler5892]

Mercury Oral thermometers anyone?

[@timmy7201]

I still have two Mercury thermometers till this day. One is to be used oraly, through the entrance. The other one is for the exit... If I only remembered which one was which...

[@davemarm]

@@timmy7201 You don't need to remember. The one with the bad taste is for the exit.

[@timmy7201]

@@davemarm I lack a point of reference in how shit tastes. I could replace them for a fancy digital one... Problem being that those mercury ones bring back high-school memories, as they where easier to cheat using an external heat-source than those digital ones.

[@CSLucasEpic]

This reminded me of when a vacuum cleaner company, don't remember which one, made one that was absolutely quiet, but people wouldn't buy it because they believed that if it was quiet that meant that it wasn't actually cleaning. So they made the vacuum cleaner loud again.

[@martynewport]

Hi, do you know the name of that vacuum cleaner or the company? I am very curious for quiet machines. Thx

[@logicsoundinc]

@@martynewport I believe it was Kirby.

[@BigSteve215]

@@logicsoundinc I doubt it was Kirby, it would have to be something with an induction motor, which would make it a large machine, probably a canister style.

[@dunebasher1971]

Similar to digital cameras. At first, they were completely silent, because of course they had no mechanical moving parts, and many people found that disconcerting. Manufacturers started having them play a camera shutter sound as a result.

[@coltonpatterson5409]

That's kinda like how in soap/shampoo/cleaning liquids if they don't produce suds when you scrub with them people think they aren't working properly, when in reality the suds do nothing at all

[@emmettturner9452]

There was an old Atari joystick that used mercury switches too. It’s how they made motion-sensing joysticks before MEMS accelerometers. ;)

[@TheSimoc]

Yep, actually their explicit purpose was the orientation sensing, hooking them as a switching element for stationary light switch or thermostat was rather a "subapplication". They had many uses, some old cars had them in trunk lid to sense its open position to switch the light. Those never suffered from contact corrosion issues.

[@dj1NM3]

I think the el-cheapo version of this sort of motion-sensing is done with a spring in a cage, the spring forming one contact and the cage the other. When it's jiggled, the spring momentarily contacts the cage and completes the circuit. I've seen it used in various toys, like lightsabers, so that when you swing them around, they make a noise.

[@TheSimoc]

@@dj1NM3 It is the post-mercury-ban version ;)

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

I believe it was called 'Le stick", and it was awful. The mercury switches were too sensitive and any motion at all had them switching randomly, making control impossible. The product failed pretty quickly. Mercury switches were popular though as were mercury relays, a big factor being reliability and no contact wear.

[@TheSimoc]

@@Oldbmwr100rs I also remember a review of some gamepad with mercury switches stating it had significant delay on reacting to the orientation change.

[@GadgetAddict]

I was wondering, why would they make it illegal just because it's silent. But okay, it's the mercury inside. Pretty cool story.

[@cherrypepsi2815]

a switch is supposed to be clicky to prevent electrical fires the click is the light rapidly hitting the contact to keep it from sparking and melting if your contacts are sparking, you're going to have a house fire a clicky switch is a safe switch

[@ChristopherTradeshow]

it is a little unsettling how quiet it is tho

[@waldolemmer]

Yeah, the title is clickbait

[@bigmackium8844]

They made it illegal because it would sell better than other company's switches

[@DANCERcow]

You can't sell batteries or need repairs of the light switch is too good!

[@bibasik7]

I have a dimmer switch in my basement that looks like a regular light switch. The brightness is controlled by how far you raise it, so it doesn't click into any position, and it's nearly silent. I personally think that this is even cooler than the mercury switch.

[@SuperPickle15]

Dimmers uses an electronic component called a triac.

[@necrobynerton7384]

Which is also way safer than a mercury switch, at least in terms of poisoning lol. Electronics can start burning, and that is the worst case scenario

[@MD.Akib_Al_Azad]

@@necrobynerton7384 yes but if mercury burns your dead

[@ansond88]

My grandparents had a dimmer like that also. Also, it was lighted like the switch shown in this video, but the switch itself was clear, rather than opaque. Neat stuff

[@jankristijan5889]

that's just a variable resistor, nothing special

[@Fickets]

I’ve definitely run into switches like this in some older buildings I’ve been in. In fact I remember being a kid very intrigued by the silent switches I’d run into, turning them on and off.

[@Part_121]

In 1984 I had a Toyota pickup truck with a camper cap on it. The camper cap had a large dome light inside. At that time, you could buy a mercury switch that was basically a clear capsule filled with mercury, with 2 wires sticking out of it, at RadioShack. I installed the mercury switch capsule on the rear window of the camper cap so that every time I opened that rear window, the dome light would come on. Worked great!

[@scott8919]

My father installed these in our hallway in 1991. Even the little orange light inside still works to this day.

[@MGavin]

Love the little orange light, actually - apparently all that's installed in my grandparents house are GE Mercury switches like these, can't wait to get to flip one again now that I know

[@JMSobie]

Had that exact thermostat at 2:36. Replaced it because my kids were toddlers at the time and kept yanking the cover off. If you really wanna see an amazing thing, search for videos of a Cooper-Hewitt lamp. First mercury vapor lamp ever invented; you started it by tipping the tube and letting the liquid mercury strike the arc. Hollywood used them for (black and white) films, although in real life they're a ghastly green. Love it!

[@sf-jim8885]

Back in the 70's I found (and bought) one of those old Copper Hewitt lamps at an old electronics surplus shop. It put out an amazing amount of light & I used it in my basement workshop for years. It gave of an odd color light, but it was easy on the eyes as long as you didn't look directly into it. I had it for a few years, and then the old ballast coils began to occasionally overheat & smoke sometimes. My folks made me get rid of it "before I burned the house down". - - (Which they were always afraid I was going to do with all my 'electrical experiments' during my high-school years)

[@JMSobie]

@@sf-jim8885 Parents ruin everything, lol. No wonder nothing good gets invented anymore; cold fusion was probably achieved in 1974 but somebody's mother made them throw it out. 🤣

[@retrogaminggenesis6102]

We still do XD

[@mernokimuvek]

It was not the first mercury vapor lamp ever invented. It was the first to be commercialized. Many people experimented with mercury discharges even in the 1860s.

[@DeanTWaters]

I was in an old apartment during a typical Southern California earthquake. The lights (that were turned off at the time) flickered on an off because the mercury tubes in the light switches were being shaken due to the quake. Very strange indeed.

[@xe-wf5iv]

Which is another good reason for that type of switch to be banned. The amount of arcing that would cause could start a fire.

[@bigfrankfraser1391]

i actually have these, found a big box of them in my dads garage and put them in my house, i suffer from Hyperacusis (hyper sensitive hearing) so light switches are like a gun going off to me, these switches are a life saver to me

[@electronron1]

The company I worked for used mercury contactors for years, until they started blowing up. One of my first assignments when I started working there was to strip down an electrical panel, have it repainted and reassemble it. We switched to solid state relays and they rarely blew up and if they did they didn't damage the panel or other components and the cause was most often traced back to miss-wiring.

[@Sparky-ww5re]

wow!! Didn't realize these were still available as late as 1991. I've heard of them and my grandmother's house may have had one in her kitchen, as one of the switches made a snap sound when the toggle is flipped up and down, while the other was smooth and silent. In one of the bedrooms she had an old type of switch with two buttons that pop in and out as the switch is activated. Her house was built in 1883 originally with gas lighting, not sure when it was converted to electricity but when the house was rewired about 12 years ago we replaced the 60 amp fuse panel with a 200 amp breaker box Siemens, and didn't see any signs of knob and tube, but lots of cloth braided romex and two prong receptacles. The area was mostly farmland prior to the great depression, so it may have gotten electricity sometime in the 30s, during the REA area. Also many of the houses are post WWII tract housing. Anyway, very cool stuff you can find in very old buildings. Watch out for asbestos and lead paint.

[@JGHFunRun]

Uranium glass is really epic, and surprisingly safe. There’s very little in it (0.1%-1.5% IIRC) and it’s tightly locked in the glass unless you break it or put acidic foods on it, even so I don’t recommend drinking from them too often if at all (uranium is only weakly radioactive, and as long as it’s outside of you the alpha particles are stopped by your skin, uranium also has chemical toxicity which is probably doing a comparable amount of damage, in fact the radiation won’t even really penetrate outside the glass. Because of this it’s of comparable danger to lead glass… and cooler because it glows under a blacklite)

[@markk3652]

I have a green milkglass orange juicer that is made out of the radioactive glass, it glows brightly under a blacklight.

[@christianjorgensen249]

It would seem the Silver Cymbal is going “Mr Science and How It Works” all rolled into one. With the product reviews, it’s become the total package! Great job! Love it!😃👍

[@SilverCymbal]

Much appreciated

[@dj-kq4fz]

My surreptitious activities have been curtailed so much by these ridiculously loud switches. Curse you electrical switch regulatory agencies! Thanks! Dave J

[@skiball83]

Aka My alone/drinking time has been inturupted by your new switch. This isnt AVE buddy lol.

[@BillLaBrie]

If you hold the switch tightly with your hand covering it and ease it to its stop, it doesn’t make an audible noise. This life hack brought to you by joyriding, formerly 15-year-old me.

[@CptJistuce]

Actually, electrical switches were originally designed to make a loud clack*. Note that the mercury switches were explicitly advertised as silent, which indicates switches were known to be loud at the time the mercury switch came out. *Okay, TECHNICALLY the loud clack is a side effect, not the design goal. They are designed so the electrical contacts are always under spring tension so that when you turn it on or off, the connection is forced together or apart rapidly by that tension. This reduces arcing and extends the lifetime of the switch, as the spring can likely make or break the circuit faster than your hand even if you aren't moving it slowly because you're trying to be sneaky.

[@rp9674]

Murder she wrote

[@vyor8837]

@@BillLaBrie bad, bad, bad idea. That's how you make fires.

[@supersportimpalass]

My grandparents house has a push button light switch in a hallway. That switch is REALLY old and definitely not silent but still works after all these years.

[@MrSockez]

I love that nice tactile feedback when you hit a button or a switch or something, it makes it feel like more is happening than there actually is.

[@alexandersupertramp7353]

My parents home was built in 1907, and they bought it from the original owner. Our bathroom light is similar to this one. Only ours glows orange (tiny night light) when the light is off. Still going strong after 115+ years

[@RumHam5570]

There’s an old light like that at a firehouse in Livermore, CA

[@alexandersupertramp7353]

@@RumHam5570 Unfortunately theirs isn't the same as that. You're speaking of a lightbulb that has been burning since 1908? But I'm not for positive. The toggle part of the light switch is what glows orange when 📴. But it's not a bulb. It's built into the switch as some type of forever light. It's been there since 1907 and never not worked

[@juliebraden6911]

@@RumHam5570 that's nowhere close to what this video is about

[@timfischer]

For a short time in the late 80s they even made kid's shoes with mercury switches inside so they blinked when you walked. This ended up making the shoes a hazmat item when they wore out. Today's kid's blinky shoes typically have a ball bearing inside doing the same sort of thing, or sometimes a pressure switch.

[@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330]

In the seventies kids could get their feet measured by x ray machines. In the eighties there was a recession in the UK and you were lucky to have shoes that did not have holes in them. To preserve them you could use Scotchguard by 3M, now banned in its original formulation due to toxicity. In a parallel universe there are kids walking around with x-rayed feet atop mercury timebombs and wrapped in toxic chemicals. How I miss that parallel universe.

[@nevercommitsuicide]

@@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 late 40s - 80s was an insane time period, i wasn’t born in that era but from what i heard about it it must’ve been wild. They put toxic shit into literally everything

[@cyan_oxy6734]

@@nevercommitsuicide They just did things they have ever have been done this way. Especially when you consider many of the people went through the world wars then having lead paint or having carcinogens in their tape maybe isn't that much of a concern. Also metal Mercury at room temperature isn't even that dangerous. Handling metal lead is probably more dangerous than mercury.

[@scotrick3072]

Dude! Thank you so much for this video! In my great grandmother's house, she had several of these switches (she had a giant house) and every time I'd use one of them, it freaked me out! I couldn't ever articulate why (until your video) and it's because they were silent! I thought they were broken, because the action is VERY smooth, there's no 'clicky' feeling as it goes from on and off, and for some reason, in my brain, I never thought they were off without that click. I had no idea they were premium, I thought the opposite. Sigh.

[@kchip9725]

The human brain sure is funny. See, even though you fundamentally disliked the switches, youre now wishing you would have enjoyed them simply because of the new knowledge that they were "premium".

[@americanpatriot8996]

I remember having these as a kid and I remember my father changing them out - even at a young age my father taught me everything - at 13 he had me on the roof of our house fixing a slate roof with him because we couldn’t afford to pay anyone to fix it. These are all great things as today my father is retired and he asks me for anything he needs and I gladly oblige. I am 44 and I teach my children the same lessons my father taught me. My point is this was a great video that made me remember specific things about my childhood. And I am not that old I am only 44. So as every generation passes we lose something precious. Great video

[@wyattpaul2009]

Hi Silver Cymbal! Yes, we have 3 of these in our house, which was built in the late 40's. We have one in the basement, one in my bathroom, and one in the kitchen, which that one is a lighted model, and it still works. I knew these switches were quiet, but I didn't realize that they made them illegal. But they are pretty cool and last a long time! What you said, Mercury thermostats are so quiet and they are used in many households today, we also have a mercury thermostat too!

[@robertdodson1823]

A major problem with these light switches is that if excessive current is passed through them, they vaporize the mercury and the enclosure explodes violently, spreading mercury all over the place. Our home had these and two controlled electrical outlets. Accidentally, appliances were plugged into these outlets (vacuum) and I witnessed one explosion personally. Cleanup was difficult and I'm sure there is some mercury left yet, but the hazard is real and a good reason for the switch becoming outlawed.

[@generalporkchop1817]

When I was kid we loved playing with mercury. Fun stuff. Forty years ago I bought my house and replaced all the old worn out switches with the silent ones and they are still going strong today.

[@gutsngorrrr]

Same, I used to play with the stuff, I even remember making a large type of Barometer at school using a large tray filled with mercury and a large test tube. Those were the days :)

[@Knulppage]

I was almost going to replace these light switches thinking maybe they were too old. Glad I watched this!

[@Boz1211111]

Yes now you know they are hazardous waste in case you do replace them

[@InfernosReaper]

@@Boz1211111 yep, literally the *real* reason why they were banned, unlike the clickbait title suggests

[@windhelmguard5295]

yea no replacing them will be hella expensive, best to just keep them as long as they still work. maybe remove the plastic and bleach it with hydrogen peroxide, but don't screw with the other stuff.

[@Knulppage]

@@windhelmguard5295 Yes I plan to keep them but you're right I need to brighten the white a bit on the switch.

[@tcmtech7515]

A buddy of mine has worked as a sub for many contractors over the years and was always told to replace these switches with regular ones whenever they were found because of the mercury issue. Upon replacement, they were just thrown in the garbage to get rid of them. The sad reality is that many of these 'safety/environmental concern' laws make things worse, not better because they take perfectly good and still useable items out of active service and force people to get rid of them, and rarely are they ever disposed of correctly due to the costs involved to do so.

[@SauronThe3rd]

Not just the cost, but the inconvenience. I’ve tried to get rid of certain electronics before. Call 5 places and none actually take them, and no one will pick them up. Don’t have a way to dispose properly , or space to store on site. So you trash them since proper disposal takes several hours or isn’t even available within a reasonable distance.

[@mernokimuvek]

Only a barbarian would throw an old switch to the garbage. As a radical collector and hoarder I take them home from the garbage.

[@austinwilburn1772]

You know I never knew how badly I wanted a light switch until I saw it lights up.

[@SiddharthGargYT]

😂

[@btg53189]

I think you have it the other way around. When the coil expands it signals the heat to turn off, when it cools down it re-engages.

[@Batmann_]

Yeah, as he was discussing heat, it seemed he said that backwards

[@TheColinputer]

Here in Australia you can still buy Mercury tilt switches in some electronics shops. Both as a plastic encapsulated unit and also just as the bare glass and lead component. I also remember buying some as a quite young kid (7 or 8) for a bike alarm project i was making. (this was in the 90s) Now a days i actually have a mercury arc rectifier pulled from an old battery charger just sitting on my shelf. Its little bit smaller than a 1L drink bottle. And i would say as close to 100ml of mercury in the bottom of it.

[@roadmonitoroz]

Yep. Jaycar still sell them. I used to own one about 10 years ago. Not sure what happened to it.

[@meadowviewlawncarellc8079]

Never knew about that switch that’s cool, obviously knew about the thermostats. Amazing back in the day we all used to break open the thermometers in science class and play with the mercury on the lab tables... 🤪

[@SilverCymbal]

Seems like everything from the old days ended up being bad for us. I used to have a sign that read.. Introducing the new hero of heating...ASBESTOS...

[@bobmcl2406]

I came here to share the same memory of playing with mercury in school. Now I think it probably was part of that "survival of the fittest" thing..... 😁

[@meadowviewlawncarellc8079]

@@SilverCymbal lol

[@meadowviewlawncarellc8079]

@@bobmcl2406 I agree!

[@ronggearrob9622]

I was thinking the same exact thing.

[@uzaiyaro]

My friends apartment used soft buttons for the light switches. That’s probably the best you’re gonna get, and these had a neat trick where they would softly turn the lights on and off. My guess is that it’s a thyristor control, like a dimmer switch. iirc these buttons were touch sensitive, so it really is as good as the mercury switch.

[@SineN0mine3]

When we replaced our ceiling fan we got a wifi enabled switch. I have never turned the lights or fan on with my phone before, but the switches are capacitive touch sensors behind a glass panel, besides the light turning on or off the only way you'd know you pressed them is the little LED in the glass which indicates the switch's position. They're pretty neat, I like them. They would definitely be a problem for people with limited sight though, there's zero tactile or audio feedback, you can't even feel where the switches are. They're just circles printed on the glass panel. Ideally, the buttons themselves would have some kind of raised or recessed edges so you could feel where they are, but the indicator LED makes pressing them in the dark a non-issue. Not the best option for everyone, but certainly ideal for someone who doesn't want to hear them. I like the sound of light switches (or at least don't dislike it at all) so I'm in no hurry to swap the rest of them over.

[@celebrityrog]

I've lived in a few houses with these. In fact I distinctly remember my bedroom at my house, my grandparents house, even my great grandparents house had these switches in them. I used to wonder what they are called but it slipped my mind till I came across this video.

[@asapgrit]

ok "bill"

[@McDinglefart_69]

Yes. It's a new KZbin ai reading your mind and suggesting videos.

[@asapgrit]

@@McDinglefart_69 ok "name"

[@literallycanadian]

its interesting to think that part of the reason the switch works so well is because of the adhesive properties of fluids. With a normal switch you could technically make it silent, however that generates a lot of arcing and drastically reduces the lifespan of the contacts, aswell as can increase resistance within the contacts, creating hotspots. So instead that click is the switch very rapidly closing or opening to break or open that connection as quick as possible. Mercury, wanting to cling to the metal contacts will hold on until it "snaps" off when turning off, and rapidly grab onto the contact when it turns on.

[@Techno-Universal]

Silent switches used to also be common in shows with a lot of dialogue so the switches would not be a distraction! :)

[@auntbarbara5576]

I'll never get rid of my 1970 Sears thermostat. Works like a Swiss watch even after 52 years.

[@jamesslick4790]

Shhh! My house is FULL of these! And I have that EXACT Honeywell thermostat. My house was built in the 1870s. The original wiring was installed in the 1920s and updated in the 1960s. While there are STILL the 1920s push button switches on the first floor, all of the bedrooms have the GE silent switches as does the bathroom, and it's lighted! (They ALL still work flawlessly!)

[@FedericoTrentonGame]

Wow straight to the point, no clickbait, no repeating just to make the video longer, I feel like I struck gold

[@seansean1728]

This video is pure clickbait lmao

[@danparish1344]

I like the satisfying click of a standard light switch

[@CloroxBleach0]

I used to collect cool looking things that I would find as a kid. Now one day I found a metal capsule, but for the longest time I had no idea what it was for, I just knew that shaking it felt really weird so I kept it. Thank you for finally solving my mystery!

[@HercadosP]

Truly glad they banned it, mercury poisoning and mercury pollution is no joke. I am even cautious of people eating wild caught big fish

[@CloroxBleach0]

@@HercadosP it really is bizarre how incredibly toxic materials used to be unregulated like that… my dad once broke a massive thermometer. If you’ve ever seen a mercury dropping you’ll know it forms a tiny ball. Now, my dad just grabbed that thermometer’s ball in his hands and played with it, luckily nothing happened to him but think about how insane this is…

[@NormanVN]

@@CloroxBleach0 Metallic mercury is not that dangerous to touch. There's not really much problem in just playing with it. It will become toxic if you don't properly clean it up and the residue oxidizes into organomercury compounds. But mercury also has high surface tension and beads up well. A little bead of mercury from a thermostat is easy to clean up. Now ask yourself how you're going to clean up the mercury vapor from a broken CFL bulb that's still legal.

[@Fr33zeBurn]

@@NormanVN wait wait please expand, so all those light tubes that there are millions of in every office are full of mercury? I know people break those a lot when vandalising abandoned buildings.

[@NormanVN]

@@Fr33zeBurn Not a ton of mercury, just a small amount but yes. The mercury heats up and vaporizes when the lamp is turned on, it absorbs the electrical energy and emits ultraviolet light. That ultraviolet light hits the fluorescent coating on the glass tube which then glows white. I would recommend not breaking one while it's turned on. If you do break one while it's on, don't look at it or you could get welder's eye, turn it off ASAP and leave the room.

[@jonathansherwood5841]

Who would have thought liquid metal would be bad for us? I vaguely remember some of my parent's friends' places having these switches. Thanks for showing this, very cool 👍

[@jakefriesenjake]

Don't think too hard about it.... Mercury in switches is super deadly and that liquid metal is getting to be hard to find. So, the medical field is hoarding all the mercury it can find, so that they can make vaccines for little kids, and inject it into their blood systems. Mercury is only deadly if you play with it in the palm of your hand.

[@Chris.Rhodes]

That's so cool. I've seen those Honeywell thermostats 1000 times over and never realized it was the coil doing the work. That's so neat. Now I just deal with electronic thermostats lol they're more complicated.

[@Yp-ku4sy]

The coil is made of a "bimetallic strip". One metal on one side, one on the other. Choose ones that expand and contract at very different rates and you see it bend. Lots of really cool mechanisms that use this principle. Thermal switches and fuses often use this too.

[@4by_yotaguy373]

My grandmother's house still has the smooth lighted silent light switches in almost every switch in her house. I've always loved them

[@GModBMXer]

1:00 Oh man, I'm sure glad they got rid of those. *immediately pulls up a picture of my exact thermostat*

[@youdontknowme5969]

My grandma's house might have had a version of these. Their toggles rested in the middle position, and you pressed the them up or down for on and off, and they were silent. I've never seen them anywhere else but in her house.

[@onionhead5780]

😎

[@Sylvan_dB]

Those are different. There is also a relay panel in her house and that is actually switching the circuit. The wall switch just triggers the relay on or off.

[@1TwistedPoet]

Those are actually Low Voltage Lighting Control. There is no 120 vac power at the switch. The switch uses fine wire and a low voltage circuit that would run a control panel that turned the actual lights on and off.

[@Scuba_Bro]

My mother in law still has these and they are absolutely amazing and fascinating… she wants to keep them as long as possible because she thinks they are so cool and silent

[@jestonxi6391]

it also keeps you from looking silly when trying to turn the light on when the house power is off

[@33rexify46]

When’s the last time you saw someone say “ hey your light switch is too loud” 😂😂

[@SilverCymbal]

I think my 3rd wife told me that was our problem

[@techtinkerin]

My neighbours are noisy switch flickers, maby it's the crummy thin walls😄

[@allaboutroofing2]

My grand parents had switches that were super loud. So loud you could hear them though out the entire house. Even in the cellar. Sounded like a cap gun almost. Those were too loud but also my nana wouldn't let anyone change them out since she replied on hearing them for various reasons.

[@sgateman1]

Cool! Coincidentally, last night I went to see if I could replace my thermostat and saw it was that same old Honeywell model with the mercury switch in it. While it scares me a bit to have it in the house, it's rather cool to watch the mercury move back and forth. It's quite mesmerizing!

[@SilentMovements305]

Why scared of having it if it's been in your house way before you were even thought of

[@crazypete3759]

Mercury is awesome! The dangers are usually blown way out of proportion. There are a lot of great videos out there that go into the details of toxicity and absorption as well as proper and safe handling of mercury.

[@pcno2832]

It's nasty stuff if you absorb it, but if you simply swallow a blob of mercury, most of it will run right through you, not that I'd suggest anyone try that. But there was a case in 1989 of a family that painted every room in their house in the summer with the AC on and the windows shut; the mercury they added to latex paint in those days evaporated from the walls and killed their toddler. So it's the dose that makes the poison.

[@ChrisHolt1]

I think your description of that thermostat would apply in cooling rather than heating mode. Thanks for teaching us about the old mercury light switches. I haven't seen one in a very long time.

[@shadow4evr]

I caught that. He said it would turn on when it’s warm, and off when it’s cold. Exactly the opposite of what you’d want.

[@JkingsChannel]

Depends if it's controlling the A/C or the heater

[@John_Ridley]

@3:12 I really hope that when the thermostat gets hot, it tells the heating system to turn OFF not on, and vice versa.

[@fatalfog8897]

3:25 "it's highly toxic to you, fish, anything that gets near it"

[@benjaminalmquist]

Lol

[@andreheget]

All these analog gadgets are so cool to look back to

[@MLGB0Yz]

I had dimming switches in my house that were silent, no click at all, just smooth sailing. They were new switches too, so it obviously didn’t have mercury. If I still lived there, I would open it up to check, but I had no idea about this law until watching this, I just assumed people appreciated tactile feel and if they wanted something with no click, they’d get it. I’m sure I can find them in the future, but I have no need at the moment

[@goins8659]

I love all the information you give in each video! Another great one!

[@onionhead5780]

When we were kids we broke mercury switches and played with the mercury. We also pinched lead fishing sinkers together by biting them when attaching them to fishing line. We did too many unhealthy things to list here but we didn’t know any better. I’m truly shocked I’m still alive.

[@gary4738]

Too funny. I did that as well, still kickin’ 😅

[@amojak]

i remember those, like split lead shot and also doing the same :)

[@wwiiinplastic4712]

My grandmother told me that when she was young, she and the other kids would get a buzz from chewing the lumps of dried tar around housing construction. She made it to 74 but smoking took her out. Haven't tried any tar myself.

[@explorenaked]

When I was a kid, I actually drank from a regular old garden hose. 😨

[@wwiiinplastic4712]

@@explorenaked Has a unique taste, don't it?

[@gerardtrigo380]

I installed those silent switches in my house in the 80’s. They are still installed and still working. I have no plans of replacing them.

[@gtojr7016]

Still have one of these in place in a bedroom. I remember the original old switch it replaced was so high effort the bakelite on the handle broke and it always sound like a gun shot when moved opposite. What a change !

[@joekaplowitz2719]

My Grandparents had those switches throughout their house. I had thought that the switches were so old that they no longer clicked anymore. Ya learn something new every day!

[@davidgrisez]

I am 71 years old and I remember these silent light switches from my younger years. I am not surprised that these mercury containing light switches were eventually made illegal, since mercury and mercury compounds are toxic. I also worked for 34 years for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in generating stations. These generating stations had many old flow transmitters that contained mercury. Also a lot of equipment had tilt switches that contained mercury. Later in my career a lot of this equipment that contained mercury was replaced with equipment that did not contain mercury. I suspect that these silent light switches lasted a very long time, because mercury was used to form the contacts. It is likely that some of these mercury containing light switches are still in use 40 or more years after being installed. There is one big problem when these mercury containing light switches are replaced. They can not be thrown out in the trash, instead they must be recycled to some place that handles hazardous mercury waste.

[@pedroclaussen2254]

Thanks for sharing your life experiences with us sir!

[@epicacrylic]

I had that exact Honeywell thermostat (the square one) and that thing surprised me on how it still functioned being so old. Little did I know it could have been a very dangerous hazard to me

[@klaasj7808]

life is a dangerous hazard dipshit

[@wolfetteplays8894]

That little mercury isn’t likely to kill you. I once drank a shot of mercury, just gave me the runs

[@danakraemer8512]

Unless you plan to eat the thermostat, not a danger at all.

[@djaspurh]

I remember my brother and I jumping up and down as hard as we could by the light switch in my parents old house to get the lights to flicker.

[@julius48268]

there are many ways to make it silent, for example touchscreen and a solidstate relay . but this switch is realy cool :)

[@NipkowDisk]

I remember purchasing a few of these when the ban hit. Yes, they are indeed quite silent and last indefinitely- IIRC most of the switches in the house I grew up in were of the mercury type.

[@vyor8837]

They don't last indefinitely, the contacts wear down and kill it slowly.

[@ColinRichardson]

I actually remember the phrase "mercury switch" from my childhood.. But, well, I was a child back then, I don't think I even know what Mercury was, let alone know what it does within the switch.. Just one of those phrases that was stored in my brain this whole time...

[@nrok113]

I first heard it in Lethal Weapon

[@DaivG]

I feel like you got the scoop on Technology Connections on this one, ha ha. Nice job and very interesting.

[@SilverCymbal]

Now that is a compliment. I just need the sportscoat and Commodore t-shirt now

[@michaellewis6569]

Yeah, except technology connections video would be 20 minutes at a minimum. I love you both though.

[@cowzg0moo]

I did not think i would end up finding this video to be as interesting as it was, great upload!

[@rambbler]

Regardless of the pros and cons, I just enjoy a nice clicky lightswitch. It just feels nice.

[@geod3589]

I remember as a kid getting a science kit that included a small bottle of mercury. We used to soak our dimes and other coins in it to make them shine like crazy.

[@duncancameron9855]

Yikes

[@TheTheo58]

I remember our house had at least two of these mercury switches for the hallway light and the outside stairway light. I seem to remember our old furnace thermostat was mill volt using a mercury stat. When the new furnace was installed I believe it was changed to 24 volts as there was a transformer within in the housing.

[@chefbillyx]

Wifi switch is absolutely silent! Lol 😂

[@SilverCymbal]

Good point!

[@edsknife]

If we never made it illegal, then maybe we'd've made a non-toxic competitor for silent switches.

[@dyllinroberts1442]

I didn't know there was anything special about these but my grandmother house has the lighted versions and the light in them still works.

[@smtheodore]

Side note… I need that Kubota in my life ❤

[@SilverCymbal]

That machine has been so helpful here, I am planning to snowblow with it too this winter. That will be a real test!

[@fdottieforreal]

If you want a modern silent light switch, just get a sliding dimmer! The one I put in my bathroom doesn’t click at all 😁

[@LarsSveen]

Ahhh, so that's it. I have one bedroom with a weird switch that is totally silent and doesn't have that same feel when you flick it on and off as all other switches do (it just kind of moves steadily instead of snapping up and down). I bet it's one of these. I also have some super old switches from the 30's I think which have no plastic -- all ceramic and metal.

[@NorthernKitty]

In High School chemistry, the teacher gave us these long thermometers to use in an experiment to measure temperature of a reaction. One of the members of my group began waving it around like a sword. Consequently, it broke, spilling mercury everywhere. The teacher made our group "clean it up". Some of the kids in my group were playing with it in their hands. Some collected it to take it home and play with it. I imagine if that happened today, the school would be shut down and evacuated until a hazmat team could properly dispose of it.

[@rifraf276]

Don't worry, metallic mercury won't cause you any harm as long as you don't let it get inside of your body through ingestion or a cut on your skin etc. You can find plenty of videos on youtube of people handling it with bare hands, check out "Cody's Lab" and his videos on mercury!

[@captaintrips2980]

@@rifraf276 Right! The metal won't harm you if you touch it. I bet you're too young to remember the glass fever thermometers full of mercury..... for oral and rectal use. Yikes, as they say today

[@rifraf276]

@@captaintrips2980 My parents had one, and I just used it under my armpit. You had to shake it if you wanted to reuse it so the mercury went back down. One day I was shaking it and I accidentally hit the tip containing the mercury on a table and it broke. We just cleaned it up and went about our days lol

[@Mityob67]

Cool stuff as always brother

[@SilverCymbal]

Much appreciated

[@trevorsmith5524]

My whole middle school was shut down because some kid brought an old mercury thermometer and broke it. It made national news and cost a ton in cleanup.

[@billybassman21]

Sound like a total over reaction, must be a blue town. That kind of mercury is actually not that dangerous. What makes it bad is inhaling the vapors.

[@trevorsmith5524]

@@billybassman21 Actually the most red part of the Texas oil field there is. Funny you assume though. You'd find it in seconds with a quick google search.

[@user-em6ie2be7x]

Seriously people actually complain flipping a light switch was too loud? 😳🤣

[@SilverCymbal]

I think my 2nd wife complained about everything

[@maximthemagnificent]

Some switches are pretty noisy. Friend's house had a bathroom one that was loud enough to wake people up in the two adjacent bedrooms. Living alone, he had never really noticed until he had some guests for a week last year. While not silent, we were able to find a pretty cheap one that was much quieter.

[@MoneyManHolmes]

I would think by using 2 fingers spread apart and keeping some tension on the opposing half of the switch as it pops out, you could reduce the noise. But I’m definitely bored and overthinking this.

[@jokersinurface]

Holy crap! I grew up in a home with one of these switches and didn't even know till today. I was amazed the switch was completely silent. As a kid, I would intentionally keep flipping the switch to see if it would make a sound. It never did.

[@masterbondofox8982]

As a kid I used to take the round cover off of our Honeywell thermostat and flick the mercury bulb. It made the neatest blue spark inside the glass!

[@toms7280]

I remember growing up in a house that had light switches that were spring loaded and sounded like circuit breakers.😉

[@MrKen59]

Ya, the push button clunk.

[@ThatJay283]

3:39 we do have truly silent "switches" now but there's downsides like they have a voltage drop, have higher internal resistance, and are more complicated to set up. MOSFETs, transistors, and LDRs are very useful and used in computers and all sorts of places

[@plebiansociety]

Also a wide variety of smart pushbutton type switches are silent.

[@davidwilliams1060]

As kids in the 50s, a dentist would put a ball of mercury on the palm of my friend’s hand to balance and take his mind off the drilling (not much Novocaine used back then). We used a lot of these switches in our house.

[@onecrazywheel]

As kids we intentionally broke the little maze games with Mercury and played with it in our hands. Fun times. This was in the late eighties. 😆

[@MJR-2000]

In the 79s my friend would bring to school a bottle with mercury and we would play with it in our hands. His dad was a doctor and he got it from him.

[@SPEEDYxArcher]

I had a light switch stop working a few years ago, so I went and replaced it and when I pulled it out a bunch of a silver liquid poured out onto the floor. the switch module had broken open. Inside the metal was a ceramic looking material with a sort of maze for the mercury to flow through depending on the orientation to turn on or off. I still have a few installed in my house, one of these days im gonna replace them but I just havent gotten around to it haha. I will say compared to the tilt switches, these light switches have a LOT more mercury in them. Just eyeballing it with the experience I had id say at least double maybe 2.5 times the mercury.

[@Badsy_the_Edgecat]

i was more shocked to see the **exact model of Honeywell thermostat** thats been in my house as long as i can remember

[@Drmcclung]

That's so interesting, I've lived in a few old buildings that had a couple of these switches but never knew what they were.. had always assumed they were just old worn out light switches where the clicky bit had broken. Had no idea they were mercury switches, otherwise I would have kept the mercury switches just like I do when coming across old thermostats