Helpmedomyjobfilter

March 24, 2006 1:48 PM

Are there toxic issues with a kid playing with an old circuitboard?

A principal called me. Kids in her school were given "found" objects with which to create sculptures. A few of these found objects are old motherboards and/or other circuitboards. I know that there is lead and there are other toxic materials in these things, and if I were to use a "lead swab" on one, I would likely get a positive reading.

I am not sure, however, whether lead, cadmium, etc. would come off with just skin contact.

I have an hour to research this before the kids in that school go home, so ask mefi is one of the resources I am using.

Any input?

(thank you)

posted by Danf to computers & internet (11 comments total)

one important question: how old are these kids?
posted by qvantamon at 1:51 PM on March 24, 2006

They used to use lead in solder, and yes, you sure can get lead poisoning by "just" touching it.
posted by ChasFile at 1:52 PM on March 24, 2006

Not an EE but watch out for capacitors that might still contain a charge.
posted by asterisk at 1:52 PM on March 24, 2006

When working with solder, I have been told by several EEs that you shouldn't eat until you've washed your hands because the lead in solder rubs off onto them. I've actually seen it myself if I've been working with solder for a long time that day... my fingertips can end up a little darker until they're washed.

That being said, that same teacher ate sandwiches while working with us on our projects. :-D I would say the amount of exposure, especially from one short project, would be very minimal. But obviously, it would be bad for the teacher to be letting young kids play with such items again in the future. But, if they're in high school... it's a bit different if they've been told to wash afterwards.
posted by shepd at 1:54 PM on March 24, 2006

one important question: how old are these kids?

7-10 years old.
posted by Danf at 1:55 PM on March 24, 2006

All kinds of toxic nasties in circuit boards, of which lead is usually the nastiest.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:57 PM on March 24, 2006

I wouldn't be surprised by 7yos licking the circuit boards. It'd just take another one daring them.

I think there is something nasty inside eletrolytic capacitors, but can't remember what it is.
posted by qvantamon at 2:08 PM on March 24, 2006

Chemicals contained in e-waste, plus what ChasFile said. Kids should not be handling this stuff.
posted by alms at 2:11 PM on March 24, 2006

Thank you all for talking sense to me. In hindsight, it is one of those hand-banging-on-forhead moments, like "duh" but I could not get my mind around it, and with the timeline some quick googling did not get me where I needed to be.

I advised the principal to send a note home with this info and call for these to be returned to the school so I can come get them and add them to the appropriate waste stream.
posted by Danf at 2:25 PM on March 24, 2006

Don't forget that circuitboards often have many very sharp wires sticking out of them. When I do a lot of work with PCs, I often find unexpected grids of puncture holes on my hands.
posted by b1tr0t at 2:38 PM on March 24, 2006

Yes, take them off the kids. Lead in solder will come off on your hands with extended handling but I'd be more worried about getting lead in puncture wounds from the component leads. You won't find dangerous voltages on a motherboard, unless it's that utterly crazy one released a couple years ago with a valve preamplifier on it.

There are other nasties like heatsinking compound that I'd be ever more worried about since it's a paste and gets everywhere if you touch it. Modern versions of heatsink paste aren't so bad but the older ones were truly noxious.
posted by polyglot at 8:17 PM on March 24, 2006