Found this at my job while taking out the trash, I’m assuming the crystals inside are some kind of harsh chemical and that this is some sort of ampoule that can only be opened by breaking?

Found this at my job while taking out the trash, I’m assuming the crystals inside are some kind of harsh chemical and that this is some sort of ampoule that can only be opened by breaking?

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https://preview.redd.it/037x1brvl66g1.jpeg?width=210&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=578556656b248032fd9d5c8888fe19d88ef4264a
Almost looks like Dreager gas detection tubes.
Worked with Dräger Test Tubes before. What OP has here is way too thick (both the glass wall and the circumference) and also not labelled. (Well, or OP has surprisingly tiny hands...)
EDIT: Also, test tubes are tightly packed and wadded so that there isn't any loose stuff flying around in them.
Cool to see Draeger mentioned. I work on their Medical side. Absolutely amazing company to work for.
I have a Draeger unit monitoring the gasses on my thermal deburrer, it makes a very polite melodic alarm when it’s not happy.
I’ve met a few of the folks working on the Safety side. That’s a pretty rad industry they get to play in.
The calibration guy they send out each year is a great bloke, apparently my machine is the oldest of its kind in Europe. So I’m very thankful their safety unit keeps my old explosion machine in check lol
LOL! Well I can vouch that it’s the same way on the medical side. We have equipment at hospitals that are long past their EOL still rockin and rollin.
Try being 1 of the people who use their stuff almost daily to ensure the people i supervise as well as myself alive.
Couldn't you just hold a lighter to it like lint on a sock?
;p
"Absolutely amazing company to work for."
That's a depressingly rare statement to see.
For sure, it definitely is. I’m very fortunate. It helps that Draeger is a 5th generation family owned private company based in Germany. No share holders to answer to.
They have made some really nice military and industrial respirators.
Having worked for a competitor for 23 years...
They make really good firefighting SCBA, too.
I did not even know they made anything other than SCUBA gear and the only reason I know that is I read a lot of SEAL and UDT history books. Vietnam and later specifically.
Unfortunately have never touched a Draeger SCBA setup but I do believe you. I have an MSA Firehawk occupying the SCBA slot in my collection currently.
I occasionally use a draeger at work (anesthesia). Also neat to see it mentioned outside of the medical subs.
Nice! They are an incredible employer, I can’t recommend them enough.
I use their H2O2 sensors at work.
Randomly having minor connections with a bunch of people is pretty cool haha.
They are also highly respected in the rebreather diving community
Use a Draeger meter whenever I do confined space work
https://preview.redd.it/snwphp8vdd6g1.png?width=614&format=png&auto=webp&s=2be96541957bdc18a94aa76530e9187c91f777b0
There's test tubes to detect these guys?
Yeah, Dräger makes Draugr test tubes too, I think. H2S should work.
Not necessarily true. We have some large style ones we use for testing hydrogen sulfide gas in high concentrations. Like when we are looking at percentage levels over parts per million levels. It is possible.
That's a round tip though, and it looks far too thick to break off.
Also, it's not graduated. Not all detection tubes are, but even yes/no tests generally have at least one line. I've never seen one that doesn't at least have arrow on it indicating direction and usually what they're supposed to detect. That could have worn off, I guess?
Also, detection tubes usually have the indicator material stoppered in place at both ends so that it doesn't shake around.
Seeing the other end would help, but I don't think this is it. Any kind of serious company working with gasoline would also use an electronic gas detector, not tubes.
They do smoke detector tubes like this too. I used to use them with a tube and puffer bulb.
The object in the picture doesn’t look like the things I used to use though.
No, it does not.
Looks like pure sulfur
OP this is likely. The good news is that our body tolerates pure sulfur well. Wash your hands with soap and water and don't go touching nasty unknowns again with your bare hands.
As a side note, I've seen foresters doing timber surveys, use sulfur powder instead of OFF bug spray with DEET, to keep the chiggers/red bugs away. They say it's much safer for you in the long term use.
We did this as kids in the late 70s/early 80s. My dad had this box of sulphur powdered and he would dust our pant legs and socks with it.
I did this for field work in Indiana. I never had chigger issues again.
My grandma did this when we went blueberry picking but she used off-road diesel on a rag instead.
This might be a dumb question but did it make you smell bad like sulfur typically does?
The smells are typically from compounds (particularly oils) that contain sulfur, not pure sulfur. It probably doesn't smell great if you stick your head in a barrel of it, but it wouldn't reek like a skunk or whatever other nasty sulfur-smelling thing.
It’s been a while but I don’t remember the smell being very strong at all. I was a kid though, so who knows.
That's pretty cool you can buy them for like a couple bucks a rock at the local crystal store
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In scouts we had a tube sock filled with sulfur then tied in a knot, swing it a little to tap yourself around the ankles and ya didn’t have to worry about bugs. As an adult I’ve casually wondered if it’s something I could get to use hiking and camping
it is in a glas tube...
I may be wrong, but I think sulfer is just a couple shades darker than that yellow.
Edit - could be camera's white balance, though.
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I also believe its a portable single use breathalyzer. The crystals inside change color when exposed to alcohol. They're hermetically sealed inside to prevent them from reacting until you put pressure on it and break the seal, hence the double tube.
The crystals inside are usually a silica crystal type of thing that are coated with something that changes color in the presence of alcohol( potassium dichromate is often the chemical of choice and in the presence of ethanol gets reduced to chromium (iii) sulfate that causes it to undergo a color change to green )
https://preview.redd.it/vimzu6ow876g1.jpeg?width=914&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f7df1cf99272d0bf6813c0bf1daf51205a6efd0
I second this! The granules look correct and have the same type of tube
https://preview.redd.it/owb9wwb2o76g1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad48c84ff65d3e8574717e5d8a6b82c160e68690
This is the most likely answer, the label just fell off.
Especially on a job site that checks for sobriety!
Op has a sealed glass tube, don’t you need to blow through these things?
It's probably this. Now we just need OP to breathe this mystery substance in to confirm!
Looks mostly like sulfur
https://www.shutterstock.com/search/sulfur-granules-test
Does it glow in the dark? Could be a rechargeable glow stick, possibly? I have a small one on a zip pull and the granules inside look similar.
tested it, it does not glow in the dark!
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This was what I saw as well! I have one that looks similar, mine is a tube of solid resin surrounding the glow granules, couldn't tell from the image if OPs has "loose granules" or not, but I don't think they'd leave them loose because they'd grind themselves into a fine powder and now glow as well.
Glass worker here, almost looks like a blank tube filled with frit (crushed glass) but probably not, just throwing it out there though. What's the other end of the tube look like?
https://preview.redd.it/w0wnd1hnq66g1.jpeg?width=2400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae17af849f92bcbb91a82b244f209245d7d6ceed
Ya know, it really does.
The end is loppy from glass working.
It does look like large size frit that has been encapsulated.
Does dichroic glass keep its optical properties once it has been crushed ?
Just for the record I chose this picture just because the tube size looks most similar to the op. And didn't want to comb through tons of images to find one for an example. If what op has is glass, it's not dicro.
But to answer in general it would, but would probably be dimished in some way. It's just a coating that's sprayed onto one side of the glass and it's easily scratched and damaged. So I could see the crushing process damaging some of the coating. But there must be a use for it since they are selling it in this form. Personally I'm used to just working with it from a pane or rod form.
Thanks for answering.
My own experience with them comes from lights used for stage lighting.
Alcohol testing ampule? These yellow greenish crystals would react with alcool carried by breath imo
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The motor was just placed there minutes earlier to replace one in the store.
Oh, OK. It's loose and it won't stay there. Makes sense!
Box is power for the compactor. Needs a key to operate usually. Motor is left there cuz it shouldn’t go in compactor anyway. Might be still working. Looks 1phase, 120v.
All reasonable, but copper thieves would think that's an easy mark.
Looks like it's located within a loading dock. This is the setup that you would find at a grocery store in urban/dense areas.
If a tweaker has physically reached the dumpster, you've got bigger problems because they're in the building.
You might as well save yourself money in the future by making it easy for the technicians to make faster repairs
All good points. There are piles of leaves at the base of the dock. I think it's outside.
My title describes the thing, the glass seems fairly thick considering the size of it. The crystals inside rattle when shaken and it appears the top portion of the glass is broken off. Just curious because I’m worried this could be some crazy chemical and I just don’t want to go throwing things like that into a trash can.
It looks like a gas analyzer tube.
Maybe a chemical concrete fastener? They make ampules like this that you put in a drilled hole in concrete, then you add the bolt to crush the ampule, and it releases a chemical fixative that anchors the bolt in place.
Possibly a sulfur discharge lamp? https://www.smart-elements.com/shop/high-purity-sulfur-discharge-tube-o12mm/
I think that's too much sulfur for a light bulb.
I think you're right. Hm...
I wonder if its one of those glass things you break when setting bolts in drilled concrete and the chemical inside hardens the filler
Kinda looks like one of those chemical expanders for drilling bolts into concrete
Looks like a vintage breathalyzer tube.
https://preview.redd.it/eblw46ufv76g1.jpeg?width=1065&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a6d9428fbd4774e47e3dcc152a20be620bd7344
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H20 breathing air analysis tube?
Can you post a picture of the whole thing?
UVGloStik. Put in light to recharge, glows in the dark for life
https://preview.redd.it/78j5gobon76g1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=69cb24427adcbe3a486128ea54077e5c1584c6d2
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That almost looks like an ammonia reagent ampoule. You break it and the crystals change color in the presence of NH3.
This looks like chips of glow in the dark plastic. (having it come in a powder rather than a lump is a recent trend I've noticed)
Does it glow in the dark?
What does the bottom of it look like? Is it exactly the same rounded edge as the top?
The top is actually broken glass(still sealed tho), the bottom is rounded though.
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If you shine your phone flashlight at it, does it glow?
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Looks like the breathalyzer tubes I needed to buy when taking my UK rental vehicle to France.
Looks like the tubes you drop in after a core to set an anchor
Uranium salt? If its not radioactive, its safe as long as the glass is intact.
it could be an adhesive anchor
It looks like a resin capsule for fixing bolts into concrete. You drill a hole, slip that in, then hammer in your fixing, which causes the capsule to break, and the chemicals inside to react and set.
I have worked in oil and gas and seen similar things handed out as samples. Of oil, bitumen and what this looks like, sulphur. That sort of thing. Usually they are part of a set with a small stand.
Just a thought
Drager moisture tube? I use those at work to help test breathing air.
Does it glow in the dark?
Did it have plastic casing bits or could you see any discarded plastic casings? It would be bigger than the ampule.
Probably not what I'm thinking
If it slightly smells like vanilla, it’s dmt
Is it radioactive?
Chemical anchor bolt. Toss in concrete hole and send in the bolt. It will create a bond between the metal and concrete
Isn't there some liquid in those and aren't they darker? I am asking, because I have only seen them while I searched for this, and that is what I had seen. I wasn't paying close attention to them, as I was trying to look for something close what what OP's image with the thick glass looked like. I could only find one thing that was a in a glass vile with the same curve and thickness, but the crystals were white.
I never had to use them but I was taught too. Some are red, purple, etc
Ah, okay. Thank you for the info. I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Could this be the inner breakable tube from a glow stick?
Is it a “tip tattler”?
Some crates and large cardboard shipping containers have vials of sand that will show the receiver whether or not the object has been tipped or dropped.
There’s an adhesive on the end that causes the “sand” to stick, indicating it’s been tipped the wrong way.
Do you have access to a blacklight? See if it glows under blacklight, and just by itself in the dark. This reminds me of something I saw on NileRed, and he loves to play with radioactive materials.
https://preview.redd.it/qyu48986796g1.jpeg?width=2256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=653160a0fbe1d38a5794f660d58d8ae316a60d11
I have an "impossible" toy like this. Move the steel ball through sand by shaking it in a clever way. Plastic cylinder, not glass.
My guess is if it breaks, the package was improperly handled. The Myth Busters used something like that. I think to test percussion waves?
Glass tube from inside a glow stick?
Sort of looks like a uranium sample if it’s sealed at the end, then it could be anything from uranium to some type of drug. I’ve never heard of maybe even uranium oxide however it’s highly unlikely it’s something radioactive, but it does look like samples. I’ve seen up close.
What ever happened to those bubble things in clear domestic on the sides of pumps?
I’m almost 100% it’s this. I had the same one that broke the same way. https://www.theglasswarehouse.com/cdn/shop/products/DabtoolSpearheadBlue.jpg?v=1646175401
I believe is an anchor hocking glass container
Best guess, it's a resin capsule for a concrete anchor bolt.
Let's say you want to attach something to an already cured concrete material. How do you do that? Putting threads for a screw in concrete doesn't work very well. This allows you to place a threaded rod in concrete or a screw and securely attach it.
You drill a hole, place the capsule inside, then drive the fastener through the glass capsule mixing the contents and exposing them to the air. This will cause the two part resin inside to mix and form a solid plastic bonded to the fastener a d the concrete.
I might have this absolutely wrong, but don’t over the counter breathalysers look a bit like this? And then it changes colour if you have alcohol in your system? Would make sense if it was near a gas station, but I have no idea the mechanics of blowing into it, because this looks kinda sealed up.
Edit. It’s already the second comment. Apologies.
H20 breathing air analysis tube?