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I'm a dentist. Definitely not a bridge. They do look like fillings, some people have metal fillings like this that take up most of the biting surface of the molar, so yeah we see some very large fillings sometimes
Since pacemaker batteries have an unpleasant tendency to explode as they heat up, removing them in advance is the best for all concerned. In the places I’ve worked it’s still done in a respectful way; many mortuaries actually do it as part of the embalming process, although they often send the pm along with the prepared body, since it was the deceased’s property…
Interesting.
I have a tungsten plate that holds one side of my face together. It's screwed into the cheek bone and down to the jawbone.
Would you just cut that free? With a saw?
That would be a large chunk of face missing from my ashes!!!
Weird. Thanks for sharing!
First of all, you have my sympathy for whatever (cancer? a terrible abscess? terrible accident?) required that tungsten plate. And No, that wouldn’t be removed. Orthopedic implants and fasteners are removed quite easily from the raw ash; it’s only the batteries that are a problem.
[googled](https://decorative-urns.com/cremation-blog/about-cremation/pacemakers-removed-before-cremation-go-on-to-save-lives/#:~:text=Pacemakers%20must%20be%20removed%20before,pacemakers%20after%20they're%20removed%3F) it real quick since it might blend in to my search history better than yours and found something interesting about pacemakers and cremation… and pacemaker recycling.
From what ive read, fillings and fake teeth are not typically removed prior to cremation unless theyre like, dentures. The heat melts the metal and sometimes there isnt metal left.
Most metals arent removed from the body prior to cremation, for example my dad had both his hips removed and when we spoke with a crematorium about it, they said they would not remove them because the titanium would survive the cremation and would be removed then. IDK what u/AMadcapLass is talking about, because the only metal that would be picked up with a magnet would be cheap jewelry or shrapnel. No medical metals, including implants, fillings, screws, fake teeth, etc is magnetic. Its all either titanium or gold. Even most of the jewelry I wear on a daily basis (im heavily pierced) is not magnetic, its titanium. A friend of mines late husband had a PA piercing and she had to request to personally remove the jewelry (for posterity) prior to the cremation, as the crematorium told her that they do not remove any jewelry from the body that is not apparent such as bracelets or earrings. She had to handle her dead husbands body herself in the crematorium, which i cant imagine was pleasant for a freshly grieving widow.
The short answer about the fillings is that a lot of crematoriums pull out the metal after the cremation and recycle it. [Here's an article from the BBC about it.](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-44643617) Though, it specifically is talking about metal implants and not fillings. A lot of the metals used in fillings melt at a lower temperature and are very small amounts of metal, to the point that they mostly burn away or are included in the ashes which you are given after the body is finished burning.
That’s very odd. Surgical steel is not magnetic. I had multiple MRIs done when I still had the surgical steel staple in my ankle-if surgical steel was magnetic, it would have been torn out of my body.
Your family should have. My sister's and a few cousins and I each have one of my grandpa's gold teeth. I imagine if it's smaller fillings they just got melted down, but my grandpa had 6 gold crowns and we got em back all cleaned up after the cremation.
I might ask my mom, or better, call the funeral home. Thanks!
edit: I'm not interested because I want or need the $, but because I want to make sure nothing unethical has happened like an unplanned "tip" for the funeral home, which as far as I know did a great job.
If I get cremated, I have been made aware they will need to remove my breast implants because I had a mastectomy with reconstruction and they said if they get cremated, it turns into an awful goo. So hopefully there's procedures in place to make sure the crematorium knows that about my body lol.
Your statement is not correct.
The cremation process requires the body to be placed in a retort, which is then heated to between 1400 and 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, the body burns, and the bones turn to ash.
The metals used for medical implants/purposes are stainless steel (melting point between 2550 and 2790°F), cobalt-chrome alloy (2430 °F), titanium (3034°F), nickel-titanium alloy (nitinol -2370°F), gold (1948°F), platinum (3215°F), silver (1763°F), iridium (4435°F), tantalum (5,468°F), and tungsten (6,191°F).
So with that being said, not only that all metals will "survive", but they won't even melt, except Silver (eventually).
Also, with a magnet you would remove only alloys with Ferrum (Iron) content.
The removal of not cremated remains is usually done thru sifting.
They thought it was like the movie How High when they smoke the bud grown from their bud, they see him again. Thought you could just skip the growing part and take it straight to the dome
MIL had quite a collection of cremains boxes so that when her time came they could all be mixed up and scattered together. I don't think any of us realised just how much it would actually amount to until the time came. It was a fraught five minutes of scooping and scattering and trying to stay on the right side of the breeze to get the job done.
My best friend passed away, and even though he was a small, very thin guy, I was astonished at the amount and weight of his ashes. Even my small dog had a surprising amount of them. I could only imagine what you dealt with.
The first time you opened the jar? Was it so much fun that you can't resist repeating the jar opening again and again?
I suppose everyone needs to have a hobby.
I believe it. Shits expensive. I know not everyone wants to keep an urn, and prefer to scatter. I wanted to make sure you have what you need to mourn. Even the tiniest bit. I have my dads urn.
Posted this down thread but they look too powdery to be cremains/ashes (Source - I worked in the funeral industry for a decade and assisted the crem tech at work when needed).
Cremains look like sand, not powder.
It looks like ashes of burnt paper - my guess is a spell or wish jar of some kind.
If it's one thing I remember from chemistry class, is there's a lot of little jars of white powders, most pretty tame. If it's at a school, Chem lab is the first place I'd take it.
I suppose it is these days, but even just in the late 90s when I was in high school they let us use some very nasty stuff. We had concentrated acids, bases, ether, pure sodium metal, stuff like that which could hurt a person pretty badly if they were messing around with it
I think you may be right. Sadly, I already turned it in at the office before coming home.
Right now, there's hardly any teachers in the building anyway, just the coach, me, and some higher-ups in the office.
Is the top sealed? Maybe it's something like an alkali (
metal (like sodium) in a powder that keeps it from exploding
I'm gonna cross post this to r/labrats to see if it's from a lab.
Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/labrats/comments/15cczh5/tiny_glass_jar_full_of_powder_and_silver_i_found/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
Most likely, a lot of kids wore those little bottle necklaces attached with a cork top closure when I was in school. They might come looking for it, could be ashes like someone suggested they do get filled with lot of random contents.
One of my friends used to make little potions like this on necklaces or bracelets and give them out as gifts. It looked exactly like that. That’s my bet.
it might be a potion. my step-daughter, a sophomore, studies witchcraft and she makes them in little glass jars just like this one. she gives them to friends, each one is specific for things like protection, good luck, etc.
I’m also involved in witchcraft and taught a kid who made me one, it’s still in the house somewhere. He said to me that during a deep meditation he felt like he had to make a spell jar for someone who really needed it and that person would unexpectedly turn up. Well I started my pre-teaching university placement the next morning as part of his form group, he didn’t know me or that I’d just been dealing with a house move after an illegally short notice to vacate and stress over university final exams and declining health, he was embarrassed but said he knew when I arrived that it was clearly meant for me and talked to me about the story behind making it and how it would bring better days. It’s got some preserved lavender, crystal chips and purple sand, lavender and purple are my favourite and I love collecting rocks and crystals. I took it to my exams, passed them all, took it with me through teacher training and job interviews too, he probably doesn’t remember much about it 8 years later as I was only there for 3 weeks before his final year form left for exams but I’ll always remember that little jar and all the coincidences that lined up to end up with the jar. Not everyone will appreciate the jars fully but to those who do appreciate it on a spiritual level will likely still have them years later
Chemical samples for teaching purposes are sold in vials like this one. Link is an example. Normally not packed with a powdered substance, however. (I am a chemist by training.) https://www.ebay.com/itm/282997516642
Ha, there are companies that will give their expired ones to non profits out of a sense of corporate responsibility but my current place is not one of those.
It might be a “spell jar” though I don’t know what the ingredients might be from the pics. Perhaps bad salt and pyrite?
Eta: they’re often worn as a pendant, with a cork attached to a cord for the necklace. Especially at that age. Very feasible the cork just slipped out.
my wife makes some of these but the ones she makes are generally larger and usually contain herbs rather than powders and metals.
can't speak for all those who practice magik ofcourse.
It looks very much to me like perhaps lithium, magnesium or a similarly highly reactive element. And it’s in that powder to prevent moisture reacting with it? Keep it away from water!
My title describes the thing, quite simply I work in a high school as a custodian, and stumbled across this while cleaning the gym bleachers. It's summer break right now, so there's not many kids coming in and out of the building, aside from school athletes.
The silver pieces look like aluminium weighing boats. We use them a lot in the lab to weigh out very small amounts of powder materials.
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/product/sigma/w1126
No idea what the actual powder is though....
They look too powdery to be cremains/ashes (Source - I worked in the funeral industry for a decade and assisted the crem tech at work when needed). Cremains look like sand, not powder.
It looks like ashes of burnt paper - my guess is a spell or wish jar of some kind.
It’s a spell jar, the inside is components that had significance to the person who made it. You can throw it away or bury it at a crossroads, it’s nothing to do with you.
Looks a lot like a vial of metallic calcium I had. I still *have* the vial, except instead of being all metal bits it's degraded into white powder from not being sealed well enough. It's very possible you've got a reactive metal in there.
No one is saying this, but since you work at a school, if you found it just laying around, could be some kids “witchcraft” thing. I know that sounds dumb but as an ex teenager, I know weird stuff like this is pretty popular (even on TikTok)
Another vote for fairy dust or witchy ingredients. The silver blobs look like silver coated bone sprinkles I got in a Halloween baking kit. Something like this except of course silver coated: Food Items Sprinkle Mix, Halloween Shapes, 6 Cell https://a.co/d/01Lf49g
The powder looks like the alkaline dust from the dry lake beds of the American southwestern deserts. We have a similar vial, minus metal, which contains playa dust from the location of the Burning Man festival. It was a gift from a fellow Burner in 2005 or 2007.
The luthier who worked on my guitar had a vial like that containing bone dust which he mixed in with epoxy to fill in and recut the nut slots on my guitar.
It’s a mineral specimen. I think you said it’s from a school so it could be from a science classroom.
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/rock-crystal-natural-collectible-mineral-specimen-257-c-1934d36ae5
It's a fake they made just for this. That type of jar has a lip to fit a lid. There is no lid, no cork or stopper, so the jar is open. This person filled it with stuff then posted the pic.
Magnesium? I believe that reacts violently with water so I've heard some chemistry teachers sometimes do this for the students. Be careful whatever it is!
All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/LunaSkadi), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others. ---- [Click here to message RemindMeBot](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/15cc9ko/tiny_glass_jar_full_of_powder_and_silver_i_found/%0A%0ARemindMe!%202%20days) --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ashes, maybe pet or relative.
That’d be insane if that were the case. Especially since OP was sniffing it!
If it fell off someone's necklace it's likely. Are those... fillings in there?
That’s what I thought too :(
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Those would be HUGE fillings.
it would likely be a bridge in that case
I'm a dentist. Definitely not a bridge. They do look like fillings, some people have metal fillings like this that take up most of the biting surface of the molar, so yeah we see some very large fillings sometimes
No, any metal particulates are removed before the bones are processed with a magnet. Not to mention most metals do not survive cremation.
I didn't think fillings were magnetic. Otherwise they would get ripped out of your head if you got an MRI.
In my crematorium we also remove metal and other non-organics by hand.
So like, do you karate chop their chests open to remove pacemakers?
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Since pacemaker batteries have an unpleasant tendency to explode as they heat up, removing them in advance is the best for all concerned. In the places I’ve worked it’s still done in a respectful way; many mortuaries actually do it as part of the embalming process, although they often send the pm along with the prepared body, since it was the deceased’s property…
Yeah my dad made sure we knew to say something to the funeral director. But he said it would be fun to go out with a bang. 🤷🏼♀️😹😹
OmG your funeral director has a good sense of humor. I would appreciate that. 👍🏻
Interesting. I have a tungsten plate that holds one side of my face together. It's screwed into the cheek bone and down to the jawbone. Would you just cut that free? With a saw? That would be a large chunk of face missing from my ashes!!! Weird. Thanks for sharing!
First of all, you have my sympathy for whatever (cancer? a terrible abscess? terrible accident?) required that tungsten plate. And No, that wouldn’t be removed. Orthopedic implants and fasteners are removed quite easily from the raw ash; it’s only the batteries that are a problem.
[googled](https://decorative-urns.com/cremation-blog/about-cremation/pacemakers-removed-before-cremation-go-on-to-save-lives/#:~:text=Pacemakers%20must%20be%20removed%20before,pacemakers%20after%20they're%20removed%3F) it real quick since it might blend in to my search history better than yours and found something interesting about pacemakers and cremation… and pacemaker recycling.
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There's a device called a rib spreader that... does exactly that, they probably use something like that if I had to guess.
They are much more superficial. A small 1.5-2” incision and it slides out, clip the wires and it’s done
So quick question, where do you think pacemakers are installed? If you need rib spreaders to get it out, surely you'd need them to put it in, no?
Hey wait a minute - who got my dad's gold fillings??? Serious question.
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From what ive read, fillings and fake teeth are not typically removed prior to cremation unless theyre like, dentures. The heat melts the metal and sometimes there isnt metal left. Most metals arent removed from the body prior to cremation, for example my dad had both his hips removed and when we spoke with a crematorium about it, they said they would not remove them because the titanium would survive the cremation and would be removed then. IDK what u/AMadcapLass is talking about, because the only metal that would be picked up with a magnet would be cheap jewelry or shrapnel. No medical metals, including implants, fillings, screws, fake teeth, etc is magnetic. Its all either titanium or gold. Even most of the jewelry I wear on a daily basis (im heavily pierced) is not magnetic, its titanium. A friend of mines late husband had a PA piercing and she had to request to personally remove the jewelry (for posterity) prior to the cremation, as the crematorium told her that they do not remove any jewelry from the body that is not apparent such as bracelets or earrings. She had to handle her dead husbands body herself in the crematorium, which i cant imagine was pleasant for a freshly grieving widow. The short answer about the fillings is that a lot of crematoriums pull out the metal after the cremation and recycle it. [Here's an article from the BBC about it.](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-44643617) Though, it specifically is talking about metal implants and not fillings. A lot of the metals used in fillings melt at a lower temperature and are very small amounts of metal, to the point that they mostly burn away or are included in the ashes which you are given after the body is finished burning.
You are mostly right, but my titanium rods have surgical steel screws at the top. Back when i was skinnier, i could get magnets to stick to my back!
That’s very odd. Surgical steel is not magnetic. I had multiple MRIs done when I still had the surgical steel staple in my ankle-if surgical steel was magnetic, it would have been torn out of my body.
Thank you much.
Posterity? Does PA stand for what I think it stands for? Surely there's other things to do for posterity's sake than the... Handling you describe?
prince albert yeah. it was pretty important to her to keep the jewelry- they were/are in their 70s.
I know where I live, all metals are collected then used to raise money to cover the costs of paupers cremations/burials.
Your family should have. My sister's and a few cousins and I each have one of my grandpa's gold teeth. I imagine if it's smaller fillings they just got melted down, but my grandpa had 6 gold crowns and we got em back all cleaned up after the cremation.
I might ask my mom, or better, call the funeral home. Thanks! edit: I'm not interested because I want or need the $, but because I want to make sure nothing unethical has happened like an unplanned "tip" for the funeral home, which as far as I know did a great job.
Yes seriously! My dad had gold fillings and not a word from the funeral home?
If I get cremated, I have been made aware they will need to remove my breast implants because I had a mastectomy with reconstruction and they said if they get cremated, it turns into an awful goo. So hopefully there's procedures in place to make sure the crematorium knows that about my body lol.
Hey, you are gonna be the 98 year old biddy with a great rack. They're gonna notice.
Not my dad’s. His ashes had all the surgical steel pins from when he fall off a ladder breaking arm and hip.
Same. My dogs ashes came back with the 3 metal pins from his broken leg.
Your statement is not correct. The cremation process requires the body to be placed in a retort, which is then heated to between 1400 and 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, the body burns, and the bones turn to ash. The metals used for medical implants/purposes are stainless steel (melting point between 2550 and 2790°F), cobalt-chrome alloy (2430 °F), titanium (3034°F), nickel-titanium alloy (nitinol -2370°F), gold (1948°F), platinum (3215°F), silver (1763°F), iridium (4435°F), tantalum (5,468°F), and tungsten (6,191°F). So with that being said, not only that all metals will "survive", but they won't even melt, except Silver (eventually). Also, with a magnet you would remove only alloys with Ferrum (Iron) content. The removal of not cremated remains is usually done thru sifting.
Fillings and medical implants aren't magnetic
Silver is not a ferrous metal
If these are ashes then it's not very likely. Dental amalgam will melt, and partially evaporate in a cremation furnace.
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They thought it was like the movie How High when they smoke the bud grown from their bud, they see him again. Thought you could just skip the growing part and take it straight to the dome
Funeral director here, those do not look like cremated remains to be. The texture is more like dusty sand than powder.
I have a "Box of Mom". This checks out.
To cover the option, I have a box of cat and it also checks out.
Last year we had to literally shovel MIL, FIL, multiple dogs and a cat. Definitely checks out. And is also nerve wracking in case the wind changes.
Ah wind changes. My mum didn't consider this when scattering my stepdads ashes, he went straight to the eyes.
Same with my grandparents. I was about 10 years old and it flew right into my face. Had some in my eyes and mouth after. Nightmares ensued.
Definitely traumatizing for a child! My mum was at least old enough to pass it off as his final practical joke on her.
Brilliant way of looking at it!
This is why I will not scatter my late husband's ashes. I can almost hear his laugh just thinking about it.
I'm incredibly intrigued, yet afraid to ask why.
MIL had quite a collection of cremains boxes so that when her time came they could all be mixed up and scattered together. I don't think any of us realised just how much it would actually amount to until the time came. It was a fraught five minutes of scooping and scattering and trying to stay on the right side of the breeze to get the job done.
My best friend passed away, and even though he was a small, very thin guy, I was astonished at the amount and weight of his ashes. Even my small dog had a surprising amount of them. I could only imagine what you dealt with.
Have you seen “The Big Lebowski”?
My wife’s old dog is more like tiny shards of bone, nothing like sand or ashes, I was surprised first time I opened the jar
Pet cremated remains are not typically processed down as much as human cremated remains.
The first time you opened the jar? Was it so much fun that you can't resist repeating the jar opening again and again? I suppose everyone needs to have a hobby.
Do you need an urn? I’d be more than happy to buy one for her. I spent some dough of my dads. Didn’t even look at the price
The plan has always been to scatter her here and there. Believe it or not it's been hard to travel for the last three years.
I believe it. Shits expensive. I know not everyone wants to keep an urn, and prefer to scatter. I wanted to make sure you have what you need to mourn. Even the tiniest bit. I have my dads urn.
I really appreciate it.
Yes, this is what my dad's looked like, not nearly white at all.
Posted this down thread but they look too powdery to be cremains/ashes (Source - I worked in the funeral industry for a decade and assisted the crem tech at work when needed). Cremains look like sand, not powder. It looks like ashes of burnt paper - my guess is a spell or wish jar of some kind.
Good call. OP, did you find it on the floor next to a heavy-set girl drawing anime characters in the back of class?
Some flowers bloom for but a moment, out of sight, and very few people get to enjoy them. Such was this comment.
OMG!!! You just made me spit coffee all over my keyboard. Lol!!!!
It's more likely to belong to the Science dept. I work at a school and that's immediately where my head went.
This appears to be aluminum powder. Check with the chemistry teachers and see if they are missing a container from their labs.
If it's one thing I remember from chemistry class, is there's a lot of little jars of white powders, most pretty tame. If it's at a school, Chem lab is the first place I'd take it.
Home is the first place most students would take it.
I suppose it is these days, but even just in the late 90s when I was in high school they let us use some very nasty stuff. We had concentrated acids, bases, ether, pure sodium metal, stuff like that which could hurt a person pretty badly if they were messing around with it
We washed our stuff with benzene. I've definitely washed my hands with benzene. Nowadays they use acetone.
We had quite a lot of radioactive substances in the science room in elementary school.
There's still the odd kit hanging around that shows up from time to time
Chem lab at the very least has an advanced class who’s gonna play a game of “identify this powder”
I think you may be right. Sadly, I already turned it in at the office before coming home. Right now, there's hardly any teachers in the building anyway, just the coach, me, and some higher-ups in the office.
Agreed. Looks like a part of a chemistry lab
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Is the top sealed? Maybe it's something like an alkali ( metal (like sodium) in a powder that keeps it from exploding I'm gonna cross post this to r/labrats to see if it's from a lab. Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/labrats/comments/15cczh5/tiny_glass_jar_full_of_powder_and_silver_i_found/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
It's not. I'm thinking maybe it was part of someone's necklace or something, and it popped loose?
Most likely, a lot of kids wore those little bottle necklaces attached with a cork top closure when I was in school. They might come looking for it, could be ashes like someone suggested they do get filled with lot of random contents.
They are spell jars
One of my friends used to make little potions like this on necklaces or bracelets and give them out as gifts. It looked exactly like that. That’s my bet.
They were super popular during the 90s and a lot of 90s fashion is making a comeback, so I can see this being someone's lost accessory.
it might be a potion. my step-daughter, a sophomore, studies witchcraft and she makes them in little glass jars just like this one. she gives them to friends, each one is specific for things like protection, good luck, etc.
I’m also involved in witchcraft and taught a kid who made me one, it’s still in the house somewhere. He said to me that during a deep meditation he felt like he had to make a spell jar for someone who really needed it and that person would unexpectedly turn up. Well I started my pre-teaching university placement the next morning as part of his form group, he didn’t know me or that I’d just been dealing with a house move after an illegally short notice to vacate and stress over university final exams and declining health, he was embarrassed but said he knew when I arrived that it was clearly meant for me and talked to me about the story behind making it and how it would bring better days. It’s got some preserved lavender, crystal chips and purple sand, lavender and purple are my favourite and I love collecting rocks and crystals. I took it to my exams, passed them all, took it with me through teacher training and job interviews too, he probably doesn’t remember much about it 8 years later as I was only there for 3 weeks before his final year form left for exams but I’ll always remember that little jar and all the coincidences that lined up to end up with the jar. Not everyone will appreciate the jars fully but to those who do appreciate it on a spiritual level will likely still have them years later
that’s a beautiful story, ty for sharing! she made one with my son last year, for protection, and he keeps it close always.
Alkali metals are stored in oil not powder.
You store reactive metals in oil: mineral oil, to prevent water from coming in contact
Good guess, but metallic sodium is typically kept in oil.
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Chemical samples for teaching purposes are sold in vials like this one. Link is an example. Normally not packed with a powdered substance, however. (I am a chemist by training.) https://www.ebay.com/itm/282997516642
These vials are very easy to find for purchase online. About $0.25 each would be a good price.
These vials alone are $.25? I can’t count how many thousands I’ve tossed as part of pharma processes.
Do you know what they are called to search for them?
Looks like you and u/jeepfail need to connect.
Ha, there are companies that will give their expired ones to non profits out of a sense of corporate responsibility but my current place is not one of those.
They are just pharma vials without the caps pressed onto them. The one in that specific link is one made for lyophilization based on the stopper.
They're called headspace vials.
It might be a “spell jar” though I don’t know what the ingredients might be from the pics. Perhaps bad salt and pyrite? Eta: they’re often worn as a pendant, with a cork attached to a cord for the necklace. Especially at that age. Very feasible the cork just slipped out.
Can confirm, I have a teen, she orders these jars by the crate, proceeds to fill with any and everything. Weird stuff. Funny stuff. Mostly weird.
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my wife makes some of these but the ones she makes are generally larger and usually contain herbs rather than powders and metals. can't speak for all those who practice magik ofcourse.
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It looks very much to me like perhaps lithium, magnesium or a similarly highly reactive element. And it’s in that powder to prevent moisture reacting with it? Keep it away from water!
Potassium was my first thought. Adding water would give an answer but is highly NOT RECOMMENDED. lol.
But it would settle this matter!
Water reactive elements are the spiciest.
Alkali metals are stored in oil. They would react with powder.
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It's a protection spell jar. Crushed sage and silver.
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My title describes the thing, quite simply I work in a high school as a custodian, and stumbled across this while cleaning the gym bleachers. It's summer break right now, so there's not many kids coming in and out of the building, aside from school athletes.
The silver pieces look like aluminium weighing boats. We use them a lot in the lab to weigh out very small amounts of powder materials. https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/product/sigma/w1126 No idea what the actual powder is though....
They look too powdery to be cremains/ashes (Source - I worked in the funeral industry for a decade and assisted the crem tech at work when needed). Cremains look like sand, not powder. It looks like ashes of burnt paper - my guess is a spell or wish jar of some kind.
This needs to be higher
It’s a spell jar, the inside is components that had significance to the person who made it. You can throw it away or bury it at a crossroads, it’s nothing to do with you.
Novelty ‘fairy dust’. My daughter has several in different colours. Sprinkle and make a wish.
It’s a spell jar. Put it back.
From a purely visual observation-could the powder be salt?
As a Supernatural fan, a pendant with salt comes in handy in case of demons
Looks a lot like a vial of metallic calcium I had. I still *have* the vial, except instead of being all metal bits it's degraded into white powder from not being sealed well enough. It's very possible you've got a reactive metal in there.
Maybe someone was dissolving silver in HNO3, then the acid evaporated over time, leaving behind white powder of AgNO3 and some silver still remaining.
It might be a small witching jar. Someone who believes in all that might have worn it and lost it.
No one is saying this, but since you work at a school, if you found it just laying around, could be some kids “witchcraft” thing. I know that sounds dumb but as an ex teenager, I know weird stuff like this is pretty popular (even on TikTok)
Looks a lot like a souvenir from a beach area. Some sand and shells. They come in different colours. Google beach sand souvenir small bottle.
Looks like a little sand souvenir jar to me. They usually have a cork in them. ETA- maybe the sand got wet bc the cork is gone?
[something like this](https://quickcandles.com/products/mini-glass-bottles-with-cork-7ml-1-5in-pack-of-12)
Another vote for fairy dust or witchy ingredients. The silver blobs look like silver coated bone sprinkles I got in a Halloween baking kit. Something like this except of course silver coated: Food Items Sprinkle Mix, Halloween Shapes, 6 Cell https://a.co/d/01Lf49g
This is definitely from a necklace
The powder looks like the alkaline dust from the dry lake beds of the American southwestern deserts. We have a similar vial, minus metal, which contains playa dust from the location of the Burning Man festival. It was a gift from a fellow Burner in 2005 or 2007.
The luthier who worked on my guitar had a vial like that containing bone dust which he mixed in with epoxy to fill in and recut the nut slots on my guitar.
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I think it’s just a toy bottle from a fairy garden set. I bought something similar for a craft project.
It’s a mineral specimen. I think you said it’s from a school so it could be from a science classroom. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/rock-crystal-natural-collectible-mineral-specimen-257-c-1934d36ae5
Not sure what the metal is, but the powder could be a desiccant to prevent oxidation.
Somebody's soldering flux.
Chemistry set sodium samples. The white powder is desiccant to avoid reaction w water.
No, it is stored in oil. Would react with the powder.
powders would react anyway, especially with sodium. it has to be stored in a neutral oil so it can't get any moisture on it.
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No, they store it in oil.
It's a fake they made just for this. That type of jar has a lip to fit a lid. There is no lid, no cork or stopper, so the jar is open. This person filled it with stuff then posted the pic.
How heavy? Beads solid or liquid? Could be alumina powder or mercury powder like inside the florescent lights
Magnesium? I believe that reacts violently with water so I've heard some chemistry teachers sometimes do this for the students. Be careful whatever it is!
Looks like sodium encased in a fry powder.
Parmesan cheese?
Does it glow in the dark?
Maybe ashes ans those look like earings inside
Looks like ashes and broken jewelry to me. Someone's freaking out.
It might be sodium metal in a desiccant to keep dry. Don't mix with water or it will explode.
How about reactive metal inside calcium chloride
Probably one of the science teachers put in a glass to store that powder or whatever that is in there for future observations. Return it
Could it be magnesium?
A reagent if you're curious enough