Mercury spill on myself.?
hello, this is an emergency, i just spilled some mercury on myself and and there seems to be a tiny red rash on my 3rd and forth finger on my left hand. One of my moms friend says its a tiny cut from the thermometer but it doesn't seem to hurt and she called all these people that are doctors and they said that just drink lots of milk and water and go to the toilet a lot so that all the poison come out. Im stilled worried but idon't feel weird or anything and its already cleaned up. It look like a tiny red scratch inside the skin and it doesn't hurt and when you touch it, you don't feel anything just like nothing happened. Thank you Please answer :(
If I spilled a jar of mercury on the ground, what would happen?
My first thought when I hear about exposure to mercury is that the person asking the question is usually having thoughts about facing death. I am going to assume that that is the case here. If not, good for you. Too much of our modern thinking treats elemental mercury as this deadly, toxic chemical. It can be, but let me show you a few, medically documented cases that will make you think otherwise. These are all from the New England Journal of Medicine, a well-respected journal without any political bias.First, the case of the women who injected mercury into herself as a suicide attempt. Want to see her x-ray?@Elemental Mercury Embolism to the Lung — NEJM By the way, she failed to kill herself.Then there is the case where the boy's Mom was feeding him mercury in an attempt to help his digestion. Gee, thanks Mom! @Heavy-Metal Meals of Mercury — NEJM And yes, he too lived.And then there is this third case where the person has vague mental issues and is exposed to large amounts of elemental mercury from "cleaning a gun". Maybe a likely excuse, maybe not. But in any case, take a look @Pulmonary Emboli Caused by Mercury — NEJM Three patients, all exposed to MASSIVE amounts of mercury and they all survived quite well. Surprising? Maybe to the mainstream media, but not to anyone who is older than say about 40 or so. We all used to play with mercury from broken thermometers and there is no downturn in the actuarial tables because of it.To be clear, elemental mercury is entirely different than organic mercury. As a child, I would play around with elemental mercury and would have no problem with letting my kids play around with it either. But organic mercury, sorry, no. I would be extremely unlikely to do anything with it in my lab, and there is no way that my son would ever see it either. It is just nasty.(And as a final aside, just so you don't think that all organic metal compounds are bad and all the elements are good, consider arsenic. Elemental arsenic is what you need to fear; organic arsenic is rather tame. Go figure.)
I spilled mercury in my pool, help please?
First make sure it was mercury. Most outdoor thermometer use "alcohol with a red dye". If the fluid inside was red, it was not mercury. Alcohol based thermometers, if broken in the pool, the alcohol (n-propanol to be precise -- which is not drinking alcohol) would become so dilute, assuming a pool larger than 5,000 gallons, that it would become harmless. Now keep in mind that mercury has become increasing rare in thermometers outside of scientific thermometers, as many countries have switched form its use. If the thermometer had a silver colored indicator, then it COULD have been mercury. Or it could have been a liquid alloy of gallium, indium, and tin. If the latter, you are fine. If indeed you broke a mercury containing thermometer, then you must try to recover the mercury. The mercury would have sunk to the bottom of the pool. You may need to drain the pool and change the filter. The maximum contaminant level, according to the EPA, for mecury in water is 2 microgram per liter of water. A 5,000 gallon pool contains 18,900 liter of water. Which means that you should not have dropped more than 37,800 micrograms of mercury into your pool. This would be a drop of mercury the size of about half a grain of rice. Given that most thermometer containing mercury contains 500,000 to 3,000,000 micrograms of mercury, you are in excess. Most of the mercury would stay as mercury and not dissolve into the pool water, so the amount in the water is still quite low. If I was absolutely sure it was mercury, I would drain the pool, change the filter media, and mop up the mercury. The positive is that mercury is not very soluble in water or in water containing bleach. But the longer it stays in contact with the water, the more mercury would dissolve into the water. So waiting a day or a week, just makes the water more contaminated. And next time, NEVER use a mercury containing thermometer unless you are doing science. By the way, "Derby Duck Floating Thermometers" are alcohol based. No mercury there.
5.00 lb of mercury metal is spilled onto a counter and forms a circular puddle with a diameter of 62.7 cm. ?
1. You are basically asked to solve the volume of a cylinder as a circult puddle. V = pi*r^2 * h. From this you want to solve for h, the height. h = V / (pi * r^2) We are given r = 62.7 cm / 2 = 31.35 cm 2. You are given a mass of Hg, but you need to know really the volume of mecury. To get the volume of a liquid given its mass, you need to know its density (density = mass / volume). So you need to find this value (a constant) for mercury. Wikipedia is a decent source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(el... and it gives us the value of 13.53 g/ml = 13.53 g/cm^3. 3. The mass is not given in SI units of kg or grams, so we also need the conversion factor of 2.2 lb = 1 kg. The volume of Hg is thus: V = (5.00 lb) * (1 kg/2.2 lb) * (1000 g/.kg) * (1 cm^3 / 13.53 g) = 167.977 cm^3 Notice that I added conversion factors also and that all values are arranged so that units/dimensions cancel and leave us with a value in units of cubic centimeters, the volume. Once you get dimensions to properly cancel each other, you are just left with multiplying the values: 5 * 1/2.2 * 1000 * 1/13.53 And so: h = 167.977 cm^3 / (pi * (31.35 cm)^2) = 5.44e-2 cm = 0.544 mm Note that you were given THREE significant digits, and so your answer must have THREE significant digits.
I spilled mercury on my computer and it's stuck in my touch pad?
I accidentally spilled some mercury on my computer and there is some in the area of the touch pad. I tried getting it out by shaking my upside-down computer onto some paper that collected whatever fell out. However, there is probably at least a bead or two of mercury visible in the crevices of the touch pad. What do? Will this damage my computer in any way? Will this be hazardous to my health, even if it is in such small amounts?
How dangerous is spilled mercury from a thermostat to my three year old daughter and cat, as well as myself?
I would contact poison control. It is dangerous. I found this on the web: All mercury spills, regardless of quantity, should be treated seriously. Metallic mercury slowly evaporates when exposed to the air. The air in a room can reach contamination levels just from the mercury in a broken thermometer - just a few drops. When liquid mercury is spilled, it forms droplets that can accumulate in the tiniest of spaces and then emit vapors. Health problems caused by mercury depend on how much has entered your body, how it entered your body, how long you have been exposed to it, and how your body responds to it. The symptoms of mercury poisoning can include: * impairment of peripheral vision * disturbances in sensations - that "pins and needles" feeling as well as numbness - usually in the hands feet and sometimes around the mouth * lack of coordination of movements, such as writing * impairment of speech, hearing, walking * muscle weakness * skin rashes * mood swing, memory loss, and mental disturbances Coming into contact with too much mercury this way can damage a growing brain, harming the way unborn and young children will be able to think and learn. It can also harm anyone's heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system. What you should do: There are some simple DO's and DON'T's to remember if, for example, a mercury thermometer breaks: DO call your local health department and inform them of the situation. DO immediately remove children from the area; DO clean up the silver mercury beads by using one sheet of paper to carefully roll them onto a second sheet of paper, or use an eye dropper to collect it all. Then place the mercury into a plastic bag or airtight container. The paper and eye dropper should also be bagged in a zip-lock container. DON'T try to soak it up with a towel or rag; doing so only spreads the mercury, breaking it up into smaller beads making it more difficult to find and remove. DON'T use household cleaning products to clean the spill, particularly products that contain ammonia or chlorine. These chemicals will react violently with mercury, releasing a toxic gas. DON'T vacuum carpeted floors contaminated with liquid mercury.
EMERGENCY!!! SPILLED MERCURY THERMOMETER IN BATHTUB?
I was filling up a bucket of water to put in the fish tank after I had cleaned it out, and I held a thermometer under the faucet to measure the water temp. I dropped the thermometer, and it broke. Mercury and the little metal beads dropped out and I panicked and left. There was still some water in the tub (accumulated by the drain catch) and the mercury and everything fell in it. My mom told me to close the door, turn on the air vent for clean air to be put into the room, and open the windows. I did as she told me to do. I also took a paper towel and covered up the area that I thought the mercury was in (I saw the metal beads from the thermometer) SO WHAT DO WE DO?!??! It was RIGHT NEXT TO the drain-- online it says that mercury could be circulating and poisoning the air and sewage and septic for YEARS. WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO OTHER THAN CLEAN IT UP?!?!?
How do you pick up spilled mercury without poisoning yourself?
Liquid mercury (quicksilver) is NOT toxic.Water soluble salts of mercury are highly toxic.If you drank quicksilver it will all pass out in the toilet. No harm.In addition, metallic mercury has a very high point of vaporization, such that at room temperature it cannot be inhaled either.Sending a Hazmat truck to vacuum up a broken mercury thermometer is overkill.Look up Kantor tube. The mercury filled bag would break and the mercury all came out with the stool. No harm.