Mercury thermometer. What is the danger? How to collect mercury if a thermometer crashed: emergency measures What happens to mercury in the cold

Thermometers for determining body temperature are in every home first aid kit. Most often they are modern electronic ones, but many of us do not throw away the old glass ones with a shiny bulb of mercury. According to some, they show the temperature more reliably and more accurately. Most adults know that mercury is dangerous, the thermometer cannot be broken. But it still crashes sometimes. What then to do?

Old thermometers are sometimes kept in the first aid kit, sometimes somewhere in a drawer or in a box on the mezzanine. If they are not used, then sometimes they forget that they are in the house. It is not surprising if a curious child discovers such an interesting toy and breaks it inadvertently. Yes, it can happen to adults too. What to do? And how dangerous is it?

First, there is no need to panic. Mercury is dangerous, but as long as certain safety precautions are followed, nothing bad will happen.
Secondly, you need to properly collect mercury and dispose of it, observing all precautions.

Why is mercury dangerous?

Mercury is a liquid metal and its vapors are hazardous to humans. It evaporates even in the cold, and at normal room temperature this process goes very quickly. This rapid evaporation has its pros and cons. In addition, mercury droplets disintegrate into tiny particles and evaporation from this goes even faster, and it is very difficult to collect such droplets.

Mercury vapors are odorless and cannot be detected without instruments. Through the light molecules of mercury penetrate into the body, gradually accumulating in it.

Acute poisoning mercury vapor has been well studied. If a person inhales mercury, then he has headache, general weakness, metallic taste in the mouth, salivation, nausea, indigestion, decline in cardiac activity. The dangerous thing is that mercury is in the blood and all organs, it cannot be quickly removed from the body.

A small amount of mercury in the air does not lead to such a severe condition. Poisoning at first may not manifest itself in any way. How this will affect the state of health subsequently is unknown, it manifests itself in different ways for everyone. Mercury affects the human nervous system. It could be a headache, insomnia. Some people develop asthma, others kidney failure. In most cases, poisoning provokes an exacerbation of chronic diseases.

What to do if a mercury thermometer breaks?

There is little mercury in it, so you should not panic. Silver balls must be carefully collected and disposed of. What remains will soon evaporate, so it is better to leave the room and ventilate it often. /p>

What not to do:

collect balls of mercury with a vacuum cleaner or a broom - at the same time they are crushed and evaporation increases, the substance settles on the filters;
arrange a draft until the mercury is collected - the smallest particles are carried around the room by an air stream;
turn on - mercury particles fall on the filters and remain there until complete evaporation;
collected mercury should not be drained into the sewer - it is heavy, settles in pipes, and does not flow with water, while continuing to evaporate and poison you or your neighbors.

What should be done:

remove all people and animals from the premises, especially children;
put on rubber gloves and a gauze bandage if you have them in the house (contact with hands is not as dangerous as inhaling fumes);
collect all the mercury with a napkin or sheet of paper; very small balls can be easily collected with adhesive tape, adhesive tape or a damp cotton swab;
if small balls get into the slot, you can try to get them with an unnecessary brush, a syringe with a thick needle, or something sticky (plasticine or chewing gum);
put the collected mercury in a tightly closed jar, put napkins and everything with which it was collected in the same place;
if mercury was on the floor or tile, then the surface is treated with iodine or a strong solution of potassium permanganate, washed with bleach - this helps to neutralize the harmful substance;
ventilate the room well immediately after collecting the mercury and then regularly draft it for several days in a row until all the mercury has evaporated;
if a child sleeps in this room, it is better to transfer him to another room for a few days.

How to dispose of collected mercury?

It is believed that special services should dispose of mercury, and you need to call the health station or the Ministry of Emergency Situations, they will tell you what to do next. In fact, these services are engaged in chemical neutralization a large number mercury. A few grams from a thermometer do not pose a great danger, so no one will do this. You will simply be advised to collect and discard the harmful substance.

There is a mercury thermometer in every home. And, for sure, many of you have had situations when the thermometer broke. Mercury is a very dangerous substance and can cause serious poisoning. Today we'll talk about what to do, if the thermometer breaks at home.

Why is mercury dangerous?

It is not mercury itself that is dangerous, but the vapors it gives off. This metal is odorless, which only increases its danger. Interestingly, mercury can evaporate even in the cold. And at room temperature, it begins to evaporate very intensively. Being in a room where mercury is located leads to its gradual accumulation in the body and poisoning of the nervous system and internal organs.

How to recognize mercury poisoning

Just in case, let's say right away how mercury poisoning manifests itself. It can be acute and chronic. Acute poisoning occurs when a person inhales large amounts of mercury vapor. Symptoms appear a few hours later. There is a sharp and very great weakness, headaches, there is a taste of metal in the mouth and salivation increases. Intestinal disorders such as vomiting, nausea and diarrhea appear. Sometimes the gums begin to bleed.

Chronic poisoning can occur with the gradual accumulation of mercury in the body. For example, if a thermometer broke at home, but they didn’t notice it and didn’t remove it. In this case, you may not feel that you have been poisoned. Symptoms at first may not be at all. But with time general well-being will worsen - fatigue, headache, sleep disturbances and trembling in the hands will appear. Therefore, you need to take this issue very seriously and carefully clean up the consequences of a broken thermometer.

What to do if the thermometer is broken?

If the thermometer breaks in the apartment, do not fuss and do not be afraid. Better take action now. First of all, take everyone out of the room and collect the mercury. In no case do not use a broom and a vacuum cleaner, as these things will become unsuitable for further use. Collect the largest balls with a piece of paper or a brush in a small jar. Small, almost imperceptible balls can be collected with adhesive tape.

Pour the mercury that you were able to collect with cold water and tightly close the lid of the jar. Now you can start processing the floors. The floor and all objects that mercury could get on should be washed with a solution of iodine or potassium permanganate. The solution must be strong.

Processing completed. You won't do anything else. It remains only to open the windows and ventilate the room well. You need to ventilate for a long time, as the smallest particles of mercury could remain in the cracks.

Collected mercury must be taken to a special recycling center. Call the Ministry of Emergency Situations and check if there is one in your city. If not, then it is most reasonable to pack the jar well and take it outside the city. Only in this way it will not harm people and animals.

What should never be done?

Remember a few things that you must not do if you accidentally break a thermometer:

Do not throw collected mercury down the toilet. It is a heavy metal and will continue to poison you as it settles in the pipes.
As we have already said, you can not collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner or a broom. Not only will these things no longer be usable, but it will also be more difficult for you to collect mercury, as it will crumble into tiny particles and evaporate much faster.
Do not dispose of mercury in the waste chute.
Open windows for ventilation only when you are sure that you have collected all the mercury balls. The draft will contribute to the fact that the balls will scatter throughout the room.
Do not turn on the air conditioner - metal can settle on the filters.

That's all. If measures are taken in time, then one broken thermometer will not harm anyone. The main thing is not to panic, act judiciously and calmly.

Read more: - a chemical element of group II of the periodic system of elements, atomic number 80, relative atomic mass 200.6.

It is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and freezes only in extreme cold. It was discovered only in the 18th century. - in 1736 in Irkutsk, in severe frost, the "freezing" of the thermometer was observed by the French astronomer and geographer J.-N. Delisle. (He was invited to St. Petersburg to take the place of director of the astronomical observatory at the foundation of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1725 and lived in Russia until

1 747. He traveled to Siberia to observe the passage of Mercury in front of the disk of the Sun and to determine geographical location some points.) Artificial freezing of mercury with the help of a cooling mixture (from ice and concentrated nitric acid) was possible only in 1759 by another St. Petersburg academician I.A. Braun (he was invited to the Russian Academy in 1746).

Mercury is one of the seven metals known since ancient times. Despite the fact that mercury belongs to trace elements and is very rare in nature (

7 10–6 % in earth's crust, about the same as silver), it occurs in a free state as inclusions in rocks. In addition, it is very easy to isolate it from the main mineral - sulfide (cinnabar), during firing of which the reaction HgS+ O 2 ® Hg + SO 2 . Mercury vapor easily condenses into a liquid that is shiny like silver. Its density is so high (13.6 g/cm 3 ) that a bucket of mercury a common person it doesn't even lift off the floor.

The unusual properties of liquid metal surprised even the ancients. The Greek physician Dioscorides, who lived in the 1st century AD, gave her the name hydrargyros (from "hudor" - water and "argyros" - silver); hence the Latin name hydrargirum. A similar name - Quecksilber (i.e. "mobile silver") has been preserved in German (it is interesting that quecksilberig in German means "restless"). The old English name for mercury was similar - quicksilver ("quick silver"). In Bulgarian, mercury is a zhivak: indeed, the balls of mercury shine like silver and “run” very quickly - as if alive. The modern English (mercury) and French (mercure) names for mercury come from the name of the Latin god of trade, Mercury. Mercury was also the messenger of the gods, and he was usually depicted with wings on his sandals or on his helmet. Probably, according to the concepts of the ancients, the god Mercury ran as fast as mercury shimmers. Mercury corresponded to the planet Mercury, which moves the fastest in the sky.

Ancient Indians, Chinese, Egyptians knew about mercury. Mercury and its compounds were used in medicine (including for the treatment of ... volvulus), red dyes were made from cinnabar. But there were also rather unusual "applications". Yes, in the middle

10 in. the Moorish king Abd ar-Rahman III built a palace near Cordoba in Spain, in the courtyard of which there was a fountain with a continuously flowing stream of mercury (until now, the Spanish deposits of mercury are the richest in the world, Spain occupies a leading position in its extraction). Even more original was another king, whose name history has not preserved: he slept on a mattress that floated in a pool of ... mercury! At that time, the strong toxicity of mercury and its compounds, apparently, was not suspected. Moreover, not only kings were poisoned with mercury, but also many scientists, including Isaac Newton (at one time he was very interested in alchemy),and even today, careless handling of mercury often leads to sad consequences.

Now the toxicity of mercury is well known. Of all its compounds, highly soluble salts, such as HgCl chloride, are especially dangerous.

2 (mercuric chloride - earlier it was widely used as an antiseptic); the lethal dose of sublimate when it enters the stomach is from 0.2 to 0.5 g. Metallic mercury is also dangerous, especially if it is regularly taken into the body. But this is an inactive metal, it does not react with gastric juice and is excreted from the stomach andintestines almost completely. What is its danger? It turns out that mercury evaporates easily, and its vapors, getting into the lungs, completely linger there and subsequently cause poisoning of the body, although not as fast as mercury salts. In this case, specific biochemical reactions occur that oxidize mercury. Mercury ions primarily react with the SH-groups of protein molecules, among which are the most important enzymes for the body. Hg ions 2+ also react with protein groups -COOH and NH 2 with the formation of strong complexes - metalloproteins. And the neutral mercury atoms circulating in the blood, which got there from the lungs, also form compounds with protein molecules. Violation of the normal functioning of enzyme proteins leads to profound disorders in the body, and above all in the central nervous system and also in the kidneys.

Another possible source of poisoning is organic derivatives of mercury. These extremely poisonous derivatives are formed as a result of the so-called biological methylation. It occurs under the action of microorganisms, such as mold, and is characteristic not only of mercury, but also of arsenic, selenium, and tellurium. Mercury and its inorganic compounds, which are widely used in many industries, fall to the bottom of reservoirs with wastewater. Microorganisms living there convert them into dimethylmercury (CH

3 ) 2 Hg, which is one of the most toxic substances. Dimethylmercury then easily passes into the water-soluble cation HgCH 3 + . Both substances are taken up by aquatic organisms and enter the food chain; first they accumulate in plants and the smallest organisms, then in fish. Methylmercury is eliminated from the body very slowly, taking months in humans and years in fish. Therefore, the concentration of mercury along the biological chain is constantly increasing, so that in predatory fish that feed on other fish, mercury can be thousands of times more than in the water from which it was caught. This explains the so-called "Minamata disease" - after the name of a seaside city in Japan, in which for several years50 people died from mercury poisoning and many children born had congenital deformities. The danger turned out to be so great that in some reservoirs it was necessary to suspend fishing - it turned out to be so “stuffed” with mercury. Not only people suffer from eating poisoned fish, but also fish and seals.

Mercury poisoning is characterized by headache, redness and swelling of the gums, the appearance of a characteristic dark border of mercury sulfide on them, swelling of the lymphatic and salivary glands, digestive disorders. In case of mild poisoning, after 2–3 weeks, impaired functions are restored as mercury is eliminated from the body (this work is mainly performed by the kidneys, colon glands and salivary glands).

If mercury enters the body in small doses, but for a long time, chronic poisoning occurs. It is characterized primarily fatigue, weakness, drowsiness, apathy, headaches and dizziness. As you can see, these symptoms are very easy to confuse with the manifestation of other diseases or even with a lack of vitamins. Therefore, it is not easy to recognize such poisoning. Of the other manifestations of mercury poisoning, it should be noted mental disorders. Previously, they were called the "disease of hatters", since mercury nitrate Hg (NO

3 ) 2 . This disorder is described in Lewis Carroll's bookAlice in Wonderland on the example of one of the characters - the Mad Hatter.

The danger of chronic mercury poisoning is possible in all rooms in which metallic mercury is in contact with air, even if the concentration of its vapors is very low (the maximum permissible vapor concentration in the working room is 0.01 mg / m

3 , and in atmospheric air - 30 times less). Even professional chemists are surprised to learn how quickly mercury evaporates and how much it can accumulate in the air. At room temperature, the vapor pressure over mercury is 0.0012 mm Hg, a million times less than atmospheric pressure. But even this low pressure means that every cubic centimeter of air contains 30 trillion mercury atoms, or 13.4 mg/m 3 , i.e. 1300 times more than the maximum allowable concentration! And since the forces of attraction between mercury atoms are small (which is why this metal is liquid), mercury evaporates quite quickly. The lack of color and smell of mercury vapor leads to the fact that many underestimate the danger. To make this fact obvious, we conducted the following experiment. A little mercury was poured into the cup, so that a puddle with a diameterabout 2 cm. This puddle was sprinkled with a special powder. If such a powder is illuminated with invisible ultraviolet rays, it begins to glow brightly. If there is mercury under the powder, dark moving “clouds” are visible against a bright background. This phenomenon is especially clearly observed when there is little air movement in the room. The experiment is explained simply: mercury in the cup continuously evaporates, and its vapors freely pass through a thin layer of fluorescent powder. Mercury vapor has the ability to strongly absorb ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, in those places where invisible “mercury trickles” rose above the cup, ultraviolet rays lingered in the air and did not reach the powder. In these places, dark spots were visible.

Subsequently, this experience was improved so that it could be observed by many spectators at once in a large audience. Mercury this time was in an ordinary bottle without a stopper, from where its vapors freely escaped. A screen covered with the same powder was placed behind the bottle, and in front of it - ultraviolet lamp. When the lamp was turned on, the screen began to glow brightly, and moving shadows were clearly visible against a light background. This meant that in these places the ultraviolet rays were delayed by the mercury vapor coming out of the bottle and could not reach the screen.

If the exposed surface of mercury is covered with water, the rate of evaporation is greatly reduced. This happens because mercury is very poorly soluble in water: in the absence of air, only 0.06 mg of mercury can dissolve in one liter of water. Accordingly, the concentration of mercury vapor in the indoor air should also decrease very strongly, provided that they are ventilated. This has been tested in a mercury processing plant. In one of the experiments, 100 kg of mercury was poured into two identical trays, one of them was filled with a layer of water about 2 cm thick and left overnight. In the morning, the concentration of mercury vapor was measured at 10 cm above each tray. Where mercury was poured with water, it was in the air 0.05 mg / m

3 - slightly more than in the rest of the room (0.03 mg / m 3 ). And above the free surface of mercury, the device went off scale ...

But if mercury is so toxic, why has it been used by dentists for decades to make fillings? A special mercury alloy (amalgam) was made just before a filling was made by adding mercury to an alloy containing 70% silver, 26% tin and some copper and zinc, after which the mixture was carefully rubbed. In the finished seal, after squeezing out the excess liquid mercury, it remained approximately 40%. After hardening, the filling consisted of three different crystalline phases, the composition of which approximately corresponds to the formulas Ag

2 Hg 3 , Ag 3 Sn and Sn x Hg, where X takes values from 7 to 9. These intermetallic compounds are solid, non-volatile and completely safe at human body temperature.

Here are the lamps daylight pose a certain danger: each of them contains up to 0.2 g of liquid mercury, which, if the tube is broken, will begin to evaporate and pollute the air.

Excited mercury atoms emit light at wavelengths mainly 254, 303, 313, and 365 nm (UV), 405 nm (violet), 436 nm (blue), 546 nm (green), and 579 nm (yellow). The emission spectrum of luminous mercury vapor depends on the pressure in the flask. When it's small

ó , the mercury lamp remains cold, burns with a pale blue light, almost all of its radiation is concentrated in the 254 nm invisible line. This is how bactericidal lamps shine. If the vapor pressure is increased, the 254 nm line will practically disappear (this radiation will be absorbed by mercury vapor itself), and the intensity of other lines will noticeably increase, the lines themselves will expand, and a noticeable “background” will appear between them., which becomes predominant in xenon lamps beyond high pressure(approximately 3 atm), which are filled with mercury vapor and xenon. One such lamp with a power of 10 kW can illuminate, for example, a large station square.

Mercury lamps of medium and high pressure (10-100 kPa or 0.1-1 atm) are often called "quartz" because their body is made of refractory quartz glass that transmits UV rays. They are used for physiotherapy and artificial tanning. The radiation of mercury lamps is very different from the sun. When the first mercury lamps appeared in the center of Moscow, their light was very unnatural - greenish-bluish. It greatly distorted colors: the lips of passers-by seemed black. To bring mercury vapor radiation closer to natural light, mercury lamps low pressure are made in the form of tubes, on the inner walls of which a special phosphor is applied (

cm . LUMINESCENCE. GLOW OF SUBSTANCES).

At home, mercury can be found in a melodious doorbell, in fluorescent lamps, in a medical thermometer or an old-style tonometer. Mercury spilled indoors must be collected with the utmost care. Especially a lot of vapors are formed if the mercury crumbled into many tiny droplets that clogged into various cracks, for example, between parquet tiles. Therefore, all these droplets must be collected. This is best done with tin foil, to which mercury easily adheres, or washed nitric acid copper wire. And those places where mercury could still linger are poured with a 20% solution of ferric chloride. Good preventive measure against mercury vapor poisoning - carefully and regularly, for many weeks or even months, ventilate the room where mercury was spilled.

Mercury has many interesting properties that were previously used for spectacular lecture experiments. For example, it dissolves well in molten white phosphorus (it melts at 44°

C), and when this unusual solution is cooled, mercury is released in an unchanged state. Another beautiful demonstration was related to the fact that when cooled, mercury solidifies, and its solid pieces stick together just as easily as its liquid drops when they come into contact. If, however, the mercury is cooled very strongly, for example, liquid nitrogen, to a temperature of - 196 ° C, after inserting a stick into it, then after the freezing of mercury, a kind of hammer was obtained, with which the lecturer easily hammered a nail into the board. Of course, there was always a risk that small pieces would break off from such a “hammer”, which then would cause a lot of trouble. Another experience was associated with the "deprivation" of mercury of its ability to easily break into tiny shiny balls. To do this, mercury was exposed to very small amounts of ozone. At the same time, mercury lost its mobility and stuck as a thin film on the vessel containing it. Now, when the toxicity of mercury is well studied, such experiments are not carried out.

But getting rid of mercury in thermometers has not yet been possible. Firstly, it allows measurements in a wide temperature range: it freezes at –38.9°C, boils at 356.7°C, and by increasing the pressure over mercury, the upper limit can easily be raised by another hundreds of degrees. Secondly, pure mercury (and it is relatively easy to clean it) does not wet glass, so temperature readings are more accurate. Third, and very important, mercury expands more evenly with increasing temperature than other liquids. Finally, mercury has a low specific heat capacity - it is almost 30 times easier to heat it than water. So the mercury thermometer, among other advantages, also has a low inertia.

The high density of mercury makes it possible to “keep the temperature” in a conventional medical thermometer after it has been measured. To do this, the principle of breaking a column of mercury in a thin constriction of the capillary between the reservoir and the scale is used. Unlike conventional thermometers, when measuring body temperature, mercury enters the capillary not evenly, but in jumps, “shooting” periodically with tiny droplets through the constriction in the capillary (this can be clearly seen through a strong magnifying glass). It forces her to do this by increasing the pressure in the tank when the temperature rises - otherwise the mercury will not pass through the constriction. When the tank begins to cool, the column of mercury breaks and part of it remains in the capillary - exactly as much as it was there in the patient under the arm (or in another place, as is customary in different countries). By shaking the thermometer sharply after measuring the temperature, we impart to the heavy column of mercury an acceleration ten times greater than the acceleration free fall. The pressure developed at the same time “drives” the mercury back into the tank.

Despite the toxicity, it has not yet been possible to completely get rid of the use of mercury and its compounds, and thousands of tons of this metal are mined every year around the world. Mercury finds very wide application in many industries. Metallic mercury is used in electrical contacts - switches; for filling vacuum pumps, rectifiers, barometers, thermometers, in the production of chlorine and caustic soda (mercury cathodes); in the manufacture of dry elements (they contain mercury oxide, or zinc and cadmium amalgam).

For many purposes, an electrical discharge in mercury vapor (mercury lamps) is used.

Ilya Leenson LITERATURE Popular library of chemical elements . Book 2. M., Science, 1983
Trakhtenberg T.M., Korshun M.N.Mercury and its compounds in the environment . Kyiv, 19 90
Leenson I.A. Entertaining chemistry . In 2 parts. M., Bustard, 1996

Did you break the thermometer and the mercury spilled?

Now the main thing is to collect mercury correctly so as not to harm yourself and your loved ones even more.

We must pull ourselves together and act as quickly as possible, collected and competently.

Consider 5 rules:

1. DO NOT throw away mercury or the remains of a thermometer in the garbage chute, toilet bowl, sink, bathtub. Only 2 grams of mercury, evaporating, will poison entire 6000 cubic meters of air in your house!
2. DO NOT collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner, broom, rag!

NEED:
3. Open the window (but without a draft!) And close the door.
4. Prevent others from accessing the contaminated area, so as not to carry mercury around the room.
5. Then proceed STRICTLY according to the instructions approved by experts (perhaps the best guide to preventing poisoning and properly collecting mercury).

Chronic mercury vapor poisoning is dangerous!!!

Cases from the archive of public consultations on the removal of mercury contamination are indicative:

Question: Hello. We have a serious problem. Yesterday, by negligence, the thermometer was broken, and mercury spilled not only on the floor, but also on the rug. What can be done to properly clean the rug? Will cleaning with a vacuum cleaner or tape and airing the rug in the cold help? Ira, Moscow.

Expert Answer: Hello! I would not advise you to clean the rug in this way. You can't vacuum. Should be postponed until summer. And in the summer it’s good to knock it out in the sun, protecting the respiratory organs before that. Now remove the mercury-contaminated rug away from your home - in a barn in the country, for example. Important: roll up, lay with newspapers, pack in polyethylene.

Question: The children played around - they put a thermometer in a hot kettle. The thermometer, of course, burst. Is it possible to drink tea if mercury is not visible in the teapot? Olesya. Zelenograd.

Answer: Hello! In principle, you can drink tea, but first rinse the kettle (preferably more than once) with a descaling agent. Although the risk of mercury poisoning and its vapors will still remain, it is better for you to buy a new kettle.

Question: They dropped the thermometer on the floor in the nursery. Tell me, can drops of mercury be absorbed? For example, in children's things? Or sneak into a toy bag? Kira.

Answer: Good afternoon, Kira! I hasten to reassure you. Mercury does not absorb, “bounce” or penetrate closed containers. Nevertheless, it is worth calling our specialist for demercurization. If you are not from Moscow and there are no such specialists in your city, then children's things should be aired and properly shaken out on the street, if there are fears that mercury has got on them. You can't vacuum.

Question: Mercury seems to have been collected wet rag. Cleaned up the apartment with bleach. Ventilated for a long time. What else can be done? Yes, there is a rug next to the spill site. Maybe chlorine it? We worry - we have children. Inga. Mytishchi.

Answer: It is better to wash the floor thoroughly with chlorine-containing products ( see instructions at the beginning of the article), after removing the carpet. Process it separately - knock it out in the sun in the summer. You can't vacuum. If there are gaps in the floor, also pour bleach (again, taking into account the instructions). If in doubt, call the services to measure the content of mercury vapor in the air.

Question: Help! The child bit off the thermometer. Everything seemed to be spat out on a napkin. There are no wounds in the mouth. I caused vomiting. There was no mercury in the vomit. It's been two hours, but so far so good. Could the child still swallow the mercury? And now what i can do? Alexandra, Moscow.

Answer: Good afternoon! Anything swallowed is likely to be vomited. If there was anything left in the stomach, the symptoms of mercury poisoning would come on very soon, within an hour or two. The minimum and relatively safe amount will be excreted by the body itself without consequences. Now it will be enough to rinse with soda, and once again inspect for cuts.

Question: There are suspicions that a two-year-old child swallowed mercury. The fact is that today I just discovered: the tip of the thermometer is broken off. The son became depressed, it was necessary to measure the temperature, and now ... When this happened, it is not clear, the last time I used it for more than a week. No tip, no mercury to be seen. What to do? Where to run? What to hand over? Natalia. Lyubertsy.

Answer: Hello, Natalia! The likelihood that your child swallowed it all is very small. In that case there would be severe symptoms mercury poisoning ( heat, asphyxia, vomiting), which in children occur immediately - in the first hours after poisoning. If you do not find liquid metal spilled from the thermometer right now, then it is scattered around the apartment. Call the experts as soon as possible.

Question: The child measured the temperature in bed and broke the thermometer. He broke off the tip itself, and it was never found. But all the mercury, in my opinion, remained in the thermometer itself. Or could it be in the tip? Elya.

Answer: Dear Elya! Be sure to find and collect all the mercury - there is always more of it in the tip. This is very important and serious, after all, dangerous! Looks like something got into the bed. Examine everything carefully. First, the most squeezed places, recesses, after - under the mattress. Look around the room. If you can't find it yourself, call the experts. This, in any case, is more correct.

Question: The thermometer fell and broke while in a closed plastic case. The case was not damaged or opened. What is the probability that the mercury has leaked? Michael.

Answer: Good afternoon! Most likely it didn't leak. Just look at everything very carefully.

Question: Greetings! I spent money on a supposedly safe thermometer covered with a protective film that should prevent mercury from splashing. He turned out to be married. It looks intact, but at the first use - shaking - mercury was on my hands, table and other surfaces. I immediately washed my hands and face with soap, treated the rest with potassium permanganate. Cleaned up without a mask. Could I have been poisoned? Zhanna.

Answer: Good afternoon! If you do not feel a clear deterioration in your condition, you are unlikely to have been harmed. It is best to measure the mercury vapor in your home to make sure there is no danger.

Question: I always thought that in order to protect myself and children from mercury from a broken thermometer, it is enough to carefully collect everything with a wet rag, flush the mercury into the toilet, wash the floor with bleach, some kind of domestos, and ventilate it. Is not it? Evgenia.

Answer: Good afternoon. No, not so, these measures are not enough to completely decontaminate the premises from the effects of mercury contamination. Moreover, it was impossible to collect mercury with a rag and flush it down the toilet.

Question: Mercury - about one gram - in the garbage pit next to my garden - is it very bad? Yulia Semyonovna.

Answer: Hello! Nothing good for sure. In any case, waste from this pit cannot be taken for compost.

Question: What if the balls of mercury from a broken thermometer rolled into the cracks of the parquet? They tried bleach and potassium permanganate - mercury did not dissolve. Zoya.

Answer: Good afternoon! To avoid fumes from rolling balls, you can, of course, cover up the cracks using parquet putty. But it is better to call demercurization specialists, because it would be more correct to get rid of mercury in the room altogether and possible chronic poisoning by its vapors.

Question: How to remove mercury from a metal surface? From the sink, for example? I heard it's very difficult...
Alexey, Lyubertsy.

Answer: It is indeed not easy to remove mercury from metal, but there is nothing impossible in this. Use chlorine - see instruction above.

Question: Will the background of mercury vapor from a broken medical thermometer remain and for how long if the cleaning was carried out according to all the rules? Can you walk barefoot on the floor? Grigory, Zelenograd.

Answer: The “background” from mercury vapor to the norm decreases very quickly, but only if it was removed, really, “as it should be”. It's better to call the experts. And you shouldn’t walk barefoot at all - flat feet develop.

Question: My wife washed the mercury with bleach for two days. The apartment stank impossible. How to be now? Igor.

Answer: wash the floor detergent or soapy water, thoroughly ventilate the apartment and live on calmly. For complete peace of mind, you can call our specialist to check the premises for the presence of harmful fumes.

Question: A month after the exposure to mercury in the children's room, the vapor level in the air is 240. Is it dangerous? Albina.

Answer: Indicators above 300 ng/m3 are considered dangerous. In your case, poisoning should not be.

Question: What should I do if mercury gets into the kettle? Hermann. Balashikha.

Answer: If you are not ready to just throw away this kettle, remove the mercury from it, rinse it, use an oxidizing agent and rinse again with potassium permanganate. Only then can the kettle be used for its intended purpose again. And it's better not to risk it.

Question: What are the consequences if you drink tea twice from a teapot in which a broken mercury thermometer was found? Vyacheslav.

Answer: It's good that only twice. Mercury does not dissolve in water. But water can contain its salts. Theoretically, the received dose should not be dangerous, but we advise you to drink more milk and take enterosgel. At the first symptoms of poisoning, consult a doctor.

Question: Found the smallest crack on the thermometer. Could mercury leak out, even if you can't see it?
Tatyana.

Answer: No, it is hardly possible. But it is better to immediately hand over such a thermometer to a recycling company.

Question: Good evening! How dangerous is a broken thermometer for people and pets? If everything was collected, thrown away, the floor was washed and the apartment was ventilated? Ella.

Answer: It is not a broken thermometer that is dangerous, but mercury vapor. Without monitoring their concentration and identifying all the outbreaks in the apartment, I can’t say anything for sure.

Question: Hello! I have had health problems for several months, recently my hair began to fall heavily. I read that similar symptoms can be caused by mercury vapor poisoning and remembered: about a year ago, an ordinary medical thermometer was broken in the office, right next to my workplace. Of course, no one did any special cleaning, but everything seemed to be collected with a vacuum cleaner and tape. What should I do? Aglaya. Mytishchi.

Ecologist's answer: See a doctor and as soon as possible. If the office really removed the main part of the mercury, poisoning is unlikely, but still possible, unfortunately. You need to take a blood test for mercury. In addition, it may be another disease, it is better to start treating earlier.

Question: How and with the help of what devices is mercury vapor monitored in a residential area? Galina. Moscow.

Answer: The procedure begins with the measurement of mercury concentration in the air. To do this, use a gas analyzer, it is also a universal mercury meter complex. This device measures the air in different parts of the room. And after that, with the help of attachments of the same complex, they find the source of infection, i.e. mercury spills. You can call our employee, see instructions.

The less you know the better you sleep?!

My daughter decided to heat a thermometer in a glass of tea, it burst. The mercury was right at the bottom. She, frightened, poured everything into the sink, but it was not mine who poured a new one and drank 1-2 sips ... Will there be evaporation and will the daughter be poisoned?

My sister broke a thermometer in a thermal kettle, what should I do? I pulled out the mercury from there, but it is possible that small balls got into some crack !!! How to 100% disinfect? Can I drink tea from this teapot??

Hello! my thermometer fell into a glass of water (boiling water), when I pulled it out, there was no tip. put it in a bag and tied it up. the problem is that I didn’t see mercury, maybe it didn’t leak out ?! tell me, please, I washed the glass with detergent, can I drink from it later?

I broke a thermometer on a coffee table and collected some, about a drop of mercury in 1 cm2, some fell between the armrest and the sofa and the table, then while collecting the drops fell on the carpet, from there I collected three more small drops, then poured a cool solution of potassium permanganate on this area and cut out a strip of carpet, after which he left the house, leaving it to ventilate, the next day he collected another 3 meager drops with copper wiring, treated the table and armrest with a solution of soda and soapy water, could not stand it and vacuumed it, I buried the vacuum cleaner, covered and also took out children's toys they lay side by side. How much air do you need and not live in an apartment? The children are small, it’s scary, maybe throw out the sofa and the whole carpet, not an oligarch, but health is more important, and how much mercury is in a thermometer per cm square? to know roughly if everything is collected ?? And how much is left?

People, what do you feel sorry for the teapot and mug? what about health? in our city there is no des. service, I'm thinking of throwing out the furniture and carpet 20 sq. m. and invite measurers, where can I find them? how to measure the background, experts?

Tell me, please, after how many days does the victim die?

I washed everything with a rag and threw it into the garbage chute. I filled it with a special solution consisting of soap and soda, but after reading the article on what to do and what not to do, I got very scared. Tell me what to do ???

The victim does not die

The outdoor thermometer was most likely an alcohol one, not a mercury one.

Hello, I broke the thermometer while sitting on the sofa, the mercury balls hit the surface of the sofa, the TV remote control and the mouse from the computer, it’s still possible on the floor on the carpet, in a state of shock I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed everything. And later I read that it was impossible to do this. I processed everything, including the vacuum cleaner, with a solution of potassium permanganate and threw the bag out of the vacuum cleaner. and washed the linen from the sofa. The question is whether it is possible to use a vacuum cleaner, bed linen where mercury has spilled and whether it is dangerous to be in this room now.

Hello! I am a child of 11 years old, I broke a thermometer when I was alone at home. I, fool, vacuumed afterwards. In the evening, my mother asked me: I admitted that I didn’t break it in the box in the bathroom and said that I had vacuumed everything. Mom yelled at me and called the master now to clean the vacuum cleaner. Is it dangerous? Even after cleaning, should the vacuum cleaner be thrown away?

Good afternoon. I collected everything I could with a piece of paper, but I also vacuumed it just in case. I threw away the filter from the vacuum cleaner. The floor was washed with bleach. There are no cracks in the floor. I am interested in such a question: what to do with a vacuum cleaner? Can it be further used. Thanks in advance for your reply.

When I shook the thermometer, it hit the nail and it broke. mercury was collected with paper, wrapped in a bag and thrown into the garbage chute, not sure that they threw it all away, what should I do? they locked the room, opened the windows there and closed the gap under the door with rags. I myself touched the mercury with my finger, but soon washed it off. walked barefoot on the floor. like he didn’t step on the balls, but stepped on the fragments. what to do next, if suddenly not everything was collected, can poisonous vapors be absorbed into the clothes that lie there ???

It is desirable to process everything, as it is written at the link above. If not all collected, couples can influence.

They broke the thermometer. They vacuumed it, they weren’t sure that they had collected everything, they stayed to sleep in this apartment, they didn’t wash the floors. What should I do ??? There is a cat, we cannot close the room, because it happened in the living room.

good afternoon, please tell me what to do? we broke it right on the blanket, and I began to collect mercury with my hands, I couldn’t collect everything, but a small ball fell on my palm, even the gold ring that was on my finger turned white a little, then I shook the whole blanket out through the window, tell me what danger can be expected if the poison comes into contact with hand? thanks in advance.

Wash your hand and forget. Nothing will happen.

I broke the thermometer in the kitchen. She quickly opened the window. I removed the mercury with a cotton swab. I put everything in the bank.
I went with wet gauze and in bags (there were no shoe covers and gloves at home). I washed everything with soap and soda, and then with potassium permanganate and poured salt into the cracks. Can mercury be absorbed into food on the table? Could I have been poisoned?
(I am 12 years old)

She could not absorb food. You did everything right. Now I need to ventilate the kitchen every day.

Help please, particles of mercury and ended up in a basket of toys. I ventilate as best I can, because the window does not open in this room. I washed the toys, now the floor is with bleach. Tell me is that enough?

Good afternoon! 2 weeks ago I accidentally broke a thermometer on the bed (sat on it). I collected the balls immediately with a wet rag, threw the sheet into the wash, but it turned out that I did not collect everything! Noticed the balls on the mattress. I urgently vacuumed them all. I have read that vacuuming should never be done. What to do? Could the balls have leaked into the mattress! And what to do with the vacuum cleaner? I already washed it. Maybe it's stuck in the filter somewhere? Help! I'm worried, there is a baby in the room!

If possible, call specialists to check the concentration of mercury vapor in the room, incl. while the vacuum cleaner is running. You can also check the washing machine. If you do not have such specialists, then simply ventilate the room sufficiently, especially after collecting dust with a vacuum cleaner.
Or throw away the vacuum cleaner.

Liquid metal

Mercury is the only metal in the world that is already liquid at room temperature. For a number of reasons, it turned out to be extremely convenient for use in analog thermometric equipment - thermometers and thermometers. Of course, it has its advantages - the expansion coefficient of the metal is such that it allows you to notice even the most subtle temperature fluctuations, with an accuracy of tenths of a degree. There are also disadvantages - in the cold, mercury quickly hardens and loses its properties.

However, the main disadvantage of the metal is its lethal toxicity. Like any high-density liquid, on a horizontal surface, unrestricted mercury clumps into balls that roll across the floor, endlessly crushing and finding the smallest cracks in the floor. After that, when the temperature in the room rises even by a fraction of a degree, the mercury begins to evaporate.

It would seem that there is very little of it in the thermometer - what's the point of panicking? However, do not be mistaken. The volume contained in this small sealed vessel is capable of making six thousand cubic meters of clean air unfit for breathing. It is also worth remembering that mercury very readily accumulates in the body, causing a number of terrible pathologies, often resulting in death or disability.

That is why it is vital to know how to collect mercury if the thermometer breaks. It is quite possible that this will save the life of not only you and your family, but also your neighbors and potential guests.

Collection of mercury

First of all, you need to drive out of the room (or better - from the apartment) everyone who is not involved in cleaning. Interior doors must be closed, and the window must be opened wide open: in a closed room, mercury intoxication can become dangerous in a few minutes.

A wet cotton-gauze bandage must be applied to the face. It is advisable to wear a bathing cap on your head, rubber gloves on your hands, shoe covers on your feet. After that, you can take an adhesive tape or a napkin soaked in water and simply stick mercury balls on them (trying not to make too much effort - this can crush the balls and complicate the task at times).

The places where the balls of mercury were located must be washed with the use of chlorine-containing detergents or cleaners. At the same time, carpets and any other woven items must first be hung out on the street above a dense cellophane film, slightly knocking them out so that mercury does not scatter throughout the yard, and glass falls on the film.

Naturally, mercury cannot be removed with a vacuum cleaner. Yes, he perfectly takes it inside the pipe, but 90% of the dangerous metal, like from a gun heated by a working motor, flies out through the hole for excess air to escape, bypassing all possible filters and barriers.

Naturally, even before the start of all procedures, you need to call the rescue service. At the very least, with the help of special devices, they will be able to determine if there is still uncleaned mercury somewhere under the baseboard, closet or between the floorboards, and get rid of small dangerous particles.

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