Liquid Mercury
Discussion
I have a small glass jar of liquid mercury with a lid screwed on tight to hopefully seal fumes in. Visitors love playing with it as it is very heavy but a very curious material as it is a liquid metal at room temperature.
A few questions:
1 - Is it legal for me to have it?
2 - I looked at the council's web site about how to dispose of hazardous stuff like this and it just witters on about not putting it down the drain or in the recycling, nothing specific or helpful at all. If I wanted to get rid of it then how should I ?
3 - Am I right in thinking that in a sealed glass jar it is safe?
4 - Am I right in thinking it is illegal to sell it and the security services look out for anyone selling it as it is used in bomb triggers etc?
5 - I read once that if you inhale mercury it will kill you if you inhale too much, but if you swallow some it will pass through you with little harm done. Is that true?
6 - If I was ever stupid enough to dissolve some gold in it, is that gold then recoverable somehow?
Many thanks.
A few questions:
1 - Is it legal for me to have it?
2 - I looked at the council's web site about how to dispose of hazardous stuff like this and it just witters on about not putting it down the drain or in the recycling, nothing specific or helpful at all. If I wanted to get rid of it then how should I ?
3 - Am I right in thinking that in a sealed glass jar it is safe?
4 - Am I right in thinking it is illegal to sell it and the security services look out for anyone selling it as it is used in bomb triggers etc?
5 - I read once that if you inhale mercury it will kill you if you inhale too much, but if you swallow some it will pass through you with little harm done. Is that true?
6 - If I was ever stupid enough to dissolve some gold in it, is that gold then recoverable somehow?
Many thanks.
As an engineer thats involved with lighthouses I would say that mercury is not very plesant at all...
I attended a course on the safe handling of the substance and also was fitted up for facemasks to limit my exposure when dealing with the substance. it really should not be played with. The container that you have it in, how do you know it does not leak ?
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/m...
https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/media/241648/mercury-spi...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mercury...
http://www.mercurysafety.com/dealing-with-spillage...
If I were you id be looking to have it disposed off, its really not the thing that you want to have about the house.
https://www.tradebe.co.uk/mercury-waste-disposal
https://www.mercuryrecycling.co.uk/recycling/mercu...
Oh its also not very valuable either, so probably finding someone to take it would be advisable.
I attended a course on the safe handling of the substance and also was fitted up for facemasks to limit my exposure when dealing with the substance. it really should not be played with. The container that you have it in, how do you know it does not leak ?
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/m...
https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/media/241648/mercury-spi...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mercury...
http://www.mercurysafety.com/dealing-with-spillage...
If I were you id be looking to have it disposed off, its really not the thing that you want to have about the house.
https://www.tradebe.co.uk/mercury-waste-disposal
https://www.mercuryrecycling.co.uk/recycling/mercu...
Oh its also not very valuable either, so probably finding someone to take it would be advisable.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/controls-on-mercury
I would literally be locked up now as a terrorist for some of the things I had and did when I was a teenager.
How kids are supposed to learn about how to make explosives and other highly risky life skills I just do not know, but I suppose it's for the best.
I've been trying to source a chemical compound to make up a solution used for photographic processing recently. The compound itself is hardly dangerous, but the various restrictions on 'certain substances' made it virtually impossible to get. It would be no use to anyone with criminal intent. I got around the restrictions eventually of course.
I also could very easily order sulphuric acid well above the maximum legal concentration and have it delivered to my home, making a mockery of the restrictions and laws.
Handle your mercury with respect and I'm sure you'll be fine.
I would literally be locked up now as a terrorist for some of the things I had and did when I was a teenager.
How kids are supposed to learn about how to make explosives and other highly risky life skills I just do not know, but I suppose it's for the best.
I've been trying to source a chemical compound to make up a solution used for photographic processing recently. The compound itself is hardly dangerous, but the various restrictions on 'certain substances' made it virtually impossible to get. It would be no use to anyone with criminal intent. I got around the restrictions eventually of course.
I also could very easily order sulphuric acid well above the maximum legal concentration and have it delivered to my home, making a mockery of the restrictions and laws.
Handle your mercury with respect and I'm sure you'll be fine.
Beati Dogu said:
You can buy mercury tilt switches from the likes of RS Components from a couple of quid each, so it's clearly not a controlled item in that regard.
Yup mercury tilts are still used, and still sold. however....Mercury has been used in electrical control and switching equipment such as thermostats and tilt switches, and electrical and electronic equipment such as fluorescent lamps, although its use is now prohibited, with a few exemptions.
https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/++previe...
and an RS data sheet for a mercury switch is
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/mercury-tilt-switch... staes that it is non compliant...
with all the information available and the fact that mercury has been found to be hazardous to health it would be silly to use it dont you agree ? I know id be looking for some other way to resolve the issue without resorting to using mercury.
Ask your council if they have a hazardous waste disposal facility.
https://www.gov.uk/hazardous-waste-disposal
https://www.gov.uk/hazardous-waste-disposal
I once had a pint of it in two glass jars with a light machine oil layer on top to stop it evaporating.
It came into my possession at the same time as two ww2 hand grenades, three clips of ammunition and various huge knives.
The whole lot came from the house of an old man who had died, it was all in his basement along with lots of other less hazardous mad stuff. We were clearing it all out for the family who lived miles away.
The bomb squad came and blew up the grenades on the beach, the police had the ammunition and the knives went to auction.
The mercury went to a scrap merchant. I hoped it had value but alas it did not.
Bonus fact, an anvil will float in mercury because it is less dense.
It came into my possession at the same time as two ww2 hand grenades, three clips of ammunition and various huge knives.
The whole lot came from the house of an old man who had died, it was all in his basement along with lots of other less hazardous mad stuff. We were clearing it all out for the family who lived miles away.
The bomb squad came and blew up the grenades on the beach, the police had the ammunition and the knives went to auction.
The mercury went to a scrap merchant. I hoped it had value but alas it did not.
Bonus fact, an anvil will float in mercury because it is less dense.
bigpriest said:
I'm sure a few friends had a "Mercury Maze" in the 80's
I had friends with those, but never had my own. I played with mercury regularly at school - my A-level chemistry teacher would encourage us to dip our fingers in a beaker of mercury just to annoy the lab technicians who had to clean it. (I never asked how.) The science block at school was a 1950s building with wooden parquet floors that was refurbished a few years after I left - apparently they found pints and pints of mercury sloshing around under the floor from decades of kids spilling it. But times change - I spilled some in a lab at university only a couple of years later (mid-90s) and the lab had to be closed while the techs cleaned it up. And kids toys aren't allowed to have loose Hg rolling around in them any more...Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff