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Liquid Mercury

These days of chemcial correctness regards liquid mercury and pretty nasty stuff. I'm not sure it;s legal to even possess mercury on quantity without some kind of permit or liscense.

Your best bet would be to sell it to a dental materials supplier, small scale gold miner, and the like. There is a market for scrap mercury it's just not common to need one.
 
I would stay clear of the stuff - the stuff can do bad things to you if you get a one-time high-level exposure. An old thermometer breaking is apparently not a bad thing but 20lbs+ is a lot of the stuff!

There is lots of info on the exposure danger of mercury that you might want to check out (if you have not done so already).

Cheers,
Bob Welland
 
One of the major concerns with liquid mercury is it's high vapor pressure. It actually vaporizes and releases very toxic fumes.
Mercury Safety
Mad Hatter
-Nick
Edit: I was once told by an old Bell Telephone worker that liquid Hg was used by the phone company, possibly to make electrical connections?
 
The phrase "Mad as a hatter" derives from the fact that mercury was used in the production of felt, and hat-makers absorbed it through the skin while making their wares. Definitely would stay away from any such large quantity (or course that's only about a pint).
 
I've seen the stuff stored with a layer of water on top to keep the vapors out of the air. Left open, it will freely evaporate, as was said in a previous post.

Eric
 
I've seen the stuff stored with a layer of water on top to keep the vapors out of the air. Left open, it will freely evaporate, as was said in a previous post.
Click to expand...
Ummm...dumb question...doesn't the water evaporate?

Hanz
 
I would be careful what you do with it, and how you handle getting rid of the stuff. Your friend may find that it is more trouble than it is worth. I have seen around here where just a few ounces closed a whole school, and brought down a whole platoon of hazmat cleaners.

I have a friend that makes neon signs, the price has gone up quite a bit lately, but what has really increased is the shipping, I think it is in the same catagory as plutonium :eek: .

I do see it sold on ebay, But the shipping liability would scarry.

Our city has Hazmat days, they will take mercury, but if it is more than a few pounds, it will make the news.

Dave J
 
It will freely evaporate even with the water. The water will slow the process, but not stop it.

Liquid mercury... as opposed to what? The Department of Redundancy Department is on to you.

I would find somewhere to get rid of that... I'm sure there are disposal sites for it. That much mercury ain't safe.

As for uses of the stuff, it's great for gravity sensitive switches, such as in bilge pumps, etc.
 
My Mom and uncle always bring up the ol "when we were kids" stories. One of them was when they had some mercury, maybe a fluid ounce worth. They used to "play" with it with bare hands and who knows what else. They had it for some time before loosing it. Prolly down a crack in the sidewalk :D Times-a-changin...

I'll probably be tellin tall tales to my grand kid about how I used to be able to drive up to an electric pump and pump tens to hundreds of gallons of highly explosive, carcinogenic liquid into a steel can and drive at sixty to seventy miles an hour....Times-a-changin JRouche
 
Occasional exposure to metallic mercury is not a problem. It is exposure to the water soluble salts, and chronic exposure to mercury vapor that you have to watch out for. Here's a good site on mercury with poison information a little ways down: http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/mercury.htm

I occasionally see mercury for sale on my second favorite auction site, http://www.labx.com/ There happens to be an auction right now for a couple of pounds.
 
Mercury may still be used for...mercury switches. Seems as though it is or was used in primers for cartridges - fulminate of mercury, which was/is corrosive and requires careful cleaning of the weapon after firing. Anyone know offhand the temperature at which it solidifies? Charles
 
The boot/trunk lid in my Impala had a mercury switch - an excellent system.

Considering Chev made 1,000,000 sedans in 1964, there is a lot of mercury out there in wrecking yards too....
 
Mercury may still be used for...mercury switches.
Click to expand...
Most mechanical thermostats have a mercury switch. A more common source in the home is fluorescent lamps, the 'gas' inside is vaporized mercury.

Seems as though it is or was used in primers for cartridges - fulminate of mercury, which was/is corrosive and requires careful cleaning of the weapon after firing
Click to expand...
Mercury fulinate primers were not corrosive to the gun, that problem was with the chlorate primers that replaced fulimate primers. The fulimate primers were corrosive to the brass cartridges, and that was the reason for replacement.

Mercury freezes at -38C.

Exposure to mercury in a non-industrial setting is not a real cause for concern, and as mentioned metallic mercury is not really hazardous, it's the bioactive chlorides and carbonates that you need to worry about. Heck, people used to drink the stuff. The current fuss (such as evacuating a school when someone breaks a mercury thermometer) is usually from people confused about dosage and danger.
 
Mercury is another case of something who's characteristics were not known to be bad but were something to get hysterical over later. In high school chemistry class in the early 50's we used to smear mercury on coins to make them shine then put them back in our pockets and carry them around for who knows how long.
I spent 4 or 5 years of my youth in the same time period washing preservative off of Caterpiller track roller parts in my Dad's machine shop with leaded gasoline, with no gloves, and no safety glasses, and no steel toed boots. That would be child abuse now.
 
When I was in high school in the 60s our chemistry teacher had a vial of mercury that he poured in one students hand, and the kid rolled it around and such feeling the weight of it then passing it to the next kid till we all had a turn at it! Just one of the thousands of contaniments my generation was exposed to, and to think they say my dain bramage is from using drugs when I was younger! Go figure! :D
 
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