Animalscaretips
In a mercury thermometer, a glass tube is filled with mercury and a standard temperature scale is marked on the tube. With changes in temperature, the mercury expands and contracts, and the temperature can be read from the scale. Mercury thermometers can be used to determine body, liquid, and vapor temperature.
- What is mercury used for?
- Can you touch mercury?
- How is mercury used by humans?
- What happens if u drink mercury?
- Is mercury illegal to own?
- Where do you find mercury naturally?
- Can you handle mercury with bare hands?
- What happens if mercury gets in a cut?
- Is there mercury under the pyramids?
- How are we exposed to mercury?
- How do fish get mercury in them?
- How do you rid your body of mercury?
- Can mercury make you crazy?
- Is drinking mercury safe?
- Is mercury magnetic?
What is mercury used for?
Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical and electronic applications. It is used in some liquid-in-glass thermometers, especially those used to measure high temperatures.
Can you touch mercury?
Mercury is a very toxic or poisonous substance that people can be exposed to in several ways. If it is swallowed, like from a broken thermometer, it mostly passes through your body and very little is absorbed. If you touch it, a small amount may pass through your skin, but not usually enough to harm you.
How is mercury used by humans?
Mercury can be used to make thermometers, barometers and other scientific instruments. Mercury conducts electricity and is used to make silent, position dependent switches. Mercury vapor is used in streetlights, fluorescent lamps and advertising signs. ... Mercuric oxide (HgO) is used to make mercury batteries.
What happens if u drink mercury?
Health effects of mercury exposure
The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal. The inorganic salts of mercury are corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested.
Is mercury illegal to own?
Effective January 1, 2003, the California Mercury Reduction Act banned the sale of many products containing mercury. Even though they are banned from California's marketplace, these mercury containing products still are frequently found in homes.
Where do you find mercury naturally?
Mercury is a naturally-occurring chemical element found in rock in the earth's crust, including in deposits of coal. On the periodic table, it has the symbol "Hg" and its atomic number is 80.
Can you handle mercury with bare hands?
The chemical element mercury (Hg) is sometimes called quicksilver because of its liquid metallic appearance. While the sight of metal pouring from the hand is intriguing, mercury is extremely toxic when inhaled or touched and should never be handled with bare skin.
What happens if mercury gets in a cut?
Mercury is not well absorbed across the skin so skin contact is not likely to cause mercury poisoning, especially with a brief one-time exposure. Even if a person has cuts in their skin, mercury is too heavy to be contained by a cut. Merely washing the wound well will wash the mercury out of the wound.
Is there mercury under the pyramids?
An archaeologist has found "large quantities" of liquid mercury in a chamber beneath one of the oldest known pyramids in Mexico, The Guardian reports.
How are we exposed to mercury?
The most common way people in the U.S. are exposed to mercury is by eating fish containing methylmercury. Other exposures may result from using or breaking products containing mercury. ... Methylmercury. Elemental (metallic) mercury.
How do fish get mercury in them?
Once in a lake or river, mercury is converted to methylmercury by bacteria and other processes. Fish absorb methylmercury from their food and from water as it passes over their gills. Mercury is tightly bound to proteins in all fish tissue, including muscle.
How do you rid your body of mercury?
Mercury is also eliminated in urine, so drinking extra water can help to speed up the process. Avoiding exposure. The best way to get rid of mercury in your body is to avoid sources of it whenever you can. As you reduce your exposure, the level of mercury in your body will decrease as well.
Can mercury make you crazy?
Signs and symptoms
Acute mercury exposure has given rise to psychotic reactions such as delirium, hallucinations, and suicidal tendency. Occupational exposure has resulted in erethism, with irritability, excitability, excessive shyness, and insomnia as the principal features of a broad-ranging functional disturbance.
Is drinking mercury safe?
Background: The oral ingestion of elemental mercury is unlikely to cause systemic toxicity, as it is poorly absorbed through the gastrointestinal system. However, abnormal gastrointestinal function or anatomy may allow elemental mercury into the bloodstream and the peritoneal space.
Is mercury magnetic?
It is the only rocky planet that has a global magnetic field like Earth. ... Measurements made by Mariner 10 in 1974/75 showed that Mercury also has a magnetic field. According to the standard models, the dynamo effect in its metal core should generate similar field strengths to those on Earth.
