How to properly dispose of a broken mercury thermometer

Back in school, teachers told children how dangerous mercury is for the human body. Most often, in everyday life, people encounter mercury only when it comes to thermometers. In this device, it is enclosed in a simple glass flask and while it is in it is completely safe. If during use the thermometer accidentally slipped out of its hands and crashed, then there is a great risk of poisoning. To avoid the consequences, it is important to know how to dispose of the mercury thermometer correctly.

Danger of mercury to humans

Mercury evaporation begins at a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius. As soon as the flask with mercury breaks, the process of its active evaporation begins. Its speed reaches 0.18 mg per hour. One thermometer can pollute the air with toxins in a room of 600 m³.

Mercury itself is enclosed in small balls. This becomes even more dangerous because, due to the small size and round shape, the balls can quickly roll from place to place, penetrating into small cracks on the floor, corners of the room, clogging in the pile of the palace or the hair of pets. After the incident, it is important to behave as carefully and carefully as possible to inspect the space, because if you miss at least one ball, the consequences can not be avoided.

The main harm of mercury is in fumes, which penetrate the lungs of a person and begin to have a negative effect after a few hours. Missed balls will evaporate for a long time in the house, continuing intoxication of the body. Highly toxic fumes affect many organs and sometimes even lead to death.

Organ poisoning

From the lungs, mercury with blood spreads throughout the body, causing significant harm to it. The following organs are heavily burdened:

• kidneys
• organs of the gastrointestinal tract;
• lungs.

At the same time, a person exposed to vapors experiences the following symptoms: sleep problems, poor mood, lack of attention, problems with remembering, problems with the functioning of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

It’s better not to try to get rid of mercury yourself, but to call the Ministry of Emergencies or the sanitary-epidemiological service. If the numbers of the listed services are not at hand, then you can contact emergency services. They will certainly help and accept the challenge, it is important only to accurately describe the current situation.

In case of mercury vapor poisoning, it is important to pay special attention to the following symptoms of malaise:

• dizziness, the appearance of pain in the head;
• excessive salivation, metallic taste in the mouth, edema of the gums, severe bleeding;
• sore throat when swallowing;
• pain in the heart, a sharp cough;
• arrhythmia, hypertension, breathing problems;
• abdominal pain, lack of appetite;
• chronic fatigue, laziness, a feeling of weakness, depressed mood.

Utilizing a mercury thermometer is not so easy. Collecting balls, throwing them in a trash bag and putting household garbage in a container does not mean protecting yourself and people around from poisoning.

Removal from the premises

If there is a situation when the thermometer still crashes, do not panic. It is necessary to carry out the recycling process carefully, concentrating all your attention on the current problem. It is important not to miss a single ball.

The most dangerous mercury vapor for women in position, the elderly and children under 7 years of age. If mercury has leaked when a bulb breaks, the following procedure should be followed:

• Free the room. There should not be anyone in it, including animals, because they can easily collect mercury balls with wool and smash them throughout the apartment. Finding them later will be more difficult.
• Close the front doors and open the windows. The room should be ventilated as best as possible. Fresh air will clean the room and help get rid of the accumulated fumes. But it is better to close the windows immediately if drafts are felt, since the balls of mercury can quickly fly around the corners of the room and clog into the crevices.
• Wet a piece of cloth with soda solution and place a rag near the entrance to the room.
• If the premises are cleaned of mercury on their own, it is imperative to protect yourself by wearing gloves and a medical bandage. This will help preserve the skin of the hands and prevent the entry of gases into the lungs. If there is no medical dressing nearby, then you can use simple gauze, folding it in four layers and moistening it with water. Shoe covers are also recommended.
• The clothes in which the premises are cleaned should be made of synthetic materials. She will not absorb mercury vapors, while the rest of the clothes will be maximally prone to this.

If mercury does not leak

If the thermometer crashes, but the mercury remains in it, then you still have to perform certain actions for prevention. To do this, you must:

• Carefully inspect the damaged thermometer. This is to ensure that all mercury remains inside. If you miss the balls, then the risk of poisoning by fumes is high.
• Take a sealed glass vessel. As a vessel, you can use a simple jar with a lid. Carefully lift the broken thermometer off the floor with your hands (gloves) and place it in a jar, monitoring the mercury contents.
• Find out the addresses of organizations where you can give a thermometer (take thermometers in Moscow and other major cities).
• It is forbidden to throw the damaged thermometer into a container intended for ordinary household waste. Anyone who does this violates the law, resulting in an administrative fine. It will be from 1 to 2 thousand rubles for individuals, and for enterprises - many times more.

Balls rolled into cracks

If the balls rolled into cracks or cracks on the floor, it is necessary to treat this with extreme caution. To get them, you need to do the following:

• Take a small glass and fill it to the middle with water, as well as two ordinary landscape sheets (office paper is also good) and a piece of fleece.
• Carefully collect all the balls of mercury on the leaves with cotton wool and transfer them to a glass of water.
• If the small balls still remain somewhere, then they can be eliminated with a simple adhesive tape (balls adhered to the strips of adhesive tape are also placed in water).
• The jar of water and mercury contents is tightly closed with a lid and put in a safe place. Then they take it to the mercury substances disposal department located in the city.

The correct disposal of a mercury thermometer can only be considered if it is carried out in a specially designated center. The state has established by law the mandatory rules for the disposal of harmful substances, which all residents must comply with.

Prohibited disposal measures

Taking a crashed thermometer into points is important, because otherwise not only the human body, but also the environment as a whole will suffer. Compliance with the rules will help avoid common mistakes people make when disposing of mercury waste.

• Do not throw old broken thermometers with other household waste.
• Do not try to remove the mercury balls with a vacuum cleaner or collect with a broom. After that, the vacuum cleaner will need to be immediately thrown away, because because of it the evaporation of toxins will only accelerate, and with a broom you can easily break the structure of the balls, making them even smaller - this will complicate the process.
• Flushing mercury in the toilet is strictly prohibited. As a result, fumes simply settle on the sewers, and getting rid of them will already be much more difficult.
• It’s better not to even try to get rid of the remnants of mercury with your own hands - bury it on the street, throw it into the river or store in any place. This work is best entrusted to professionals.
• The clothes in which the cleaning took place, do not try to wash. The best solution is to just get rid of it.

Negative consequences for the environment

Only two grams of mercury pollute an area of ​​6 thousand cubic meters. On a scale, it looks even more dangerous. Once in open air, mercury quickly spreads around the environment, which inevitably leads to air pollution and environmental problems.

There is also a high risk of contracting mercury residues from other people. They will not even guess about it, without carrying out preventive measures. In addition to people, animals also suffer.

Industrial methods

Industrial disposal is carried out in compliance with all the rules in special points, which have all the necessary equipment. There are two main methods.

When hydrometallurgical, the thermometer is ground in water with the addition of special chemicals. Under their influence, mercury balls in a pure form, passing a chemical reaction, change to a salt state. The resulting salt must be neutralized.

The second widespread method is thermal evaporation. With this method, under the influence of high temperature, mercury passes into steam. After the mercury balls are condensed and neutralized in specialized containers.

There are no disposal sites nearby

Many citizens from provincial towns and villages cannot use mercury disposal services. When contacting utilities or sanitation, you do not have to wait for help. The employees of these facilities are not particularly skilled in recycling issues and are not able to do this.

For this reason, residents have to either independently deliver a broken thermometer to a large city and take it to a place of disposal, or think about where to put it without harming their health and the health of others.

In most cases, the thermometer is simply disposed of in a landfill. Further, its evaporation infects the air around the landfill over long distances.

Even in many cities with a large share of the population, problems often arise with the work of the services for combating waste mercury substances, despite the laws adopted. Employees of the Ministry of Emergencies and SES do not always go to the calls of citizens to carry out work to eliminate substances.

The main task of the local authorities in civil defense and emergency situations is to clearly and clearly explain to citizens what conditions must be met and at what point of reception to hand over the old thermometer.

Varieties of thermometers

In a mercury thermometer, the main component is the capillary tube. It is sealed on both sides, and inside has pumped air. At one end of the device is a container of mercury. To determine the temperature on it there is a scale attached to a special bar. The scale is calculated from 34 to 42 degrees. Because of this structure, when measuring temperature, mercury heats up and expands. This leads to raising or lowering the scale. Measurements using such an instrument are considered as accurate as possible.

In order to find out the human body temperature, alcohol type thermometers are almost not used. Most often, thermometers are used to measure air temperature outdoors.

The alcohol thermometer is designed in the same way as the mercury thermometer. The main feature is that inside it is red alcohol. The alcohol thermometer does not present any danger, they can only be injured if you accidentally step on the glass from the flask.