Common household uses of mercury thermometers include fever thermometers and oven, candy, and meat thermometers. Learn more about how to tell if there is mercury in your fever thermometer.
Mercury thermometers may be used in many applications, including chemical experiments, water and acid baths, blood banks, ovens, and incubators.
EPA has launched an effort to reduce the use of mercury-filled non-fever thermometers used in industrial settings where suitable alternatives exist. To date, multiple ASTM standards have been updated to approve the use of mercury-free alternatives for temperature measurement. View a list of the updated ASTM standards. This is to help remove the threat of thermometer breakage and the subsequent release of mercury vapor indoors.
The Health Care Without Harm website presents information on specific state laws, resolutions and declarations. A variety of accurate and reliable mercury-free fever thermometers are available at your local pharmacy.
Although mercury thermometers pose many benefits to users, they also have their drawbacks. Mercury is a neurotoxin, and if you are exposed to it outside of its typical glass thermometer tube, it can cause you to go deaf, experience tremors, memory loss, and partial blindness, among other awful permanent side effects. Due to these facts, it is also obviously a substance that is difficult to clean up if ti spills. Many countries are now moving to phase out the use of mercury thermometers.
They will be replaced with newer technology such as digital devices, but they will be missed. Mercury thermometers are now being replaced by digital thermometers.
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit used alcohol in thermometers in the s. Mercury has a lower coefficient of expansion, compared with alcohol. Victoria Simpson May 21 in Science. Mercury is the only one in a liquid state at room temperature. In a mercury thermometer, a glass tube is filled with mercury and a usual 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. It also has a high boiling point which makes it very suitable to measure higher temperatures. Mercury thermometers can be used to decide the body, liquid, and vapor temperature.
These thermometers are used in households, laboratory experiments, and industrial applications. Unfortunately, mercury is toxic and it is replaced almost everywhere. Mercury thermometers are used in: power plants and piping; chemical tanks; heating and cooling equipment; canneries; ships; paint kettles etc.
Mercury is used in a thermometer because it has a lot of advantages. The advantages of using mercury in a thermometer are as follows:. If the liquid gets in the eye, flush the eye with water for 15 to 20 minutes, then call Poison Control. Galinstan liquid consists of tin, indium, and gallium. According to its manufacturer, Galinstan is not toxic when swallowed because it passes through the digestive system without effect.
Inhalation is also not a concern because there is no absorption through the lungs. Skin exposures to Galinstan can cause irritation. If the liquid is silver in color it might be mercury. Spilled mercury has a unique appearance.
It is a thick, shiny, fast-moving liquid metal that can break up into little balls that reform when pushed together. But not all thermometers with silver liquid contain mercury.
Mercury can be poisonous in certain situations. Most oral and rectal thermometers contain about 0. The main health problems from mercury are from the vapors. These are produced at room temperature and especially when mercury is heated. The vapors can be inhaled and are absorbed into the body. The immediate effects of inhaling highly concentrated vapors include coughing, sore throat, difficulty breathing, chest pain, vomiting, and headache.
An unexpected way to heat up mercury and produce vapors occurs when a vacuum cleaner is used to clean up a mercury spill. Never vacuum up mercury from a broken thermometer! If a mercury spill is not cleaned up right away, vapors will continue to be produced. These vapors might be in low concentrations that would not cause immediate effects, but repeated long-term exposure to vapors can cause problems such as shaking, difficulty walking, weakness, headaches, loss of appetite, gum inflammation, red skin, high blood pressure, rapid pulse, kidney damage, and personality changes.
The amount of mercury in a mercury thermometer is not enough to cause poisoning if someone handles it with intact skin, however skin irritation could occur.
Unintentionally swallowing this amount of mercury would also not be well absorbed by someone who has a healthy digestive tract.
It is still a good idea to call Poison Control someone touches or swallows mercury, especially if the person has a skin or digestive condition that might lead to excess absorption, like psoriasis or ulcerative colitis. We can help you decide if you should seek medical attention. Depending on the specific circumstances surrounding the broken mercury-containing thermometers, most cases can be managed safely at home; however, always contact Poison Control at for assistance.
Initial treatment following exposure to spilled mercury includes washing with soap and water if mercury came into contact with the skin and getting fresh air if the vapors are inhaled.
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