Myths and truth: how dangerous are mercury balls from a thermometer really? Mercury: threats real and imaginary.

Mercury is the only metal that is in a liquid state at room temperature. Mercury freezes at minus 39°C and boils at 357°C. It is 13.6 times heavier than water. It tends to break up into tiny droplets and spread. In nature, mercury is found in the reddish mineral cinnabar. Cinnabar is part of many rocks, but mostly rocks of volcanic origin.

Mercury has the property evaporates easily. To obtain pure metal from ore, it is necessary to heat this ore to a temperature of about 482 ° C. Vapors collect and condense, and mercury is obtained.

Mercury is a substance of hazard class I (according to GOST 17.4.1.02-83), thiol poison (an extremely dangerous chemical).

The maximum permissible concentration of mercury in atmospheric air is 0.0003 mg/m3 (in accordance with the "Sanitary and Epidemiological Requirements for Atmospheric Air").

Only vapors and soluble mercury compounds are poisonous. At a temperature of 18°C, intensive evaporation of mercury into the atmosphere begins, inhalation of such air contributes to its accumulation in the body, from where it is no longer excreted (like other heavy metals). However, in order to accumulate a significant proportion of mercury in the body, it is necessary to regularly stay indoors for several months or years with a significant excess of the MPC of this metal in the air.

The concentration of mercury vapor that can lead to severe chronic diseases ranges from 0.001 to 0.005 mg/m3. At higher concentrations, mercury is absorbed by intact skin. Acute poisoning can occur at 0.13 - 0.80 mg/m3. Fatal intoxication develops when 2.5 g of mercury vapor is inhaled.

Harm

Symptoms of mercury poisoning

Mercury is dangerous not only for humans, but also for plants, animals and fish. The penetration of mercury into the body most often occurs precisely by inhalation of its odorless vapors.

Mercury poisoning

Mercury and its compounds are dangerous highly toxic substances that can accumulate in the human body and not be excreted for a long time, causing irreparable harm health. As a result, a person is affected:

• Nervous system
• Liver
• kidneys
• Gastrointestinal tract

Mercury remains in the body for a year.

Mercury salt poisoning

Acute mercury poisoning manifests itself several hours after the onset of poisoning. Intoxication occurs mainly through the respiratory tract, about 80% of inhaled mercury vapor is retained in the body. Salts and oxygen contained in the blood contribute to the absorption of mercury, its oxidation and the formation of mercury salts.

Symptoms of acute poisoning with mercury salts:

• general weakness
• lack of appetite
• headache
• pain when swallowing
• metallic taste in mouth
• salivation
• swelling and bleeding of the gums
• nausea and vomiting
• severe abdominal pain
• mucous diarrhea (sometimes with blood)

In addition, mercury poisoning is characterized by a decline in cardiac activity, the pulse becomes rare and weak, fainting is possible. Often there is pneumonia, chest pain, cough and shortness of breath, often severe chills. Body temperature rises to 38-40 °C. A significant amount of mercury is found in the urine of the victim. In severe cases, the victim dies within a few days.

Symptoms of mercury vapor poisoning

With prolonged exposure to even relatively low concentrations of mercury - on the order of hundredths and thousandths of mg / m3, the nervous system is damaged. The main symptoms of poisoning:

• Headache
• Hyperexcitability
• Irritability
• Decreased performance
• Fast fatiguability
• sleep disorder
• Memory impairment
• Apathy

Symptoms of chronic mercury poisoning

In chronic poisoning with mercury and its compounds, the following symptoms appear:

• Metallic taste in the mouth
• Loose gums
• Strong salivation
• mild excitability
• Weakening of memory

Since mercury belongs to AHOV (emergency chemically hazardous toxic substances), the household, in order to be taken away for recycling, will also have to pay the relevant organizations.

Mercury is a dangerous pollutant environment, are especially dangerous when released into water.

Benefit

Scope of mercury

Mercury and its compounds are used in engineering, chemical industry, medicine.

It is added in the manufacture of medicines and disinfectants.

Mercury quickly and evenly reacts to temperature changes, so it is used in thermometers and thermometers.

Mercury is also used in paints, dentistry, chlorine, caustic soda, and electrical equipment.

Organic mercury compounds are used as pesticides and seed treatments.

The thermometer crashed - how to collect mercury

Symptoms of mercury poisoning (when it enters through the esophagus) are immediately visible - cyanosis of the face, shortness of breath, etc. The first thing to do in such a situation is to dial the ambulance number and cause the patient to vomit.

In order to clean rooms and objects from contamination with metallic mercury and sources of mercury vapor, it is necessary to carry out demercurization. Currently, several companies produce kits (with instructions) for the neutralization of household mercury pollution.

In everyday life, demercurization is widely used with sulfur. For example, if a mercury-containing thermometer breaks, windows should be opened to allow fresh air to enter and lower the temperature in the room (the warmer it is in the apartment, the more actively the metal evaporates). Then carefully and carefully collect all the fragments of the thermometer and mercury balls (not with bare hands, if possible in a respirator). All contaminated items should be placed in glass jar with a sealed lid, or in plastic bags and take out of the room.

Cover traces of mercury with sulfur powder (S). At room temperature, sulfur easily enters into chemical reaction with mercury, forming a poisonous but non-volatile HgS compound, which is dangerous only if it enters the esophagus.

Treat the floor and objects that have been exposed to mercury with a solution of potassium permanganate or a chlorine-containing preparation. You should wash gloves, shoes with potassium permanganate and a soap-soda solution, rinse your mouth and throat with a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate, brush your teeth thoroughly, take 2-3 tablets of activated charcoal. In the future, it is desirable to regularly wash the floor with a chlorine-containing preparation and intensive ventilation.

If a thermometer was broken in the apartment and visible balls of mercury were removed, then the concentration of vapors usually does not exceed the MPC, and in conditions of good ventilation, the mercury residues will evaporate in a few months without causing significant harm to the health of residents.

Mercury should not be poured into the sewer, thrown away with household waste. For questions about the disposal of mercury, you need to contact the district SES, where they are required to accept it. If this is not possible, then you need to collect mercury in a plastic bag, cover it with bleach (or chlorine-containing preparations), wrap it in several plastic bags and dig deeper. Then mercury will be reliably isolated.

Once I broke an ordinary mercury thermometer. It happened unexpectedly, but without special effects. I collected mercury balls on a sheet, threw them into a bottle of water, and already calmed down, but an unknown force made me look on the Internet, asking a search query: “I broke the thermometer, what should I do?”.

Frankly, I wanted to get adequate advice, all of a sudden I forgot something or there are some actions that are useful in the situation, except for those that have already been done. But there was no smell of adequacy in the Yandex TOP for this request. If I were a more impressionable nature, then after reading the first pages, I would destroy the entire family wardrobe, open all the windows in 20-degree frost, move out to a hotel or even immigrate from countries. The simplest thing that came to mind after reading the first links was to sell the apartment on the same day, call the Ministry of Emergency Situations and surrender to the FSB as a person who caused irreparable damage to the microdistrict.

In anticipation of the rescue and special services, run around the neighbors and warn that it will be dangerous to live in this house in the next 50-60 years. life imprisonment to the hero of the occasion, namely me, for careless handling of such a dangerous device. At least, the top Yandex almost shouted about this to all users on request about a broken thermometer.

But since I am not so impressionable, I smiled and decided to deal with the issue in more detail.
So, what scarecrows do the "sellers of fear" resort to when talking about the danger of a broken thermometer?

A broken thermometer infects 6,000 cubic meters of air – wow, it’s good that all sorts of villains don’t have access to the Internet. And they, thinking about the destruction of the world, are not aware that a nuclear bomb is no longer needed. It is enough to buy thermometers and break them around the perimeter of the city. That's it, the inhabitants cannot be saved. And I see another masterpiece with Bruce Willis, how he saves a pharmacy from terrorists with big amount mercury thermometers. I think that Chuck Norris can be involved in such a dangerous job. In a word - nonsense and again nonsense.

Mercury from a broken thermometer will infect your apartment for years to come. - Is it true? That is, 1 - 2 grams of mercury, from which it will be possible to collect the largest balls, and this is at least 80% able to spoil the whole atmosphere in an average apartment? Mercury itself is inert and not so dangerous, the danger is its compounds with various chemicals. But you're not going to sprinkle the remains of uncollected mercury with any harmful chemicals, are you? Therefore, calmness and only calmness.

Clothing and shoes in which you collected mercury must be destroyed , since small particles will be on it and spread around the apartment - everyone who has broken a thermometer and seen balls of mercury knows very well that it is extremely difficult to hook them and even just drive them onto a piece of paper. How can they stay on clothes and even more so on shoes? Another nonsense from the "sellers of fear."

Call emergency personnel immediately - By the way, this is very reasonable advice for especially impressionable people.

The guys will come and explain that the one who called them is a fabulous idiot, but they must come on a call. I think after talking with them, the thoughts of an urgent sale of an apartment and an escape from the country will pass for many.
Mercury can roll under the plinth or between the floorboards and the apartment will “glow” for many years - another horror story. In fact, a number of environmental organizations conducted research on this topic and in apartments in which one or even two standard thermometers were broken during the year, no anomalies in the air were detected. There is too little in the thermometer to somehow affect the air in the apartment, and the evaporation period is quite short.

Mercury will evaporate, its vapors will fill the entire apartment and will enter the human body with air - mercury is a metal, have you ever seen a flying metal, except for airplanes? Once again, we carefully read: mercury itself, as a substance, is relatively inert and harmless to humans. The danger is represented by its chemical compounds with substances that should either not be in your apartment at all or you obviously will not scatter them on the floor in your right mind.
Urgently notify the neighbors about the danger - for sure, let them finally find out who in their house claims to be the main idiot.

This is the main thing, there are more than one page of advice from the “experienced” on the little things.

Well, now, what is still worth doing if the thermometer suddenly crashed.

Do not panic, calm down and roughly understand the area where the balls and glass rolled.
Remove children so that they do not roll mercury balls and prevent you from collecting them, as well as animals for the same reason, since they have tails and hair.

Take a flashlight, piece of paper, plastic or glass bottle half filled with water. Make a kind of scoop out of a leaf, put a flashlight so that it shines along the floor, in this position it will be easier for you to see small mercury balls and start collecting them together with glass and putting them in a bottle. Try to collect maximum amount, and it will be cleaner and calmer if someone still reads the Internet.

After collecting the balls, wash the floor and go about your business.

For complacency and if the weather allows, ventilate the room.

For those who are still impressed and cannot accept the fact that a broken thermometer is not dangerous, and even if you do not collect mercury from it at all, there will be no health hazard, I suggest thinking about the following topics. Imagine how many thermometers are broken in any average hospital or maternity hospital, for example? If all the horror stories are true, then they urgently need to be demolished. And secondly, if everything is so dangerous, then why are classic mercury thermometers still sold in pharmacies?

In conclusion, if you do not turn it into a weekly entertainment, then a broken thermometer is absolutely safe and will not harm your health and the health of your loved ones in any way. Believe me, in any apartment there are many other things and dangers that you should think about. Well, a broken thermometer is just an unfortunate misunderstanding and a little effort when collecting glass and mercury balls. But in any case, take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Yes, a broken mercury thermometer really poses a great danger to human health. According to the Great Medical Encyclopedia, mercury is a highly toxic poison, belonging to the first class of extremely hazardous substances. A medical mercury thermometer contains from 1 to 2 grams of mercury, if the substance is in the room, it begins to evaporate. The concentration of mercury vapor in this case may exceed the limit allowable rate up to 1000 times. If the source of intoxication is not eliminated in time, then mercury vapor will not disappear on its own, they will remain indoors for many years. For this reason, mercury thermometers are banned in many countries.

What harm is done to health?

A few hours after mercury enters the room, acute poisoning can occur. According to the official website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, it is manifested by a lack of appetite, headaches, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. A metallic taste may be felt in the mouth, it becomes painful to swallow, salivation and bleeding of the gums appear.

If the mercury particles are not completely eliminated, the fumes will continue to affect the nervous system. With regular contact with the substance, chronic poisoning occurs after 5-10 years. The Great Medical Encyclopedia indicates that it is accompanied by frequent headaches, dizziness, increased fatigue, general weakness, sleep disturbances, irritability, and respiratory diseases. Anxiety, anxiety, depression appear.

Intoxication with a low concentration of mercury, which is called micromercurialism, manifests itself after two to four years of constant contact with mercury fumes. It is characterized by increased excitability and disturbances in the emotional sphere.

In general, intoxication with mercury vapor affects not only the nervous system, but also the cardiovascular system and endocrine glands. The kidneys also suffer greatly, it is through these organs in large volume mercury is excreted from the body.

Inhalation of mercury vapor is especially dangerous for children, the elderly and pregnant women. Their body has less ability to resist toxic fumes. Symptoms of poisoning in these groups of people begin to appear faster.

How to treat poisoning?

In case of acute poisoning, you should immediately consult a doctor. You can not self-medicate, treatment should take place in a hospital.

If the poisoning has passed into the chronic stage, then you should also contact the specialists, follow their recommendations and take the medicines that they prescribe

Mercury is heavy metal without color, the compounds of which in the form of oxides and salts are used in production. In addition, it is part of some preparations for disinfection and paints. At home, mercury can be encountered if energy-saving light bulbs or a thermometer are damaged. Metal fumes poisoning from a single broken light bulb is unlikely.

But if they are damaged periodically, then you can easily earn chronic poisoning. Some do not know how dangerous mercury from a thermometer is for a person if this item is broken, and what are the consequences of mercury poisoning.

Mercury toxicity

Whether mercury from a broken thermometer is dangerous is beyond doubt. If this happens, then there is a danger of mercury vapor poisoning, and most often this occurs through the skin. Wherein development of intoxication carried out slowly. It is much more dangerous if metal particles get on the mucous membranes. The toxic shock in this case is experienced by the liver. The most severe situation with poisoning occurs when the vapors are inhaled, or if they directly enter the bloodstream, because the liver does not participate at all in their neutralization.

Quite often, human contact with mercury occurs when a thermometer is broken. The amount of mercury in a thermometer is about two grams. The lethal dose of mercury for humans is the ingestion of half of this dose.

The size of the room in which the thermometer crashed is also important. Also, much depends on the gender, age and body weight of the person who has been in contact with a dangerous poison. All these factors that can influence on the severity of poisoning. If urgent measures are not taken, then the probability of mercury poisoning from a thermometer is 100%, because its average toxic dose is 0.4 mg.

Proper care of your cast iron skillet

Symptoms of poisoning

Why is a broken thermometer dangerous? It is dangerous by the occurrence of poisoning, which proceeds and is acute, for example, by inhalation of vapors, and chronically, when a small amount of metal enters the body for a long time.

Acute poisoning is rare and usually occurs in industrial accidents where mercury is used. Most often, there is chronic metal poisoning from a thermometer, the development of symptoms of which occurs very slowly.

If the thermometer crashed in the apartment, then mercury vapor poisoning is manifested by a reaction from the nervous system. Appear:

• memory loss;
• drowsiness;
• irritability;
• headache;
• weakness;
• fatigue.

The development of mercury tremor (trembling) of the tongue, fingers, sometimes the whole body is characteristic, convulsions may develop. In addition, it happens increase in body temperature, decreases arterial pressure, there is increased sweating. Acute poisoning is accompanied by lethargy followed by loss of consciousness. The likelihood of developing a coma is high.

In case of vapor poisoning, the digestive system also suffers. In this case, there is:

• diarrhea;
• nausea;
• vomit;
• taste of metal in the mouth.

If the mucous membrane is damaged by mercury, gingivitis and stomatitis develop, which manifested by increased salivation, bleeding gums, pain. When ulcers appear in the intestines, stomach, esophagus, abdominal pain occurs, bleeding may open. Mercury poisoning is characterized by a bright red color of the gums, on which a dark plaque appears after a while.

How dangerous The fact is that mercury from a thermometer does not smell at all, and a person can inhale its vapors without noticing it. Wherein respiratory system begins to suffer. Acute specific non-infectious bronchitis, pneumonia develops. If the airways are damaged severely enough, hemoptysis can occur. In case of severe poisoning, pulmonary edema is not excluded.

This metal is able to accumulate in the kidneys and liver, causing the gradual development of kidney and liver failure. In acute poisoning, this condition develops very quickly, which is a direct threat to life.

It is not always possible to immediately determine that mercury poisoning has occurred. Its symptoms are often non-specific and may occur as poisoning with other heavy metals, and in inflammatory diseases of organs affected by mercury intoxication. To make an accurate diagnosis, take a blood test for the concentration of a toxic substance. In case of mercury poisoning, it ranges from 180 mcg / l and above.

Restoration and cleaning of bronze products at home

First aid

If it is known for sure that the poisoning is caused by mercury vapor, then you should go to Fresh air. First aid begins with washing the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, eyes and exposed skin with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or running water. Wherein need to make sure that there are no disorders of the cardiovascular and respiratory system. If there are any, then it is first necessary to eliminate life-threatening conditions by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, stopping or slowing bleeding, etc.

Gastric lavage is carried out only through a tube using potassium permanganate dissolved in cold water. It helps reduce the cauterizing effect of the metal. Washing is carried out several times a day. After the procedure, sorbents are additionally prescribed, which are taken 4 times a day.

In case of mercury poisoning, the Unithiol antidote is administered intravenously. In the future, to flush out the poison from the body, diuretics and solutions are administered, as well as intramuscularly "Unithiol". If such a need arises, then hemodialysis is also used. With ulcerative lesions of various organs, symptomatic treatment is carried out.

If the thermometer is broken

If a thermometer breaks in an apartment, then a person should be clearly aware that mercury is very dangerous for everyone who lives in this room. Therefore, you need to collect the smallest balls that rolled across the floor as quickly as possible. Remove all tenants from the apartment close the door and open the windows. You need to put on a respirator on your face or just tie a linen scarf so that it covers your mouth and nose. Rubber gloves are put on the hands. With bare hands do not take mercury balls, because evaporation can penetrate through the pores in the skin.

mercury poisoning- one of the most serious consequences of intoxication of the human body. Exposure to mercury adversely affects the health of people of all ages. Fearing irreparable harm, people often panic when they break a mercury thermometer used in everyday life. This article is devoted to the manifestations of acute and chronic intoxication with liquid mercury and the routes of entry poisonous substance in human organs and tissues.

Characteristics of mercury

Mercury is an element classified as hazard class I. It is a transition metal, which is a silvery-white liquid with a large mass. In the vapor state, it is extremely toxic at a room temperature of 14-25 degrees. By itself, metallic mercury does not poison human body, in contrast to vapors and soluble compounds, especially organic ones, which belong to the group of cumulative poisons. Even a very small dose of mercury can lead to serious disturbances in the functioning of the body and cause harm to health.

The metal poisons the entire body, especially strongly affects the gastrointestinal tract, immune, respiratory and nervous system, kidneys, liver, skin and eyes. Despite the toxicity of mercury, it is actively used in various fields. National economy. The most familiar device to us is a mercury thermometer for measuring body temperature, which is in every home.

Fortunately, mercury poisoning from a broken thermometer does not happen often, they can be detected in family members where elementary safety rules are not followed, thermometers are damaged regularly and the room is not disinfected. In this case, the manifestation chronic symptoms. Acute poisoning occurs when several fluorescent energy-saving light bulbs are broken.

Mercury in everyday life

In everyday life, a person rarely comes into contact with mercury, especially rarely it is found in concentrations that can cause serious damage to all organs and systems.

• Mercury is used in the energy sector in the manufacture of mercury-galvanic batteries, at metallurgical plants in the smelting of metals and the processing of secondary aluminum, as a reagent in chemical processes, in agriculture when pickling pesticides - in these cases, metal intoxication is possible in people of certain professions employed in these industries.
• Previously, dentists used silver amalgam. After the use of photopolymer filling materials containing hundreds of milligrams of poisonous metal, fillings fell into disuse.
• From 1 to 70 mg of mercury is contained in metal vapor in fluorescent lamps, since it is they who glow during glow discharges.
• Due to the very good thermal conductivity in medicine, up to two grams of liquid metal is used as a thermometer filler. In addition, mercury does not wet the glass, the readings obtained are very accurate, the error does not exceed 0.01°C.
• Seafood tends to accumulate elemental mercury and its compounds, the amount of a harmful toxic substance can be several hundred times higher than its content in water. You need to know that no seafood processing technology reduces the amount of mercury.

As you can see, in everyday life it is very difficult if you do not violate the safety rules. But many people make a serious mistake by bringing mechanisms and devices containing toxic metal into the house or into technical rooms. If stored improperly or disassembled, you can get yourself seriously poisoned and harm the health of family members. In rare cases, symptoms of chronic mercury intoxication are noted in people who bought contaminated second homes and were unaware of the danger that threatened them. In the event that mercury-containing devices are broken, it is necessary to act quickly and prudently, to follow the prescribed actions in order to minimize the consequences of a negative impact on health.

The specific effect of mercury vapor on the human body

If you breathe air in which there is a lot of mercury vapor (up to 0.25 mg / m³), ​​then soon the metal will accumulate in the tissues of the lungs. If the concentration level is higher, even intact skin does not protect the body - the metal is absorbed through it. Depending on the time and duration of mercury entry into organs and tissues, as well as on the amount of metal that has penetrated, doctors determine acute and chronic poisoning. Micromercurialism belongs to a separate category.

Symptoms of mercury vapor poisoning

Acute form of the disease

The first symptoms of acute intoxication with mercury vapor can be noted after two hours:

• a person becomes very weak;
• headache;
• loss of desire to eat;
• painful swallowing;
• feeling of metal in the mouth;
• copious saliva;
• swollen gums bleed;
• feeling .

Somewhat later, the following signs appear:

• increasing pain in the abdomen, mucous diarrhea with blood;
• the tissues of the organs of the respiratory system become inflamed, it is difficult for a person to breathe, a cough appears, the patient complains of chest pain, feels chills;
• body temperature reaches 38-40 ° C;
• mercury is found in the analysis of urine.

These signs of mercury intoxication are common to all ages. But in small patients, the processes are faster, the observed clinical picture is more vivid. Children require prompt medical intervention.

chronic poisoning

Mercurialism is a general intoxication as a result of prolonged exposure (more than two months) to vapors and mercury compounds, the concentration of which is significantly higher than the norm. Symptoms depend on the degree of damage to the body:

• severe fatigue;
• constant drowsiness with regular sleep;
• weakness;
• dizziness and headaches;
• emotional instability.

A person becomes irritable, memory weakens, attention decreases. After a while, there is a "mercury tremor" of the fingers, lips and eyelids, arising from excitement. Frequent urge to defecate and urinate is noted, the sense of smell, tactile sensitivity, taste are dulled, the person sweats a lot. An increase in the thyroid gland is noticeable, the heart rhythm is disturbed, and blood pressure decreases.

Micromercurialism - chronic intoxication with the listed signs, is the result of constant exposure to small doses of mercury over a long period of time (5 years or more).

Consequences of mercury poisoning

• If you do not provide timely medical care, acute intoxication leads to death of a person.
• With chronic mercury poisoning, a person is not able to lead a normal life, people become disabled, in particular, psychologically.
• Mercury is most harmful to pregnant women, since if the metal enters the body of a future mother, there is a high risk of damage to the fetus and the birth of a sick child.

Is it possible to detect excess concentrations of mercury vapor in the room?

If a situation arises that carries real or possible risks of increasing the amount of mercury vapor in the room, you need to submit an application to an accredited laboratory, whose specialists will take measurements (the norm is for 0.0003 mg / m³). Household tests are being carried out to help estimate the amount of mercury in the premises. They are paper impregnated with selenium sulfide or copper iodide, which show within 8-10 hours whether the norm is exceeded. They are available in the CIS countries, the approximate price is 150 rubles.

Treatment

Complex differentiated therapy of acute poisoning is carried out in a hospital, while taking into account the identified pathologies. Chronic intoxication can be treated on an outpatient and inpatient basis, treatment in a sanatorium and a change in activity are indicated. Specific drugs are: , taurine, dimercaptosuccinic acid and others.

Prevention

• If you broke a thermometer or a fluorescent light bulb, you need to carry out a full range of measures aimed at eliminating the consequences.
• People who work in factories that use mercury need to rinse their mouths with a solution of permanganate and potassium chlorate throughout the shift and at the end of the day.
• After mercury enters the body, drink a few eggs, protein is a good adsorbent.