What if the mercury thermometer crashed?

Practically each of us at home has a mercury thermometer, which is used to measure body temperature. Its damage can be very dangerous: mercury is the only metal contained in the liquid state at room temperature, the inhalation of its vapors is fraught with poisoning. That's why you need to think carefully about what you should do if a mercury thermometer is broken . Below, we will describe the actions to be taken in this situation.

So, what to do if the mercury thermometer is broken: the first action.

To begin with, in no case panic, you need to limit access to the affected area. All uninhabited people in the cleaning should be taken to the street (or to another room) and close the door of the room, in which the thermometer was broken. Be careful and cautious, do not trample in dangerous places, so that later you can not smash mercury balls on the sole of shoes into other rooms.

What to do if the mercury thermometer crashed: the second action.

Put on rubber gloves and collect shards of thermometer and mercury balls. It is convenient to make a syringe without a needle, tape, plaster or two sheets of paper. The last way is as follows: use paper sheets to connect the mercury balls to each other, and then roll them onto paper. To get the balls of mercury from the slit, use a needle with a wool soaked in it, soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate. Alternatively, use copper wire (mercury adheres to copper), but the copper content in the wire must be significant, and the wire surface must be stripped of oxides.

The collected mercury and tools should be placed in a jar of water and tightly closed.

What to do if the mercury thermometer is broken: the third action.

Mercury vapor evaporates in smaller quantities at low temperatures, so it is advisable to ventilate the room, unless, of course, on the street is not plus thirty. Next, you need to process the place where the thermometer broke with a solution of potassium permanganate at the rate of 2 grams of potassium permanganate per liter of water, and then a soap-soda solution at a rate of 50 grams of soda and soap per liter of water.

What to do if the mercury thermometer is broken: the fourth action.

After the work done, you need to get rid of the cans of mercury. You should call the Emergency Ministry and find out where to put it, and until then put it away from the heating items, in a cool place where there is no access to sunlight.

As for you, then in the near future increase the amount of fluid consumed, since mercury formations leave the body through the kidneys.

A few words about what can not be done.

Do not allow contact of mercury with skin.

Do not make a draft in a ventilated area.

You can not sweep mercury balls with a broom, as hard bars can grind mercury balls, and then collect them will be difficult.

You can not collect mercury using a vacuum cleaner, since the air blown by the device facilitates the evaporation of mercury vapor.

Do not wash shoes and clothes that come into contact with mercury in washing machines. Ideally, it should be thrown away (clothes and shoes).

It is impossible to get rid of mercury by means of the sewage system, since if it settles in the sewer pipes, then it is practically impossible to extract it from there.

You can not throw a broken thermometer into the garbage disposal, since the negligible fraction of mercury evaporated there can contaminate a considerable area.

Do not miss this information by yourself. When such situations occur, you begin to reproach yourself for negligence and inability to take action when necessary. If you know how to behave, when a mercury thermometer crashed, "what to do" - the question instantly arising in difficult moments, will not confuse you.