What to do if a thermometer crashed?

You broke the mercury thermometer, you know that mercury is very toxic and you need to immediately assemble. How to proceed? Call in the Ministry of Emergency Situations? It is clear that such a challenge will be ignored. About how to deal with the problem yourself - in our article.

Content

• Item I
• Item II
• Item III
• Item IV
• Point V
• Point VI
• Point VII
• Point VIII
  

Your pinkish, always a cheerful baby does not run, does not laugh, all the time strives to stick. You are excited, rush to a home first aid kit for a thermometer, shake it...and accidentally break the thermometer about the standing chest — Beautiful silver balls rolled on the floor. What to do? Let's figure it out.

Item I

If the thermometer crashed, most importantly — Do not worry and act according to common sense. First of all, try to remember from the course of high school that mercury — Dangerous poison, her couples are easily evaporated and deposited in the body, and therefore, it is necessary to urgently lead from the room all your home. Here, one right decision you have already taken.

Item II

Now it is necessary to go directly to the process that has a special name — Demercurization, remember, mercury in Latin — Mercury? Independent actions should be started with what needs to be changed into clothes, which may have to be thrown away, it is no longer used to be washing, be sure to wear rubber gloves and try to protect yourself with a gauze bandage.

Item III

You are ready to start cleaning, you are wide «field» activities. Small brilliant balls rolled throughout the room and, because of their physical properties, they crumbled into many mysterious particles, which, how many dawie, do not make any way, easily reunite with others with the same fast shiny «fugitive», Easy to slip out of your hands. But the danger is not that they ran away, it is more important that mercury at a temperature of 18 ⁰C will evaporate, and this is a real threat to health. The medical household contains up to 5 g of mercury, it means that there is nothing to evaporate, so it is worth hurry. The danger that lies in contact with mercury, may not even immediately manifest, but only some time after chronic mercury intoxication:

Mercury on a modern classification of poisoning substances is recognized as a very poisonous, easily evaporating metal, so prepare a jar with water with a hermetically closing lid, where you can lower all shiny «fugitives».

Item IV

It should be remembered that the mercury pairs do not have colors and odor, and their penetration is possible not only through the respiratory tract, but also through the skin and the gastrointestinal tract, which can manifest itself very soon. Once in the body, mercury has an irritant effect and causes poisoning with the defeat of the cardiovascular system, kidneys and the central nervous system.

Point V

It is clear that mercury poisoning is especially dangerous for children, for this reason, parents should explain to the child in advance what mercury is and how it acts on the human body. It will not take you a lot of time, choose somehow time for a conversation with a child on this topic and tell you that you will not scold him, even if he breaks a thermometer. Explain that in no case it is impossible to hide it or hide a broken thermometer under the sofa that if somewhere in the courtyard he will have to face these magic balls, you can not play with them, they need to be destroyed, and how to do it, adults know.

Point VI

Prepare two sheets of paper, syringe, rubber pear, leukoplasty, wet newspaper or watered cotton wool — With the help of these simple devices, you can assemble the scattered mercury from the floor. Try to look at all corners of the room, while close the doors and open the window so that there is no draft. Take advantage of a flashlight or a small table lamp, highlight the floor in all places where mercury balls rolled, they are very well shiny when. Use a wet newspaper, cotton wrapped with vegetable oil or leucoplasty, so you will be easier to collect balls together and put them in a jar with water. The place on the floor, where the thermometer fell, treat the dark solution of mangartage, chlorine lime, or a hot soap-soda solution of the following concentration:

Point VII

Having cleaning, check whether the balls of mercury did not roll in the slit in the floor and whether they were under parquet or laminate, because if they remained even in a minor quantity, the evaporation of mercury will continue, and the body will be exposed to poison. After cleaning the room for a while, put on the floor with a rag, moistened with manganese and leave a room for long-term ventilation.

Point VIII

Now you are the main question: «What to do with these balls, rags, paper, rubber pear, gloves and your clothing»? The answer is clear and simple: mercury need to be thrown, but neither in the garbage container, nor in the wipeline, nor in the toilet. Ideal: surrender to the jar with mercury to the center of hygiene and epidemiology or contact local bodies of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, they will drive and dispose of a dangerous metal that will protect the health of many people.