What to do if the thermometer broke - the mercury thermometer crashed
Probably, many of us have broken their thermometers at least once in their lives. After all, it is not difficult to do this inadvertently: simply shake the thermometer next to furniture or household appliances. Many have this happened, but that's what they do if they do not know everything. The article will tell you everything you need to remember about such a dangerous element as mercury and better if you tell these recommendations to all your friends and acquaintances.
Mercury poisoning can lead you to having to go to the hospital. If such a poisoning is not treated, problems can be even more serious - lesions of the nervous system and kidneys. If you accidentally broke a thermometer, the main thing - do not panic, you need to do everything very quickly and correctly, and in a state of stress you are unlikely to get it.
Remove mercury
Before proceeding with this procedure, wear rubber gloves, because the substance should never touch your skin. All the household should be driven out of the room, or even better from the apartment. Especially this applies to animals and children, capable of spreading a dangerous substance on the sole of their sneakers and paws across the entire area of the apartment.
Try, as carefully as possible, to collect all the mercury and parts of the thermometer in a jar of glass. It must first be filled with cold water. Note that you need to find a tightly screwed lid, all in order that the substance does not evaporate. Do not put this jar next to the radiators and appliances.
If you see that mercury has broken up into very small drops, collect them with a syringe, sheets of paper, a newspaper soaked in water, an adhesive tape or a rubber pear. In order to remove absolutely all balls of matter, you need to ensure yourself good lighting with a flashlight or lamp. The bank in which you collected mercury, you need to give specialists service "101".
After removing mercury
Well, you collected all the traces of thermometer and mercury, but that's not all. Next, you should definitely open the windows and doors, in order for the room to ventilate. Before the substance is completely collected, try to provide complete insulation from the draft. Otherwise, mercury balls will scatter throughout the room, and collecting them will be much more difficult.
Place where directly spilled substance, it is worth treating with a concentrated solution of bleach or manganese. This step will help oxidize mercury, and this will lead to the fact that it will lose the ability to fly from place to place. If you understand that you do not have either of these in your house, prepare this solution: 70 grams of grated soap, 40 grams of soda and one liter of water.
Do you have a wooden floor in the apartment and can not count slots between the boards? Then know that there is a great chance that a couple of silver drops are hidden somewhere inaccessible places. Badly then, when exposed to room temperature they will begin to have their negative impact. You will have to disappoint, but in such a situation there is only one way out - to remove the old floor and lay a new one. There is simply no other way to get rid of harmful mercury.
What to do next
Once you have collected all the mercury in the jar, be sure to call the MOE.Until the specialists arrive, put it on the balcony. But you only need to do this if the weather on the street is colder than in the room. If the window is hot summer, you do not need to take mercury out, otherwise you risk getting even more vapors. Immediately drink a large amount of liquid and continue to drink periodically until the jar is taken. So it is necessary to do because the withdrawal of mercury formations from the body occurs through the kidneys.
If you are not sure that even after the procedures the air has become completely clean, it is worthwhile to conduct laboratory studies of the atmosphere in your apartment. To do this, you need to contact the regional centers of epidemiology and hygiene.
What can not be done
It is not necessary to sweep a substance with a broom: its rigid rods will only make it worse. They will crush the silver balls into even smaller ones, and even completely unnoticeable.
Also it is impossible to vacuum mercury: the air that is blown by a vacuum cleaner makes evaporation of liquid metal even easier. Moreover, the device will have to be thrown out urgently after the procedure.
Do not erase those things and shoes that mercury touched in the washing machine. Naturally, this is also contraindicated. It is better not to regret and throw away such things. Do not flush the mercury in the toilet or the water pipe: the substance settles on the sewage pipes, and extracting it from there is an incredibly difficult task.
Do you want to avoid the opportunity to break the thermometer and get into a similar situation? Then buy yourself an electronic thermometer. Yes, the cost is higher, but there is no reason to worry that there may be mercury in your house.