How to collect mercury, if the thermometer broke at home and what to do in this case
Mercury is a very dangerous substance with evaporation capacity. Mercury vapor is most harmful, therefore it is dangerous for health to be in the room where they are available. Unintentionally broken thermometers are sources of heavy contamination of living quarters. Today we will tell you what to do and how to collect mercury if the thermometer broke at home.
Algorithm for your actions
1) Take the tenants out of the room, especially the children, closing the front door so that the pairs do not spread.
2) It is necessary to reduce the temperature in the room, for example, open the window.
3) Cover the area where mercury was spread, cover with wet sheets of newspapers. Fold in plastic bags things that are in contact with mercury, take them to the balcony or to the street.
What can not be done if a thermometer breaks in the room?
1) Do not create drafts during ventilation, so that the smallest particles of mercury do not scatter throughout the room.
2) Do not use a regular broom, as the mercury balls can rise into the air, and they can not be collected.
3) If you use a vacuum cleaner, spraying will occur throughout the room. In addition, the device will be infected and will have to be abandoned.
4) You can not wash clothes soiled with mercury, as contamination with washing machine or sewage can occur.
5) Do not dispose of mercury in a refuse chute, toilet bowl, dump.
How can I collect mercury from a thermometer?
Until the substance is collected, household members should not enter the room. It is necessary to prepare a metal or glass jar with a tight lid. You will also need a scoop, a brush, a sheet of paper, a medical pear. Before collecting mercury from the floor, it is necessary to wear rubber gloves.
1) Carefully pick up and drop large fragments from the thermometer into the jar.
2) Using a brush and scoop, collect small fragments and large-sized mercury drops.
3) Use a sheet of paper and a brush to sweep small drops of mercury, carefully lowering them into a jar.
4) Check the slots in the floor and the things that are near the broken thermometer. Medical pear with a thin tip to extract mercury from inaccessible places for the brush. Check that there is not a drop left.
5) After collecting mercury, tightly close the jar and conduct a wet cleaning in the room using a mild soap-soda solution or a solution of potassium permanganate.
It is much more difficult to collect mercury from a carpet that has a fleecy surface.
Can a mercury be collected by a magnet? It is impossible, because nothing will come of it, since mercury is a diamagnet that weakly interacts with a magnetic field, capable of not attracting, but repelling from a magnet. In addition, when trying to collect mercury in this way, the balls can roll in different directions.
After collecting large particles of mercury from the carpet, people very often use a vacuum cleaner or take out a carpet on the street to knock it out. This is wrong, since the person who does the cleaning, inhales a significant part of the vapor. At such times, the best way is to contact specialized services.
If you managed to assemble the mercury yourself, you need to close the jar tightly and, in no case, throw it into a garbage disposal yard or garbage tank standing in the yard. After doing so, you can not only damage the environment, but damage the health of people. The bank should be handed over to the mercury recovery organization. The address of such an organization can be found by calling the EMERCOM office.
To be sure that the room is completely cleaned of the particles of the substance, you can invite experts, for example, from the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service, to check the concentration of mercury vapor in the room.