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found a jar of mercury?

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bzinsky

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So I found a small glass jar of mercury while sifting through some boxes the previous owner never moved out. It's in a double container, with some foam in between the containers. It's pretty cool. Amazing how heavy it is for the volume. Looks to be about 6 fl ounces. I expected mercury to be more like a syrup, but it's more like the viscosity of chocolate milk.

I think the previous owner had an appliance repair business, I'm guessing it was used for mercury switches.

Any useful DIY applications for this or any idea what to do with it? Maybe donate to high school? Keep it as a conversation piece? I'd rather just keep it in my garage than going through whatever the proper disposal methods, which I'm sure is a pain.
 
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dmlehmann

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It is a highly hazardous waste that really should be properly disposed of (I.e. Don't pour it down a drain.). I would be really surprised if a school would touch it due to the potential liability issue if a kid managed to get into it. Where I work we have to pay for proper disposal of old thermometers etc - I don't think it is cheap.
 
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Nick Danger

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High schools haven't had mercury in them for years. The judgement on how hazardous mercury is keeps getting worse. Don't put it down the drain or in the trash. There should be free disposal in your area.

If it were me I'd keep it, but it's up to you. Remember that mercury evaporates (slowly) at room temperature, it accumulates in your body, and that it's a neurotoxin. So treat it with due respect.
 
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CNGsaves

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As a kid, I did lots of stupid crazy stuff like breaking a thermometer and seeing how the mercury moved around on the floor when I pushed it with a stick !! It beaded up but ran across the floor like it was alive to join up with it's other beads. No I never touched it with my skin, but somehow I got it cleaned up with paper towels when I was done with teenage inquiry !

OP . . . call the CHEMISTRY Dept of local college and they'll have a use for it.
 
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ford33

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I checked the US EPA site and the most common recommended disposal method for mercury is "Recommended Management: These products need to be properly disposed at household hazardous waste collection centers. Consult your local or state collection program regarding items taken."

Mercury in the air is hazardous: "the exposed mercury can evaporate and become an invisible, odorless toxic vapor"

Here is a link to the EPA site for Mercury:
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/mgmt_options.html
 
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BADSIX

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when I was in grade school we use to rub it on a penny and make it silver. that's been 50 some years ago and I still got all my fingers and feel good :dunno:
 
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Shadowdog500

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I still have a small bottle of murcury myself. It is good for de leading a gun barrel. Plug the end of the barrel with a cork and pour the mercury in theleaded barrel. The lead separates from the barrel after a while and can be pulled out in a long pieces if you are lucky. The Mercury can be poured back into the bottle and reused. I hear If it sits for a while all the lead will be dissolved into the Mercury.

Chris
 
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Architorture

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Did a lab renovation at a small college in West Virginia. Once they peeled up the original hardwood floors they found a couple big pools of mercury sitting in the low points of the concrete floor beneath. Shut that job down real quick.

It was funny because not 3 months earlier the head of the science department was telling us how he had done his undergrad at the school (many many years ago) and how they used to have open vats of mercury to do pressure experiments. Sometimes one would break and it would get loose. He said they poke it around until it fell through the cracks in the floor.

50 years later a bunch of it was still hanging out under the floor.
 
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NUTTSGT

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Contact your local auto scrap yard and inquire with them. I know the one here told me thay have to remove all the mercury switches from the vehicles before they send them to the crusher. All the hood and trunks lights are (or used to be) mercury switches. They wrap they up, put them in a sealed container and ship them off to a place and get compensated for them.
 
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Miss_Sissy

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I had a fair-sized bottle of it, but it was just an accident waiting to happen. So I gave it to a friend with a carb synchronizer that he needed mercury for.
 
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DangerousDan55

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I would Not tell people close to you about it. It is a hazardous material & someone may just rat you out.
You have been living all these years without that jar of stuff so why take any chances with an accident or the local government getting on your case.
Mercury's dangerous forms are mercury vapor, and certain mercury compounds that are more easily absorbed.

Read more:*@#$http://www.city-data.com/forum/heal...rcury-child-x-ray-pregnant.html#ixzz3LZ3EdCMR
 
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Joe B.

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Mix 50/50 with a fine single malt scotch. The 'Experts' like it at 50-degree but I like it cold. The merc will stay liquid down into the -30s. With a mix you can hit 0 F without any icing.
 
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bzinsky

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I'm definitely keeping it or donating it, or maybe I'll make a really cool and gigantic mercury switch.

I have to wonder

On one side there are people saying it should be avoided like it's plutonium, but I can't help but notice that I've heard so many stories of the 50+ crowd that played with it in school like it was as harmless as a marble, verified by this forum. All of these people are alive and well.

The scientist in me wonders what about it is so dangerous if it was handled so often 40 years ago. Maybe it's just terrible for the environment?
 
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Philbert

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The problem with mercury is that it is very toxic. But like alot of toxins the once or twice small exposure to it will most likely do little if any harm to you. However if you have a large exposure or a infrequent to frequent exposure to mercury will cause harm. Like they said on Pawn Stars about the gilded gold leaf clocks (aka Death Clocks) they used mercury to make them and the craftsmen went insane and or died from the mercury exposure.
 
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Miss_Sissy

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bzinsky said:
...I can't help but notice that I've heard so many stories of the 50+ crowd that played with it in school like it was as harmless as a marble, verified by this forum. All of these people are alive and well.
Click to expand...

Scientists believe that mercury exposure causes brain damage. I don't think that the posts in this forum are an effective refutation of that.

:lol_hitti
 
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Lippyp

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This is where the phrase "Mad as a Hatter" comes from. Mercury was used in the production of felt for hats in the 18th and 19th centuries and Hatters (people who make hats!) slowly absorbed the mercury working with the material and ended up going lick the windows bonkers.
 
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gungatim

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hit up the gold/precious metal refining forums, someone there will buy it from you. most of those guys know what they are doing and are very safe and educated about the hazards. goldrefiningforum.com
 
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TractorJeff

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25 years ago it was worth $300 an ounce!
Talked to a Scrapper who said 10 years ago someone offered him a bottle that weighed 16 ounces. He called his Broker who quoted him current Market value at $1000 an ounce in China. Broker told him the only problem is no one wants to handle it in the US due to FED Regs! Needless to say, he didn't buy it from the Owner, told him good luck on properly disposing of it.
 
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Jim in Wis

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I found a penny a few years ago that was real silvery looking - like a dime. Now I know what that was, someone put mercury on it.
I gave it to my brother in law, so no damage can come of it. He's already crazy.
 
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Zapp Branigan

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I played with it when I was young back in the 70's, and can't say it suffered from any detrimental consequences because of it. Now the pot smoking in the 70s on the other hand, well, the jury is out on that...
 
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saceone

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this thread makes me wonder...


is the viscosity of chocolate milk any different than regular milk ? Farmers please chime in!
 
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Jim_No_Garage

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Lippyp said:
This is where the phrase "Mad as a Hatter" comes from. Mercury was used in the production of felt for hats in the 18th and 19th centuries and Hatters (people who make hats!) slowly absorbed the mercury working with the material and ended up going lick the windows bonkers.
Click to expand...

Lippyp sure can use the written word to paint a picture!

I wonder how he would describe his avatar?

I have several mercury "switches" from old thermostats. I need to get rid of them . . .

Cheers

Jim
 
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Davefr

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AndyA said:
Sell it on ebay, or keep it as a conversation piece
Click to expand...

You can't sell mercury on ebay or CL.

I had a scientific barometer with a jar of a few oz of mercury in the base and decided to turn it in to hazardous material recycling.

Mercury isn't that hazardous but it's vapors sure are. You can drink mercury but if you spill the mercury that becomes a big cleanup problem. (especially if it's spilled on carpet and you use a shop vac to try and clean it up).

It's just not worth the risk IMHO.
 
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Fishplate

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A couple of years ago, we were closing one of our locations and found two containers containing a total of 150 pounds of mercury.

And yes, we got rid of it - carefully.

It probably won't hurt you, but if it gets out, and somebody finds out about it, the cleanup costs definitely will hurt your wallet.
 
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PFSard

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bzinsky said:
On one side there are people saying it should be avoided like it's plutonium, but I can't help but notice that I've heard so many stories of the 50+ crowd that played with it in school like it was as harmless as a marble, verified by this forum. All of these people are alive and well.

The scientist in me wonders what about it is so dangerous if it was handled so often 40 years ago. Maybe it's just terrible for the environment?
Click to expand...

I worked in two different manufacturing facilities that produced fluorescent lamps. Both companies were stringent about how to deal with mercury. I cannot remember the time intervals, but people on the production lines were tested periodically for excessive mercury in their bodies. Basically, absorbed through the skin, and inhaling of the vapors.

I don't know any body who drank it (as someone mentioned), but ingesting through various foods is one avenue for the consumer.

Wikipedia has some decent info. See "Occupational exposure".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)
 
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