What should I do if the mercury thermometer is broken?

After the mercury thermometer is broken, if the sulfur powder is destroyed, the mercury can be collected in a closed container with a medical cotton swab, and then a small amount of water can effectively reduce the volatilization speed of mercury and open the doors and windows to ventilate the room. Because mercury is volatile and has a high concentration density, ventilation measures must be taken to avoid poisoning caused by inhaling mercury gas.

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20 14 1 1 Ms. Wang, who lives in Xunlimen, Hankou, broke her thermometer while taking her daughter's temperature with mercury. That night, a family of three had a headache for no reason. Later, I went to Wuhan Occupational Disease Prevention Hospital for examination and found that mercury poisoning was caused by mercury vapor.

Many citizens have that kind of mercury thermometer at home. Around 2 yuan, some citizens have encountered the situation that the thermometer broke and mercury fell to the ground, but how to deal with it correctly is little known.

Event: The housewife broke the thermometer.

It'll just take a while

Ms. Wang introduced that last Saturday morning, she found her 2-year-old daughter had a fever, so she took her temperature with a thermometer in the bedroom. When I threw the thermometer, I accidentally threw it out. The thermometer broke and some silver-white mercury beads fell to the ground. Ms. Wang mopped the floor with a mop, but some mercury beads got under the bed and were busy taking her daughter to the hospital, so she didn't have time to clean up at the moment.

That night, Ms. Wang, her husband and daughter began to have headaches and stomachaches one after another, but they couldn't find the reason. The next day, Ms. Wang told a friend who was studying medicine about the broken mercury. Her friend reminded her that mercury would evaporate, and her headache might be related to mercury. She suggested a check-up.

Later, Ms. Wang's family of three went to Wuhan Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Hospital for urine mercury testing. Dr. Song Weili, director of the health laboratory, told her that the urine mercury of all three people exceeded the standard several times, and headache and stomachache were the early symptoms of mercury poisoning. All three of them need mercury emission treatment. Ms. Wang regretted it and blamed her negligence, which harmed the whole family.

Test: Two thermometers in the bedroom are broken.

Mercury concentration exceeds the standard by thousands of times.

"It's all caused by mercury vapor," Song Weili said. After the mercury-containing thermometer breaks, this liquid metal called "mercury" will be scattered on the ground like small drops of water and evaporate quickly, but this does not mean that they disappear. Instead, they just sneak into closets, floors, carpets and other places more secretly. In addition, the recent cold weather, sleeping with the window closed at night is more likely to lead to poisoning.

Song Weili explained that mercury can evaporate at room temperature, and the higher the temperature, the faster it evaporates. It is estimated that a standard mercury thermometer contains 65438 0 grams of mercury. After all these quantities of mercury are evaporated, the mercury concentration in a closed room with a height of15m2 and 3m can reach 22.2 mg/m3.

Ordinary people may have symptoms such as headache, fever, abdominal cramps and dyspnea in just two hours in a room with mercury concentration of 1 ~ 3mg/m3. An expert once tested that the mercury concentration in the air was detected immediately after two mercury thermometers were broken in a bedroom. The results show that indoor mercury concentration is 1000 times of outdoor mercury concentration.

Tip: put away the spilled mercury as soon as possible.

Glue, bottles and seals.

Song Weili said that the mercury spilled on the ground can be stuck together with wet cotton swabs (only medical cotton swabs) or tape paper, put into a sealable vial, such as a plastic bottle such as a beverage bottle, and add a small amount of water to the bottle. Water can prevent mercury from evaporating. Pay special attention to, in the process of collection, move quickly, open the window, keep good ventilation, and try not to touch mercury.

Song Wei, special reminder, don't pour the collected mercury into the sewer. If mercury seeps into groundwater, people will drink water containing heavy metals, which will endanger human health. It is suggested that the collected waste mercury be sent to the environmental protection department. For mercury that cannot be completely collected after falling to the ground, some sulfur powder can be sprinkled to reduce the toxicity of mercury.

At the same time, keep the windows ventilated for a long time. Because of the high density of mercury vapor, fans, ventilators and other exhaust devices can be used to accelerate the removal of mercury vapor from the air.

For rooms polluted by mercury, iodine and alcohol can be used to ignite fumigation, so that iodine and mercury in the air can generate less volatile mercury iodide, which can reduce the concentration of mercury vapor in the air. 10% bleaching powder solution can also be used to wash the ground polluted by mercury, and it also has certain mercury removal effect.

People's Network-Housewives break mercury thermometers and only mop the floor? A family of three suffered from mercury poisoning.