Managing Mercury
by Sidney Gernsback
Reprinted
from A Thousand and One Formulas, 1920,
Mercury
is difficult to manage, on account of its weight and the ease with which
it picks up impurities. Stone-ware mortars are better for holding mercury
than glass beakers, which easily crack when set down. all operations with
mercury should be conducted over a tray or on a table with a groove around
the edge.
Dust on the surface of Mercury
may be removed by allowing the mercury to run through dry filter paper
in which a few pin holes have been made. Or the merciry may be washed
in a current of water, and then passed through a separating funnel. The
little moisture on the surface may be easily removed with a blotting paper.
Many metals easily dissolve in mercury; and a very little tin or zinc
will spoil its fluidity. They are best removed by shaking the mercury
in a bottle with a little nitric acid; the tin or zinc will then dissove,
leaving the mercury pure.
How to Clean
Up Spilled Mercury
by Robert Dean
A
lot of amateur scientists store and use mercury in their laboratories.
If you're one of them, it's important that you understand the dangers
associated with using mercury and that you are ready to clean up a spill
should one happen.
Mercury, with its high surface
tension and surprisingly high toxicity should not be used or stored where
it might be mishandled. In a closed room with circulating air, spilled
mercury can release enough vapor to injure anyone present. Mercury droplets
cannot be swept up unless the brush is soaking wet. A film of water around
a drop of mercury drags it to rest and prevents it from skating all over
the floor. When the droplets can no longer skate they can be brushed together
and disposed of with care. After disposal of the mercury, spread "flowers
of sulfur" in all the cracks where mercury might be hiding. The finely
divided elemental sulfur reacts with mercury vapor to form nonvolatile
mercury sulfides. Do not let mercury get in touch with Zinc, Copper, Silver,
or Gold because it can form amalgams with these and several other metals
and remain on their surfaces. If that happens, this surface contamination
will continue to release mercury vapor into the air. NEVER USE MERCURY
OVER A CARPET! A spill there and the carpet must be pulled up and disposed
of as contaminated waste. 
Reprinted from:
|
Society
for Amateur Scientists 
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