30 May
2010
30 May
'10
12:21 p.m.
Especially when it can be replaced with a non/less
hazadous replacement
that can do the job just as well.
There must have been a good reason for using mercury in the first place,
and it wasn;t cost ;-).And therefore I douibt the alternatives 'do the
job just as well'. less toxicity. Oddly though the Max-Min thermometer I
have in my office
at work is cirtainly some sort of metalic substance, though it has been
Which is normally only used to couple the 2 little indicators. The main
temperature-sensitive substace is alcohol (or something similar) in the
tube/bulb above the 'min' inidcator.
Ans yes, the coupling liquid in such thermometes certainly used to be
mercury.
there for a couple of years now, so if it is mercury
it must have been
before the ban, as I can't imagine that we'd be allowed to use them at
work....especially as my wife is deputy health and safety officer :)
I guess I should keep my comments on such people to myself...
Actually, for reasons of cost, moist thermometers
don't use mercury
Did you mean most :) :) anyway. The ones that did, did so for, I suspect,
technical reasons. I
don';t beleive there was enoguh mercury used in thermomneters to be a
hazard, but when it was used, it was used because it was the best
material to use, And that's what bothers me about the ban.
Well I do believe the one place it is a real no-no is clinical settings
I guess you don't want a patient accidentally chewing on it :) I do also seem to rememeber there being cases where young
childeren became
seriously ill when they ingested a mercury button cell.
Yes, but mercury cells did not contain liquid mercury, but rather
mercury componds. And those are certainly very toxic.
But there is one plaec I would not use a mercury
thermomneter. Checking
the temperature of an electromagnetic device such as a transformer or a
motor. It's quite possible to induce eddy currents in the mercury and
have the thermometer read too high.
Because it heats up I guess. Oh, and don;t
get me started on the lightbulb ban...
Well I've pretty much used CFLs here for a few years now, they last
longer (if correctly used), generate less heat, which is deffo an
advantage for the anglepoise that I use for close work :)