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How do you mine mercury?

Liquid mercury maze game-spillage about 20 years ago mine leaked & I played with it in hands longterm effect?

  • Help about 20 years ago when I was 10 I had a hand held puzzle maze which had mercury in it. It started coming out the side one day and I put it in my hand, I played with it on my palm for ages, thinking it was amazing, rubbing my fingers on it watching it seperate(about half size of my little finger nail) it's only recently I found out the dangers of it (must have been off that day in Chemistry!) I'm 30 now pregnant with 2nd child what damage do you think this will have done to me but more so my children?? I've read about renal/liver damage and mental/behavioural effects i'm really worried please advise me Thanks

  • Answer:

    You've got nothing to worry about. Although mercury vapour is very toxic, the amount you would have breathed in while playing with it for 20 minutes is so tiny that it would not have any noticeable effect. The sort of people who ARE at risk from breathing in mercury vapour are lab tecnicians, people who work in factories where a lot of mercury is used (e.g. in the production of sodium hydroxide) and amateur gold miners who use mercury to extract gold from rocks. This is simply because the exposure to mercury vapour goes on for a very long time. Also, it is not true that the body cannot eliminate mercury. It DOES eliminate mercury, albeit at a very, very slow rate. It usually finishes up in the hair and nails, where it can do no harm. Whatever tiny amount you ingested would have been completely eliminated over a period of 6 to 12 months. On a visit to a gold-mine in Ghana in the 1960s, I noticed in the analytical lab a big crucible with about 30 kg of mercury in it. I stuck my left hand into it, right up to my wrist. It was an amazing feeling ! Even swallowing liquid mercury is not particularly harmful. In the 18th century, a popular cure for constipation was to drink ½ a pound of mercury. I wouldn't actually recommend that today. However, there have been quite a few cases of people swallowing mercury accidentally, when a thermometer broke in their mouth. As far as I know this has never resulted in mercury poisoning.

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Mercury is a highly toxic substance (not meaning to scare you!) Even inhaling mercury vapours can effect you. Also once you have mercury in your body it will never be "diluted" or go away. I don't think you will be at risk or your children but avoid and other mercury for the rest of your life!

..| [ DAViD ] |..

Since you have not consumed it, you are not at risk.

Abhishek D

Mercury is very toxic if you breathe the vapors, the toxicity is really less if you touch or swallow it because it's not absorbed (in German is called Quicksilver because of it's speed inside the stomach and colon) You can do a hair analysis (it's not very expensive) to find if you are mercury intoxicated. Some children vaccinations contains Thiomersal (or thimerosal or merthiolate) as a preservative ! and it's an organomercury compound, very very toxic. So ask your doctor to give your children only vaccines without mercury. more common names or thiomersal: Elcide Mercurothiolate Merfamin Merthiolade Merthiolate Mertorgan Merzonin Merzonin sodium Sodium ethylmercuric thiosalicylate Sodium merthiolate Thimerosal Thimerosalate Thiomersalate Vitaseptol

scientific_boy3434

Effects of mercury poisoning come from constant exposure, mostly to the vapors, not one-time exposure. You have nothing to worry about.

TheOnlyBeldin

I did the same and had no problems.

R.E.M.E.

Your children should be fine. As another mentioned, if you had eaten it (eg, from fish), it would accumulate in your body. According to WebMD: "If you're eating a lot of fish, mercury accumulates in your bloodstream over time. While the body naturally gets rid of mercury, it may take a year for the levels to drop significantly." Anyway, it's the methylated form of mercury that is considered to be hazardous to fetuses. Elemental mercury (stuff you were playing with) probably left you very quickly. After 20 years, I imagine that there is no problem. Don't freak out over yourself, I know a few 60+ chemists who played with mercury long ago, and they have no problems.

diedrichknickerbocker

Liquid mercury isn't particulary toxic in the amounts and for the time you were exposed to it, so I wouldn't worry about any harm at all to your children or to you. The main health issues with mercury come from exposure to mercury compounds and from longer-term or higher exposures.

hcbiochem

Very unlikely that there is a problem. Cold metallic mercury is not very dangerous, specially in the quantity you had. Long term or heavy exposure to concentrated vapours, and organic compounds of mercury are the problem. Millions of women have had mercury amalgam tooth fillings and produced even more millions of healthy children.

Brigalow Bloke

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