What is the mercury bulb?

If a CFL light bulb contained solid "amalgam" mercury the size of the point of a pin and the bulb is broken...?

• will the solid mercury "dots" turn into a vapor or remain solid? I hear that CFL bulb release mercury vapor when broken, but some CFL manufacturers like Feit Electric use solid "amalgam" mercury in their bulbs (about 3-4 mg. in each, depending on style), so I am wondering what the threat is to a human exposed to a broken CFL bulb containing solid "amalgam" mercury. Is it hard to find an answer to this specific question among the many articles on CFL bulbs and CFL bulb cleanup on the web.

• Answer:

  Old saying: It's the dose that makes the poison. Amalgams release mercury vapor slower than pure liquid mercury does. Many people still have amalgam dental fillings, and if they're unhealthful, that risk is difficult to quantitate. Let's look at a couple of scenarios. Scenario 1. You accidentally drop and break the CFL bulb. Then you clean it up promptly, and dispose of the remains safely. In this case, the amalgam CFL bulb would decrease your relatively small mercury vapor exposure, as compared with a standard CFL bulb. Scenario 2. Everyone throws their dead CFL bulbs into landfills. In the fullness of time, an amalgam CFL bulb may leak as much mercury into the environment as a regular CFL bulb.