Many people still have mercury thermometers, which are easy to break or crush, since the glass in the product is quite thin. Mercury vapors are very dangerous for human health, so you need to immediately collect poisonous balls of metal.
Open windows in all rooms to ventilate your home. Close the place where the thermometer fell with wet newspapers. If drops of mercury get on any things, put them in plastic bags and take them out to the garage or balcony. Close the door to the room in which the thermometer was broken.
Leave the room to avoid inhaling the toxic fumes of mercury. Insulate door slots with masking tape or tape. Ventilate the room for 30-40 minutes before proceeding. The danger of infection has passed, but you need to disinfect the room and things. Put on any clothing made of synthetic materials, such a fabric does not absorb mercury fumes so well.
Carefully inspect all the things that could drop poisonous metal, shine a flashlight on them, they will be better noticeable. Carry out a similar procedure with the floor, try not to step on drops of mercury.
Collect metal should be, starting with the largest drops. Fold a sheet of thick piece of paper or cardboard. Roll mercury onto a piece of paper using a thick needle or knitting needle. Move with a piece of paper so that the drops merge into one large puddle, which should be drained into an unnecessary glass jar or a bottle with a tight lid. It is convenient to collect mercury with a syringe, sucking ball after balloon into it.
Very small drops can be reached with a band-aid. Mercury located in slots or under furniture can be reached with a long spoke, on which a cotton wool or tampon is wound. The cotton wool must first be moistened with a solution of potassium permanganate. Instead of a needle and a swab, you can take a syringe with a thick needle. Put the plaster and cotton wool with adhering drops of metal into a jar.
Drops of mercury caught in the baseboard are very difficult to get, so the material must be removed. The same thing must be done if the metal fell into the slot under the floorboard.
Take a break every 10-15 minutes so you don’t get poisoned by toxic metal fumes. Go to another room or go out into the fresh air. The jar of mercury can not be thrown away, put it in the garage or on the balcony for a while, when it is possible, give it to the representatives of the rescue service.
To disinfect things or cover, use potassium permanganate. You will need about a liter of this substance, in a liter jar of clean water add a few particles of potassium permanganate until the liquid acquires a saturated fuchsia color. Add a little citric acid or a tablespoon of salt. Mix thoroughly.
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