pantherspawn
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I know the use of mercury has been banned in most parts of the us..couldn't say about other places.
+1Mark1092 said:It is 100% mercury, I can assure you. Prolonged exposure will affect you yes, the amount inside a thermometer isn't really something to get frantic about. I did the best I can in cleaning it up, I'm airing my room out and taking the best measures I can.
The whole 'don't touch it you'll die!' attitude isn't accurate. Your skin takes hours to soak it into your bloodstream, you would have to be playing with a lot of it for a very long time. Eating it is actually less dangerous then inhaling the vapour. When mercury is heated up, it turns into vapour. This vapour is the killer. Now, I did everything you're not meant to do with a mercury spill - however, it's such a small amount that it's not going to affect me.
I can't remember who, but a well-known scientist/inventor in Medieval history played with mercury for 40 years, when he died it was discovered he had mercury poisoning - but that's not even what he died of.
As for a fish, different story.