Will uranium scrap sink in mercury? Let's expose! video. What is advisable to do
Let's expose! Will uranium scrap drown in MERCURY? April 22nd, 2017
Which of the internet dinosaurs remembers the meme “drown uranium scraps in mercury yourself”? And then I came across this gif.
Agree, it’s scary to watch people doing something so calmly next to the MERCURY bath! Why doesn't anything happen to them? We all know very well how dangerous MERCURY is. Here's what the internet is saying about this gif:
... I think this experimenter has been dead for a long time. Standing near a reservoir of mercury without protective equipment! It would be fine if it were a Soviet person, but Americans are so afraid for their health...
... and an intelligent person will stand above the mercury without respiratory protection and play with marbles...? there's a lot of fumes there... most likely it's gallium... we were deceived again
... Yes, it could be a plastic ball thrown into tap water, the thing is that a cast iron ball thrown into mercury would behave the same way.
... this is a special scientific production: colored water and, for example, a wooden ball
... hurley, we found an old man on the street who was going to die tomorrow anyway, and they offered to star in the program as a mower
... Wow, if I were this dude, I wouldn’t hope to get out of there. It's actually surprising that he even has gloves
... even I don’t understand anyone, sometimes they find a broken thermometer and start squealing all over the media, and then this guy almost goes for a swim
First, here's a full video of what's happening:
Well, secondly, let’s explain...
Of course, metallic mercury can evaporate at temperatures down to -50°C. With increasing temperature, evaporation increases noticeably. At 20°C vapor concentrations can be created that exceed the maximum permissible concentration by 1520 times, at 30°C by 3390 times and at 40°C by 7000 times. But in any case, if the temperature is lowered to a possible level, evaporation will be significantly lower.
And further. The rate of evaporation of mercury, like other liquids, depends on the surface area, i.e. Small beads will evaporate faster. Mercury in a finely dispersed state evaporates especially quickly. The evaporation of mercury in still air due to diffusion occurs much more slowly than in the presence of convective air currents. The evaporation rate at room temperature reaches approximately 10 micrograms per hour per square centimeter of surface. But it could be significantly less. Films formed on the surface of mercury as a result of chemical reactions. dirt and dust slow down the rate of evaporation. When compared with the rate of evaporation of water, the rate of evaporation of mercury is more than 10,000 times less. A ball of mercury weighing 1 g will evaporate for decades.
Dependence of the maximum possible concentration of mercury vapor in the air of the working area on temperature
That is, we conclude that the room temperature, bath area and film on the surface can significantly slow down the evaporation of mercury to a safe level for short-term stay.
The second argument is the veracity of the video. The point is, first of all, the duration of the effect. Mercury accumulates in the body, i.e. A broken thermometer in the bedroom can poison you in vapors for ten years (mercury evaporates extremely slowly, its mass is large, so the proportion of its evaporation in the air is negligible), which will cause you to die. And in 15 minutes, even next to such a bathroom, you won’t gain much.
Interestingly, the density of mercury is 13600 g/dm3. This means that a liter jar of mercury will weigh 13 kg 600 grams. Ten-liter bucket - 136 kg. But this bathtub, next to which the professor is standing, with approximate dimensions rounded by eye - let’s agree 1 meter in height, 1 meter in width and two in length - will weigh approximately 27 tons 400 kg
Here's what people write: Once upon a time, in production, during accidents, people took “showers” made of mercury, but nothing happened. And in pre-war times, they bathed in a mercury fountain in Spain.
There were also dental fillings made of amalgam (where mercury evaporates right in the mouth) and mercury manometers, where ordinary glasses were used and it spilled onto the table in decent puddles with evaporation.
So, as a result of viewing this gif, many people have the following reaction:
... That’s it, I won’t screw up the thermometer anymore and accidentally break it.
But this is not true. Of course, there is no need to panic, but a broken thermometer is quite dangerous. If a mercury thermometer breaks in a room or apartment, then after the impact the mercury breaks into many small drops and spreads throughout the room. At the same time, mercury can easily penetrate into the pile of carpets, into cracks in floors, and into the cracks between the baseboard and the floor. Then mercury, actively evaporating, pollutes and poisons all available air in the room.
If a person breathes this air constantly, over time, mercury begins to accumulate in the body, which in turn leads to chronic mercury intoxication, which can manifest itself as a metallic taste in the mouth, headaches, diarrhea, kidney damage, stomatitis, salivation, anemia, dermatitis, tremors limbs.
Cleaning premises and objects from contamination with metallic mercury and sources of mercury vapor is called demercurization.
1. Before collecting mercury, wear rubber gloves: the substance should not come into contact with bare skin.
2. Contain the location of the accident. Mercury sticks to surfaces and can easily be spread on the soles of the feet to other areas of the room.
3. As carefully as possible, collect the mercury and all broken parts of the thermometer into a glass jar with cold water, close tightly with a screw-on lid. Water is needed to prevent mercury from evaporating. Keep the jar away from heating devices.
4. Small droplets can be collected using a syringe, a rubber bulb, two sheets of paper, an adhesive plaster, tape, or wet newspaper.
5. The bank must transfer it to the specialists of the “01” service.
6. Open the windows and ventilate the room. If there are any fumes left, let them vent out the window.
7. Treat the area of the mercury spill with a solution of bleach or chloramine. This will oxidize the mercury, rendering it non-volatile. If neither one nor the other is found in the house, you can prepare a hot soap-soda solution: 30 grams of soda, 40 grams of grated soap per liter of water.
What is advisable to do
1. Seek help or advice from the Ministry of Emergency Situations on duty (by phone number 01, known since childhood).
2. To avoid missing a single ball of mercury, you can use a flashlight or lamp.
3. Before the opportunity comes to give the bank to a representative of a special structure, you can put it on the balcony. Provided, of course, that it is cooler outside than inside. At low temperatures, the release of toxic fumes is reduced.
4. Drink more diuretic liquid (tea, coffee, juices), since mercury formations are eliminated from the body through the kidneys.
What not to do
1. Do not throw a broken thermometer into the garbage chute. Two grams of mercury evaporated there can pollute six thousand cubic meters of air.
2. You cannot sweep mercury with a broom: hard rods will only crush the poisonous balls into fine mercury dust.
3. Do not collect mercury using a vacuum cleaner: the air blown by the vacuum cleaner facilitates the evaporation of the liquid metal. In addition, the vacuum cleaner will have to be thrown away immediately after this.
4. But under no circumstances should you create a draft before you have collected the mercury, otherwise the shiny balls will scatter throughout the room.
5. Do not wash clothes and shoes that have been in contact with mercury in a washing machine. If possible, it is better to throw away these clothes.
6. Do not flush mercury down the drain. It tends to settle in sewer pipes. By the way, extracting mercury from the sewer is incredibly difficult.
Which of the internet dinosaurs remembers the meme “drown uranium scraps in mercury yourself”? And then I came across this gif.
Agree, it’s scary to watch people doing something so calmly next to the MERCURY bath! Why doesn't anything happen to them? We all know very well how dangerous MERCURY is. Here's what the internet is saying about this gif:
... I think this experimenter has been dead for a long time. Standing near a reservoir of mercury without protective equipment! It would be fine if it were a Soviet person, but Americans are so afraid for their health...
... and an intelligent person will stand above the mercury without respiratory protection and play with marbles...? there's a lot of fumes there... most likely it's gallium... we were deceived again
... Yes, it could be a plastic ball thrown into tap water, the thing is that a cast iron ball thrown into mercury would behave the same way.
... this is a special scientific production: colored water and, for example, a wooden ball
... hurley, we found an old man on the street who was going to die tomorrow anyway, and they offered to star in the program as a mower
... Wow, if I were this dude, I wouldn’t hope to get out of there. It's actually surprising that he even has gloves
... even I don’t understand anyone, sometimes they find a broken thermometer and start squealing all over the media, and then this guy almost goes for a swim
First, here's a full video of what's happening:
Well, secondly, let’s explain...
Of course, metallic mercury can evaporate at temperatures down to -50°C. With increasing temperature, evaporation increases noticeably. At 20°C vapor concentrations can be created that exceed the maximum permissible concentration by 1520 times, at 30°C by 3390 times and at 40°C by 7000 times. But in any case, if the temperature is lowered to a possible level, evaporation will be significantly lower.
And further. The rate of evaporation of mercury, like other liquids, depends on the surface area, i.e. Small beads will evaporate faster. Mercury in a finely dispersed state evaporates especially quickly. The evaporation of mercury in still air due to diffusion occurs much more slowly than in the presence of convective air currents. The evaporation rate at room temperature reaches approximately 10 micrograms per hour per square centimeter of surface. But it could be significantly less. Films formed on the surface of mercury as a result of chemical reactions. dirt and dust slow down the rate of evaporation. When compared with the rate of evaporation of water, the rate of evaporation of mercury is more than 10,000 times less. A ball of mercury weighing 1 g will evaporate for decades.
Dependence of the maximum possible concentration of mercury vapor in the air of the working area on temperature
That is, we conclude that the room temperature, bath area and film on the surface can significantly slow down the evaporation of mercury to a safe level for short-term stay.
The second argument is the veracity of the video. The point is, first of all, the duration of the effect. Mercury accumulates in the body, i.e. A broken thermometer in the bedroom can poison you in vapors for ten years (mercury evaporates extremely slowly, its mass is large, so the proportion of its evaporation in the air is negligible), which will cause you to die. And in 15 minutes, even next to such a bathroom, you won’t gain much.
Interestingly, the density of mercury is 13600 g/dm3. This means that a liter jar of mercury will weigh 13 kg 600 grams. Ten-liter bucket - 136 kg. But this bathtub, next to which the professor is standing, with approximate dimensions rounded by eye - let’s agree 1 meter in height, 1 meter in width and two in length - will weigh approximately 27 tons 400 kg
Here's what people write: Once upon a time, in production, during accidents, people took “showers” made of mercury, but nothing happened. And in pre-war times, they bathed in a mercury fountain in Spain.
There were also dental fillings made of amalgam (where mercury evaporates right in the mouth) and mercury manometers, where ordinary glasses were used and it spilled onto the table in decent puddles with evaporation.
So, as a result of viewing this gif, many people have the following reaction:
... That’s it, I won’t screw up the thermometer anymore and accidentally break it.
But this is not true. Of course, there is no need to panic, but a broken thermometer is quite dangerous. If a mercury thermometer breaks in a room or apartment, then after the impact the mercury breaks into many small drops and spreads throughout the room. At the same time, mercury can easily penetrate into the pile of carpets, into cracks in floors, and into the cracks between the baseboard and the floor. Then mercury, actively evaporating, pollutes and poisons all available air in the room.
If a person breathes this air constantly, over time, mercury begins to accumulate in the body, which in turn leads to chronic mercury intoxication, which can manifest itself as a metallic taste in the mouth, headaches, diarrhea, kidney damage, stomatitis, salivation, anemia, dermatitis, tremors limbs.
Cleaning premises and objects from contamination with metallic mercury and sources of mercury vapor is called demercurization.
1. Before collecting mercury, wear rubber gloves: the substance should not come into contact with bare skin.
2. Contain the location of the accident. Mercury sticks to surfaces and can easily be spread on the soles of the feet to other areas of the room.
3. As carefully as possible, collect the mercury and all broken parts of the thermometer into a glass jar with cold water, close tightly with a screw-on lid. Water is needed to prevent mercury from evaporating. Keep the jar away from heating devices.
4. Small droplets can be collected using a syringe, a rubber bulb, two sheets of paper, an adhesive plaster, tape, or wet newspaper.
5. The bank must transfer it to the specialists of the “01” service.
6. Open the windows and ventilate the room. If there are any fumes left, let them vent out the window.
7. Treat the area of the mercury spill with a solution of bleach or chloramine. This will oxidize the mercury, rendering it non-volatile. If neither one nor the other is found in the house, you can prepare a hot soap-soda solution: 30 grams of soda, 40 grams of grated soap per liter of water.
What is advisable to do
1. Seek help or advice from the Ministry of Emergency Situations on duty (by phone number 01, known since childhood).
2. To avoid missing a single ball of mercury, you can use a flashlight or lamp.
3. Before the opportunity comes to give the bank to a representative of a special structure, you can put it on the balcony. Provided, of course, that it is cooler outside than inside. At low temperatures, the release of toxic fumes is reduced.
4. Drink more diuretic liquid (tea, coffee, juices), since mercury formations are eliminated from the body through the kidneys.
What not to do
1. Do not throw a broken thermometer into the garbage chute. Two grams of mercury evaporated there can pollute six thousand cubic meters of air.
2. You cannot sweep mercury with a broom: hard rods will only crush the poisonous balls into fine mercury dust.
3. Do not collect mercury using a vacuum cleaner: the air blown by the vacuum cleaner facilitates the evaporation of the liquid metal. In addition, the vacuum cleaner will have to be thrown away immediately after this.
4. But under no circumstances should you create a draft before you have collected the mercury, otherwise the shiny balls will scatter throughout the room.
5. Do not wash clothes and shoes that have been in contact with mercury in a washing machine. If possible, it is better to throw away these clothes.
6. Do not flush mercury down the drain. It tends to settle in sewer pipes. By the way, extracting mercury from the sewer is incredibly difficult.
Which of the internet dinosaurs remembers the meme “drown uranium scraps in mercury yourself”? And then I came across this gif.
Agree, it’s scary to watch people doing something so calmly next to the MERCURY bath! Why doesn't anything happen to them? We all know very well how dangerous MERCURY is. Here's what the internet is saying about this gif:
... I think this experimenter has been dead for a long time. Standing near a reservoir of mercury without protective equipment! It would be fine if it were a Soviet person, but Americans are so afraid for their health...
... and an intelligent person will stand above the mercury without respiratory protection and play with marbles...? there's a lot of fumes there... most likely it's gallium... we were deceived again
... Yes, it could be a plastic ball thrown into tap water, the thing is that a cast iron ball thrown into mercury would behave the same way.
... this is a special scientific production: colored water and, for example, a wooden ball
... hurley, we found an old man on the street who was going to die tomorrow anyway, and they offered to star in the program as a mower
... Wow, if I were this dude, I wouldn’t hope to get out of there. It's actually surprising that he even has gloves
... even I don’t understand anyone, sometimes they find a broken thermometer and start squealing all over the media, and then this guy almost goes for a swim
First, here's a full video of what's happening:
Well, secondly, let’s explain...
Of course, metallic mercury can evaporate at temperatures down to -50°C. With increasing temperature, evaporation increases noticeably. At 20°C vapor concentrations can be created that exceed the maximum permissible concentration by 1520 times, at 30°C by 3390 times and at 40°C by 7000 times. But in any case, if the temperature is lowered to a possible level, evaporation will be significantly lower.
And further. The rate of evaporation of mercury, like other liquids, depends on the surface area, i.e. Small beads will evaporate faster. Mercury in a finely dispersed state evaporates especially quickly. The evaporation of mercury in still air due to diffusion occurs much more slowly than in the presence of convective air currents. The evaporation rate at room temperature reaches approximately 10 micrograms per hour per square centimeter of surface. But it could be significantly less. Films formed on the surface of mercury as a result of chemical reactions. dirt and dust slow down the rate of evaporation. When compared with the rate of evaporation of water, the rate of evaporation of mercury is more than 10,000 times less. A ball of mercury weighing 1 g will evaporate for decades.
Dependence of the maximum possible concentration of mercury vapor in the air of the working area on temperature
That is, we conclude that the room temperature, bath area and film on the surface can significantly slow down the evaporation of mercury to a safe level for short-term stay.
The second argument is the veracity of the video. The point is, first of all, the duration of the effect. Mercury accumulates in the body, i.e. A broken thermometer in the bedroom can poison you in vapors for ten years (mercury evaporates extremely slowly, its mass is large, so the proportion of its evaporation in the air is negligible), which will cause you to die. And in 15 minutes, even next to such a bathroom, you won’t gain much.
Interestingly, the density of mercury is 13600 g/dm3. This means that a liter jar of mercury will weigh 13 kg 600 grams. Ten-liter bucket - 136 kg. But this bathtub, near which the professor stands, with approximate dimensions rounded by eye - let’s agree 1 meter in height, 1 meter in width and two in length - will weigh approximately 27 tons 400 kg
Here's what people write: Once upon a time, in production, when there were accidents, they took a “shower” made of mercury, and nothing happened. And in pre-war times, they bathed in a mercury fountain in Spain.
There were also dental fillings made of amalgam (where mercury evaporates right in the mouth) and mercury manometers, where ordinary glasses were used and it spilled onto the table in decent puddles with evaporation.
So, as a result of viewing this gif, many people have the following reaction:
... That’s it, I won’t screw up the thermometer anymore and accidentally break it.
But this is not true. Of course, there is no need to panic, but a broken thermometer is quite dangerous. If a mercury thermometer breaks in a room or apartment, then after the impact the mercury breaks into many small drops and spreads throughout the room. At the same time, mercury can easily penetrate into the pile of carpets, into cracks in floors, and into the cracks between the baseboard and the floor. Then mercury, actively evaporating, pollutes and poisons all available air in the room.
If a person breathes this air constantly, over time, mercury begins to accumulate in the body, which in turn leads to chronic mercury intoxication, which can manifest itself as a metallic taste in the mouth, headaches, diarrhea, kidney damage, stomatitis, salivation, anemia, dermatitis, tremors limbs.
For example, look at how people found mercury in the walls of their apartment during renovation
Cleaning premises and objects from contamination with metallic mercury and sources of mercury vapor is called demercurization.
1. Before collecting mercury, wear rubber gloves: the substance should not come into contact with bare skin.
2. Contain the location of the accident. Mercury sticks to surfaces and can easily be spread on the soles of the feet to other areas of the room.
3. As carefully as possible, collect the mercury and all broken parts of the thermometer into a glass jar with cold water, close tightly with a screw-on lid. Water is needed to prevent mercury from evaporating. Keep the jar away from heating devices.
4. Small droplets can be collected using a syringe, a rubber bulb, two sheets of paper, an adhesive plaster, tape, or wet newspaper.
5. The bank must transfer it to the specialists of the “01” service.
6. Open the windows and ventilate the room. If there are any fumes left, let them vent out the window.
7. Treat the area of the mercury spill with a solution of bleach or chloramine. This will oxidize the mercury, rendering it non-volatile. If neither one nor the other is found in the house, you can prepare a hot soap-soda solution: 30 grams of soda, 40 grams of grated soap per liter of water.
What is advisable to do
1. Seek help or advice from the Ministry of Emergency Situations on duty (by phone number 01, known since childhood).
2. To avoid missing a single ball of mercury, you can use a flashlight or lamp.
3. Before the opportunity comes to give the bank to a representative of a special structure, you can put it on the balcony. Provided, of course, that it is cooler outside than inside. At low temperatures, the release of toxic fumes is reduced.
4. Drink more diuretic liquid (tea, coffee, juices), since mercury formations are eliminated from the body through the kidneys.
What not to do
1. Do not throw a broken thermometer into the garbage chute. Two grams of mercury evaporated there can pollute six thousand cubic meters of air.
2. You cannot sweep mercury with a broom: hard rods will only crush the poisonous balls into fine mercury dust.
3. Do not collect mercury using a vacuum cleaner: the air blown by the vacuum cleaner facilitates the evaporation of the liquid metal. In addition, the vacuum cleaner will have to be thrown away immediately after this.
4. But under no circumstances should you create a draft before you have collected the mercury, otherwise the shiny balls will scatter throughout the room.
5. Do not wash clothes and shoes that have been in contact with mercury in a washing machine. If possible, it is better to throw away these clothes.
6. Do not flush mercury down the drain. It tends to settle in sewer pipes. By the way, extracting mercury from the sewer is incredibly difficult.
And of course, how would it be without this, without uranium scrap:
ya_frosia: A bunch of crowbars, as a rule, sinks.
alexei: ya_frosia: But it floats beautifully in mercury.
zoogenic: alexei: But if the crowbars are uranium, then they will also sink in mercury.
alexei: zoogenic: drown uranium scraps in mercury yourself.
And here is a test to see if uranium scrap will sink in MERCURY!