I got exposed to toxic material of a thermometer... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: fiwi
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 03:55:32 pm
content: Hello guys.Today I worked on a desk for about an hour, but later I was told a low-temperature thermometer was broken on that desk earlier and have not been fully cleaned...So I was exposed to the mercury-thallium alloy and... What should I do?I don't think the food or drink I took was polluted, but those thing can still harm me by skin or even air, right? How serious damage could made to me?Thank you all.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 04:03:18 pm
content: I would look for immediate guidance from a specialist. I.e. someone in the medical profession.Not from electrical engineers.We may have some experience, but I would not trust my health to advice received from an EE forum.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 04:03:52 pm
content: I would not worry too much about it. If you did not see the contamination it is not likely enough to harm you, especially with just one small exposure. Just do sensible things like washing your hands thoroughly and do not put your hands in your mouth.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 04:27:36 pm
content: Quoteget on the phone to you lawyer and instruct them to sue everybody involved,from the cleaner to senior management,after all thats the american way.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 04:41:41 pm
content: Step 1, chill out.People swallowed mercury and survived. They put it in their veins with a needle and it was fine. It doesn't go through your skin. To inhale fatal dosages, you need to work in an enclosed environment, where they have massive amount of mercury around."What if I break a thermometer or light bulb?If you break a mercury thermometer or light bulb, a small amount of liquid mercury may spill out. Liquid mercury can separate into small beads, which can roll some distance away. The mercury may also evaporate into vapour.However, this small amount of mercury is extremely unlikely to cause problems for your health."

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 04:43:51 pm
content: No significant harm. Just clean everything so there is no mercury left and ventilate room well.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 05:00:11 pm
content: To those above thinking about mercury, remember that thallium was also involved, which is a poison. Even so, there is no cause for alarm from just being close to invisible amounts of it.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 05:02:21 pm
content: Evacuate the building and call hazmat so everyone freaks out over a tiny drop from the broken thermometer, cause that's what schools do.*sarcasm self test passed*If you had dropped an arc rectifier like <<< then it would be a different story, as there have been stories of it permanantly staining concrete floors and everything else.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 05:21:37 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on September 12, 2019, 05:00:11 pmShould cause no harm unless ingested.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 05:24:50 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on September 12, 2019, 05:02:21 pmWhen I was at school we were chasing the silver balls around the desk with our fingers for days after the mercury experiments.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 06:10:45 pm
content: Are you SURE that it even had mercury in the thermometer? I hadn't seen it used in one for DECADES. I've also never heard of one that had thallium in it.Thallium is extremely poisonous but if you ingested any then you be dead already. Most of the people on this list have probably played with metallic mercury. It's just not that dangerous in the metallic form. OTOH organic mercury compounds are very toxic.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 06:17:41 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on September 12, 2019, 04:27:36 pmAlso start a White House petition to ban thermometers. All of them, just in case.

author: Tom45
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 07:16:28 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on September 12, 2019, 05:24:50 pmSame here. I had a bottle of mercury that I played with.If it is going to kill me it had better hurry up. I'm in my mid 70s so the odds are that something else will get me first.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 07:28:24 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on September 12, 2019, 05:00:11 pmNow that you mention, the guy is dead, for sure.Or at least he should be freaking out running for the USA healthcare, getting a 30000 USD bill for a checkup from your GP.^^^That is not serious, for people with broken sarcasm-o-meter.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 07:29:12 pm
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on September 12, 2019, 06:10:45 pmYou won't. It's not like you die from thallium instantly, it's slow acting.QuoteIt's only needed in low temperature thermometers.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 07:30:19 pm
content: I played with mercury many times when I was younger. You don't want to eat the stuff but don't fall for the hype and hysteria either. Just wipe it up and forget about it.I've heard you can sprinkle powdered sulfur on mercury and it will combine into something that is easier to clean so if it was spilled on something like carpet you could try that.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 07:51:27 pm
content: The mercury-thallium seems to be used to make thermometers that don't freeze down to -60 or even -200 C, I haven't seen anything on how toxic, or not the mix of the two is.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallium.it is used in trace amounts in selenium rectifiersDo they give out red smoke, I used to blow them up just to see it.Thallium poisoning usually results in hair loss.Yep.For more information regarding mercury please call the Toxics and Health Hotline at the Michigan Department of Community Health 1-800-648-6942https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch_MercurySpillFactsheet_85689_7.pdf

author: SparkyFX
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 07:52:57 pm
content: Mercury in liquid form is not a big problem, it hardly reacts with anything, you do not want to inhale the gasses. Small amounts will evaporate over time if you leave the liquid in the room and never open the windows. So with kids around or on daily exposure it would be a big No-No.Having sat at a desk for a day... i guess someone tried scaring off the new guy?But if you are seriously concerned, go to a doctor and have the blood levels of heavy metals checked.Should you just be curious about how dangerous it is (not), check outCody´s Lab on youtube, he has got a whole series about what things to do or better not to do with mercury.

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 06:56:17 am
content: There are plenty of YT videos that show how dangerousmercury vaporis for the cells in our bodies and especially the brain.But, don't worry about touching liquid mercury.As a kid, long before I knew about its dangerous properties, I played with liquid mercury for days and weeks and tried to suck it as high as possible in a straw and sometimes ended up having it in my mouth.No worries!

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 09:28:53 am
content: It has been demonstrated that Silver-Mercury amalgam tooth fillings give off Mercury vapour every time you rub them, even many years after they were inserted.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 05:36:12 pm
content: Just remember,"that which does not kill us makes us stronger".Friedrich NietzscheLet us know if you develop superhero powers though

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 07:38:02 pm
content: You're probably fine but I would seek medical attention just to be safe. Basically if it's regular mercury you're fine, but if it's organic mercury that stuff is very dangerous if it touches your skin. If you have part of the thermometer and some of the mercury I would keep some in a vial to bring it for testing so they can see what type it is. I don't think any thermometers would use organic mercury though.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 08:23:27 pm
content: I'm pretty sure thermimitors don't have organic mercury. The only time you get that from a thermometer is if it had being broken for awhile and was left in an acidic environment for long enough for it to form toxic salts, which clearly isn't the case here.My main concern would be the thallium, rather than the mercury, because I know nothing about it and would go to a doctor as a precaution.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 08:27:16 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on September 12, 2019, 07:51:27 pmI just self diagnosed myself with acute early stage thallium poisoning.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 08:32:00 pm
content: As a guy with long hair I'll definitely stay away from that stuff then. I already lose enough hair as is in the shower.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2019, 01:07:58 pm
content: When my 1st child was about 2 or 3, (30 years ago), he bit and broke a glass thermometer thata doctor had given him. The doctor said... "Don't worry, it's a safe type of Mercury!!".I know now that is CRAP!! We don't know how much he ingested, but I would hope that mostof it would pass through, unlike deadly heated vapours !!!

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2019, 03:47:47 pm
content: Quote from: GlennSprigg on September 15, 2019, 01:07:58 pmWhat the fuck was the doctor thinking, putting a glass thermometer in a small child's mouth? They should have put it up his arse: much safer!My concern would be him breathing in the mercury vapour released from his stomach, when he burped.

author: babysitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2019, 05:42:48 pm
content: During my check-up I asked my doctor, "Do you think I'll live a long and healthy live?"He replied, "I doubt it. Mercury is in Uranus right now"I said, "I don't believe in any of that astrology bullshit doc""Neither do I. My thermometer just broke"

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 04:53:43 am
content: first thing you need to do is panic so you rake up useless medical bills.because I am like gonna guarantee you, the guys assembling it are not as careful as you think. But it is wise to do proper disposal and shit if you are at work because its some crazy lawyer shit that can get activated.Consider old time miners. It took a while of really really unsafe and crazy procedures before they started getting ill. Like burning rocks for days.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 05:08:32 am
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on September 12, 2019, 06:10:45 pmyup.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 05:12:21 am
content: Quote from: Gyro on September 13, 2019, 09:28:53 amNot another thing I'm not allowed to rub! Will this one make me blind too?

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 05:22:29 am
content: Well, it's nearly 4 years on ... and the Op hasn't posted since. Do we assume the worst?I'd say not.

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 08:48:43 am
content: In my childhood and teenage years I played with mercury. I do not recall ever swallowing any. I am now 79 years old and still kicking. I am not a medical expert, but that should tell you something.And not just about mercury.I wonder whatever became of that bottle of mercury that I had collected. I think I may have donated it to a lab somewhere.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 09:47:54 am
content: Any accident is anecdotal. I wouldn't count on it.I will just leave this one here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn

author: Calambres
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 11:53:31 am
content: Quote from: HighVoltage on September 13, 2019, 06:56:17 amDitto! no problems so far in my nearly 64 years of life in this planet.now... wait!... this may be the reason why I'm so...Whatever!Now seriously, mercury ended up in my mouth several times in my childhood. Not something I'm particularly proud of but also not something I worry about much!

author: gnif
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 09:36:14 pm
content: When I was about 6 I found in my dad's electronics junk a mercury switch that had an extra "terminal", it was actually a metal stem used to fill the vile which was crushed after filling. Being the curious type of child decided to bend this till it tore open to see why it had this curious extra stem, and on doing so the mercury in the switch spayed into my eyes. My parents took me to the hospital and they couldn't remove the tiny beads of mercury floating around and basically sent me home saying there was nothing they could do.30+ years later, I am still here, no known ill effects, it's still a concern in the back of my mind but as it was the metal form of mercury and based on what I understand of it today, I am quite doubtful I was poisoned by it in any significant way.

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 09:38:32 pm
content: In my childhood I had access to lots of old mercury switches, that is how I got a hold of this amazing liquid metal.These switches were made of glass, and some really good switches were under vacuum. I know this, because these were not easy to break and with enough mechanical force, some of them imploded, like a TV tube. Over the years I must have collected about 1 liter bottle full of mercury and it was so much fun to play with. Sometimes it ran down the kitchen table and splashed all over the floor in tiny pieces.These days its probably not so easy to get a hold of mercury.Who knows, maybe special permits are needed to buy it.Dimethylmercury ((CH3)2Hg) is a different story, this is pure poison and you want to keep your hands away.I am still flabbergasted, that some dentists are still using mercury fillings for teeth.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2023, 11:48:53 pm
content: Quote from: HighVoltage on August 22, 2023, 09:38:32 pmhttps://www.newark.com/durakool/4539/tilt-switch/dp/82H9622

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 01:10:28 am
content: There was an old neon sign shop in the town that I lived in as a kid. We used to go in there and they would let us collect mercury that had spilled on the floor. We would take bits of papers and push the drops around to form bigger drops and then carefully scoop them them up. The floors and all of the work benches in the place we allcoveredin tiny drops of mercury. The same shop had a big pile of old used Neon sign transformers outside that they had taken out of service and they told us to take any of them that we wanted. I still have a couple of the bigger transformers (27mA @15,000 V IIRC) and some of the mercury that I collected there.

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 09:28:33 am
content: Quote from: gnif on August 22, 2023, 09:36:14 pmWhat a cool story!Your parents really must have been scared.Would be interesting, if you ever need an MRI and the tiny beads would still show up.

author: Veteran68
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 03:22:14 pm
content: Quote from: HighVoltage on August 23, 2023, 09:28:33 amI just cringed when I thought about how magnetic mercury might be (fortunately, not very, at room temp).

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 03:56:25 pm
content: Like most normal metals, mercury is slightly diamagnetic (negative permeability) at room temperature.However, non-magnetic conductors do show up on MRI scans since they "mess up" the local RF field, along with the small diamagnetic effect on the magnetic field.Many metal surgical implants are now made from titanium to avoid injury from the strong magnetic field in MRI, and because titanium works well with bonesin situ.

author: Veteran68
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 05:39:58 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on August 23, 2023, 03:56:25 pmI'm crossing my fingers that holds true in case I ever need an MRI, considering I have three titanium plates and 36 titanium screws holding my sternum together.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 07:06:06 pm
content: I worked for a while in MRI when the procedure was quite new.We heard horror stories about older surgical implants made from ferromagnetic material, done before MRI was available.The worst one I remember was an "aneurysm clip", a kind of spring clip to clamp a failed blood vessel to keep it from bleeding.The torque applied to the long clip in the static field pulled it away from the blood vessel, killing the patient.Another contraindication for MRI is an implanted cardiac pacemaker: some new ones can work (be very careful), but at that earlier time they contained a magnetic switch so that the physician could switch from synchronized to clock timing with a reasonable external permanent magnet for diagnostic purposes.Also, the pulsed gradient and RF fields really screwed up the pulsing, leading to far too high pulse frequency.One simple experiment put a normal pacemaker in a beaker of saline solution, inserted it into the scanner on the patient couch, and saw it run away at very high pulse rate."Nonmagnetic" stainless steels are not quite: titanium is very nonmagnetic (slightly diamagnetic).

author: Veteran68
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 07:55:13 pm
content: I still set off metal detectors! LOL

author: KaneTW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 07:56:39 pm
content: 1. Was it a workplace accident? If yes, go see a doctor regardless of anything if you believe you have been exposed.2. Thallium is quite toxic, and absorbs via any route (skin, ingestion, inhalation). But unless you were touching a spill directly it's unlikely that a significant exposure occurred. For reference, airborne concentrations of 15mg/m3 are acutely dangerous.3. If you're worried, see a doctor and don't ask on a forum.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 08:14:08 pm
content: Quote from: Veteran68 on August 23, 2023, 07:55:13 pmThe threshold level for detecting non-magnetic metal is less than the hardware you contain: consider the weapons you could fabricate from less material.This is a frequent problem at TSA airport security gates with orthopedic implants, but not the much lighter dental implants, and they have procedures for that.An analogous problem is the (short-lived) radiation from certain medical procedures that follow radioactive tracers through the body.While it lasts, the radiation level just outside the body is above the threshold for radiation portal detectors.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 08:49:53 pm
content: It's not just magnetism which is the hazard of MRI. The RF can induce currents which result in heating. It depends on the impedance of the metal. If it's very low, it'll just reflect, whist if it's a bit higher, it'll heat up.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 09:02:12 pm
content: Quote from: Veteran68 on August 23, 2023, 05:39:58 pmYep, the ones in my skull are fine in the MRI scanner.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 09:32:39 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on August 23, 2023, 08:49:53 pmYes, induced RF currents are hazardous.It depends strongly on the geometry of the implanted metal.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 09:36:03 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on August 23, 2023, 08:49:53 pmYep. The induced currents may also destroy the device or harm you if said device is an active one (even though most manufacturers of active implantable devices now make sure to have at least some MRI compatibility.) In any case, always make sure to mention any implantable device you may have before having an MRI, however small it is and active or not. Or it could end up pretty badly.

author: WatchfulEye
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 10:31:54 pm
content: In addition to the risk active device malfunction/destruction, active devices have a particular issue which is that they tend to use insulated wires. This geometry is particularly bad for heating. The insulation means that currents can't leak into tissue and can be concentrated at the ends, leading to high current densities around electrodes.This gets even worse if the orientation of the wires is parallel to the static magnetic field (typically head-foot orientation), and can get dramatically worse if you hit a length which acts like a resonant monopole antenna (roughly 25 cm for a typical MRI scanner operating at 64 MHz/1.5T).The development of techniques for qualifiying devices for MRI compatability has progressed greatly over recent years. As a result modern devices tend to have much better compatability and much clearer instructions than older ones.

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2023, 01:52:07 pm
content: Mercury in the eueballs has quite a history to it, doctors used to use it as the standard procedure for getting metal dust/shavings out of eyes. They'd dribble in some Mercury and let it "dissolve"* the other metal particulates. I guess they assumed the Mercury would somehow leak away over time.*somehow Mercury and Gallium, the room temperature liquid metals, attack any other metal in such a way as to weaken the structure and make it fall apart in to a sludgy mix. Mercury is famed for attacking aluminium, but it and Galllium have similar effects on steel and other metals too.P.S. great joke about that doctor's thermometer and his lack of astrological bullsh*t

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2023, 09:27:18 pm
content: Quote from: Infraviolet on August 24, 2023, 01:52:07 pmDamn you angle grinders! My eyes are way out of balance on my metal dust to mercury ratio..."... she swallowed the spider to catch the fly ... "