As we know, mercury is poisonous and it can damage the human nervous system and brain. I want to clean the surface of the floor where mercury has spilled, without using sulphur and wet towel.
Regarding the toxicity of metal Hg, I agree with the position of Zbigniew Zawada and with the suggestions for removing it. Those by B. Zhuikov and Alan Dyer , are also very effective
Steps for Cleaning Up a Small Mercury Spill
1. Prior to cleanup, remove metal items like jewelry and watches since they can be permanently damaged by mercury. Put on old clothes, old shoes and latex or vinyl gloves. Put a clean change of clothes and shoes along with a clean trash bag in a safe place outside the contaminated area. You will change out of your old clothes and shoes and put them in the trash bag at the end of the cleanup.
2. Identify items in the spill area that can be cleaned and those that cannot. Non-porous surfaces (finished wood, plastic or concrete) can be cleaned following this guidance. Porous surfaces or fabric-covered items (upholstery, carpeting, stuffed animals, pillows, backpacks, unfinished wood, cork, cardboard) are difficult to clean because mercury beads may be trapped in these materials. If you decide you cannot clean these items, place them in plastic trash bags or cover or wrap them in a double layer of plastic and carefully seal with tape. Place the wrapped items in a secure place, preferably outdoors and out of the reach of children and pets. You should consult with a trained professional about how to decontaminate or dispose of these items safely.
3. Wear gloves to carefully pick up the larger pieces of broken glass and what remains of the broken device and place them on a paper towel. Gently fold the paper towel around these pieces so you can pick the bundle up and place it in a zipper-type plastic bag. Use index cards or stiff cardboard to push smaller pieces of glass and mercury beads together into a pile. Shine a flashlight at an angle to locate beads of mercury. The beads will reflect light from the flashlight. Check for mercury in cracks or in hard-to-reach areas where beads may be hidden or trapped. Check a wide area beyond the spill.
4. Use the eyedropper to collect mercury beads and place them in the plastic bag. Hold the eyedropper at an angle to draw the mercury into the tip. Keep the eyedropper at an angle to stop the mercury from rolling back out until you can put the mercury into the plastic bag. Wrap tape (sticky side out) around your gloved fingers and carefully use it to pick up any remaining glass or beads. Check again with the flashlight to be sure that no beads of mercury remain.
5. At this point, mercury beads may still be trapped in cracks or crevices on irregular surfaces. Sprinkle sulfur powder over the contaminated area and rub it gently all over the surface and into the cracks with a paper towel. Sulfur powder binds with mercury. Use a paper towel dampened with water followed by wiping with another damp paper towel to clean up the sulfur and mercury. Place the used paper towels in a zipper-type plastic bag.
6. Put all the items that were used to pick up the mercury, including index cards or cardboard, eyedropper, contaminated tape, paper towels, and zipper-type bags into the trash bag. Carefully remove rubber gloves by grabbing them at the wrist and pulling them inside out as they come off. Place the used gloves in the trash bag.
Carefully seal the trash bag that contains the mercury contaminated waste and put it in a secure place, preferable outdoors and out of reach of children and pets until it can be disposed of safely.
7. If possible, open a window and use a fan to ventilate the area to the outdoors for 24-48 hours before resuming normal use. If possible, heat the area (for example, with a space heater) while still ventilating to the outdoors. Avoid blowing the exhaust back indoors or into other nearby residences.
8. Clothes or shoes that did not come in direct contact with liquid mercury should be removed and put into the trash bag that was left outside the contaminated area at the beginning of the cleanup. Close the trash bag and take it outdoors. Carefully remove the shoes and or clothing from the trash bag and air them out thoroughly outdoors for 24 to 48 hours. After the outdoor airing, items that are washable can then be laundered.
- Source Health.gy.gov
The best method is a wipe with solution iron chloride (III) - FeCl3. drops of Hg adhere well to this material and partly transferred from matallic state to chloride. I used this many times.
you could freeze the Hg by liquid nitrogen and remove it .. I would like to say it's the most safe way ....
First of all METALLIC MERCURY IS almost NOT TOXIC! Only soluble salts of mercury and organomercuric compounds are highly toxic.
Metallic mercury if swallowed is a very strong laxative(reported cases). If you drink huge amount of it, it could possibly damage your guts mechanically - your guts are not designed for density 13.5 g/mL.
Amalgams are used as a fillings in dentistry from 19th century. And human population still didn't disappear. They even found that people with amalgam fillings excretes 0.1 mg of Hg in their faces.
http://www.google.cz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fiaomt.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FIAOMT-Fact-Sheet.pdf&ei=BIJGU56TE6S44wTFvIDoAg&usg=AFQjCNHjW9yNglu7oU9Wn-yEmb44pNSKug&sig2=IATCv3f7GIA9w9A8fISjjg
The case of nurse who wanted to commit a suicide by intravenous injection of metallic mercury finished "comically" - the mercury collected at the bottom of heart. The lady neither die nor manifest any intoxication symptoms.
Only chronic inhalation of metallic Hg is considered to be toxic. However, I know personally a few polarographists, who have mercury everywhere in the lab (table, floor, bakers...) - already for a few decades. The oldest of them is on the bad side of sixty, there is a double mother and a few other people. Some of them I knew before they started to work in the lab (13 years ago) - even though they have been working in the lab for more then 10 years I can't realize any changes (neither they can).
At 25 °C and 1 atm the saturated partial pressure of Hg vapor is 0.36 Pa; at 77 °C it is 10 Pa. Boiling point 357 °C. Does it mean volatile? Had anyone from those who say that Hg is volatile distill anything at least once?
A few years ago a mass-media myth about the amount of iron in spinach was smashed. Someone try to repeat the experiments and found that the original data were incorrect - mistake in the position of the decimal point :-) I believe that if someone reanalyze all available data the Hg-myth will vanish as well.
So to all those who are afraid of metallic Hg: clean it but you don't need to have a mercury-phobia. Some precautions described above are good for some extremely toxic materials, i.e. it's not necessary for metallic Hg.
BTW, do you have some teeth fillings? What is the material of the filling?
Zn wire or plate works excellent - just make it as wide as possible, activate it by HCl for a few seconds, rinse briefly with water. You can use it already - touch the Hg by the wire and Hg will disappear. If you're not afraid of Hg, you can firstly put the activated Zn into Hg - it will form amalgam which is more active than the Zn itself, however this is not necessary. Powder sulfur works well too.
It's sad that even scientists are prone to spread mass-media myths.
Just for fun - how some people are dealing with Hg:
https://www.ec.gc.ca/mercure-mercury/D2B2AD47-BCFF-44C0-A879-4ED14EE6A1F3/mercury_vacuum.jpg
Good luck and don't be afraid - you can sleep peacefully.
Regarding the toxicity of metal Hg, I agree with the position of Zbigniew Zawada and with the suggestions for removing it. Those by B. Zhuikov and Alan Dyer , are also very effective
I used a water vacuum pump with a flask trap to aspirate the large drops and then I spilled sulfur on the floor to destroy the remaining Hg.
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