How to deal with broken thermometer

When using a mercury thermometer to measure body temperature, if you accidentally break the thermometer, the mercury in it flows out how to do, how to deal with the broken thermometer?

Stay calm do not panic

The mercury in the thermometer is a toxic liquid metal, and excessive contact with it can easily cause mercury poisoning, but the mercury content in the thermometer is small, and generally does not cause obvious symptoms of poisoning, so do not be overly alarmed after the thermometer is broken, and carefully follow the steps below to deal with it.

Step 1: Ventilate the room

Mercury is kept in a liquid state at room temperature and evaporates easily at room temperature, so the doors and windows need to be opened in time after the mercury in the thermometer is missing to avoid the mercury in the air from spreading in the room for a long time and being inhaled by the body and causing the accumulation of mercury in the body.

Step 2: Do self-protection

The mercury in the thermometer fell in the ground due to its liquid physical properties and volatile, so before handling must do a good job of self-protection, can wear a good mask to avoid inhaling the evaporated mercury; in the collection of the mercury left behind, you need to wear good gloves, not directly with the hands to collect.

Step 3: Collect the leftover mercury

Mercury on the ground will form smooth droplets, it is difficult to collect them, can be used to wet a small cotton swab or tape will be gently sticky mercury on the ground, and then put into a closed container, and to mark the outside of the container "waste mercury". Finally properly handed over to the local environmental protection department for special treatment, do not pour the collected mercury into the sewer, so as not to cause pollution elsewhere.

Step 4: Sprinkle some sulfur powder

For the mercury falling on the ground can not be completely collected, you can sprinkle some sulfur powder on the ground, sulfur powder can be chemically reacted with mercury, resulting in difficult to volatilize mercury sulfide compounds, can be effectively placed in these can not collect the mercury continue to volatilize, to avoid the continued volatilization of mercury in the air.

Step 5: Wounds need medical attention after contact

If the skin is intact accidentally contacted a small amount of mercury, the application of paper towels in time to wipe clean, and then rinse with plenty of water. If the thermometer is broken, there is a wound in contact with mercury, should be promptly to the hospital for examination to avoid poisoning events.

Step 6: Handling glass fragments

Mercury thermometers are generally made of glass, after breaking not only to deal with the hazards posed by mercury, broken glass should also be handled in a timely manner, especially families with small children, should carefully check whether the ground glass fragments have been cleaned up to avoid causing scratches afterwards, it is best to use a vacuum cleaner to clean the nearby area.

Handling of accidental ingestion of mercury

If the mercury in the thermometer is accidentally ingested should promptly rinse the mouth with cold water, and then take egg whites or stored milk, so that the affinity of these proteins with mercury to ease the absorption of mercury in the body, and then go to the hospital for further treatment.