Posts Tagged ‘mercury poisoning’
The First Step in Dealing With Mercury Poisoning
Mercury is uniquely both a heavy metal and a liquid at room temperature. Only three other elements are liquids at room temperature. Its atomic number is 80. Other metals near it on the Periodic Chart include silver, gold, cadmium, and lead. Gold is the only one of these that is more dense. Being both a metal and liquid had made it both useful and harmful. The usefulness has been known for centuries. The harm we are only beginning to learn.
Mercury was known in ancient China and India and was found in Egyptian tombs placed there 3500 years ago. Mercury metal comes from cinnabar, or mercury sulfide. Most of the world’s supply comes from California, Texas, Spain, and Italy. It has been used for years in sphygmomanometers, thermometers, and barometers because the column of liquid can be 13 times shorter than if it were water. The problem is that mercury, mercury vapor, and all soluble salts of mercury are extremely poisonous.
