Just how toxic is mercury?

[Sashamx]

If I sat in this bath up to my neck how long before death or illness?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm5D47nG9k4

[Sashamx]

I heard something about the fumes but this guy seems to be ok or is it only when mercury is heated it gives off the toxic fumes so saying that would the body's temperature if I was sitting in the bath be warm enough to start the mercury off? Is the mercury cold enough to kill you that way?

[ludwig]

I bet you'd struggle to sit up to your neck in it - you'd float around on the top more likely.

Sorry, don't know the actual answer to your question.

[Sashamx]

Thanks ludwig I see what you mean if you were spread eagled but if you just hunched down surely we'd float?

[mjd]

You couldn't do it. The density of mercury is 13.534g/ml or 13.534kg per litre. So a 65kg (10 stone) person would only need to displace about 5 litres of mercury before being supported & if they were vertical I imagine that you would probably sink to knee level.

[jake-the-peg]

Nope I'd be impressed if you could get waist deep.

Mercury is 13.5 times denser than water - If you weigh say 50Kg and are about the density of water you'll only get a volume of about 4 litres of you under before you float.

Exposure to liquid mercury is not that toxic but fumes are. People used to drink liquid mercury as a purgative.

Of course you'd have to be rich to fill a bath with Mercury too - a 34Kg flask of mercury is $500-$600 that's about 3 litres.

Have another look at the video and think how much that bath is worth

[theprof]

You may also find parts of the following thread interesting:

http://www.theanswerb...e/Question917607.html

While acute exposure to elemental mercury vapour occurs most commonly in the occupational setting, poisonings caused by mishandling of the metal in the home are well reported. There are recorded instances of home experiments involving metallic mercury resulting in fatalities with ambient air concentrations of mercury at 0.9 mg/m3. In the USA, NIOSH recommends a 8 hour time-weighted average exposure of no greater than 0.05 mg/m3 for mercury vapour. The lethal dose of inhaled elemental mercury has not been determined.

It is true that ingestion of elemental mercury in humans is generally without ill effect. While mercury is minutely soluble in water – around 0.28 mmoles per litre at 25 degrees C – mercury is very insoluble in dilute hydrochloric acid solutions, which is essentially the environment in the stomach. In the body, mercuric ions are excreted through the kidney by both glomerular filtration and tubular secretion and in the GI tract by transfer across gut mesenteric vessels into faeces. Small amounts are reduced to elemental mercury vapour and volatilised from skin and lungs. The total-body half-life of elemental mercury and inorganic mercury salts is estimated at approximately 30–60 days. The lethal blood level of inorganic mercury in humans is between 0.4 – 22 mg/ml.

It may be of interest to list the symptoms of short term exposure to elemental mercury at given levels. As far as inhalation is concerned, exposure to levels below 1 mg/m3 has been shown to produce nonspecific symptoms such as shyness, insomnia, anxiety and loss of appetite. At higher levels (1 – 3 mg/m3 for 2 – 5 hours) may cause headache, sali

[theprof]

(continued)

salivation, metallic taste, chills, cough, fever, tremors, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, tightness in the chest, difficult breathing, fatigue, lung irritation and possible lung tissue damage. Symptoms may begin several hours after exposure and may last a week. Large doses may result in flu-like symptoms, which, in severe cases, may result in death due to pneumonia. Mercury can be absorbed through the skin resulting in similar symptoms to inhalation.

[theprof]

Incidentally, I know exactly where that tank of mercury is located as I've been in that basement lab myself. It's still there to this day

[Theland1]

If you were sitting in a bath of mercury, then before you came to any harm, the phone would ring .........