Sciencemadness Discussion Board - mercury sources ??

mercury sources ??

chemchem - 10-4-2005 at 06:38

anyone have any ideas on sources of elemental mercury?? i know its a toxic substance and its use is limited but is it still used in industry ??

Ashendale - 10-4-2005 at 06:53

In nature mercury is quite rare, altough is gets into air from volcanoes. Indissoluble mercury compounds (like HgS) was believed to be untoxic to living things, but in contaminated environment they change to even more deadlier compounds

Mercury is used in metal and chemical industry, electrical components (switches), pharmacy, medicine (thermometers, barometers), in dental treatment, colours.

Hope that helps abit

[Edited on 10-4-2005 by Ashendale]

mick - 10-4-2005 at 12:22

You should still be able to find mercury in a thermometer or an old tilt switches for lighting up the boot and bonnet of 60/70s cars. Found one of the tilt switches last year and the mercury is very clean and well sealed. If you find an old mercury vacuum gauge and the mercury sticks to the glass you might be able to clean it up with conc nitric followed by a lot of washing.

mick

garage chemist - 10-4-2005 at 12:25

Quote:

Originally posted by mick
If you find an old mercury vacuum gauge and the mercury sticks to the glass you might be able to clean it up with conc nitric followed by a lot of washing.

mick

Don't do that, it will dissolve the mercury! The nitric acid must be very dilute here (around 8%).
A better method to clean mercury from its oxide layer is to let it drip through a filter whose tip has been punctured with a needle. The oxide will remain on the paper and the mercury will be shiny afterwards.

mick - 10-4-2005 at 13:02

Sorry about that.
Lack of details.
Most of the rubbish is removed by filtration through pin holes.
The final cleaning of the mercury was with nitric acid. I think it was with a quick wash of nitric, neutralise, water and the mercury was dried with filter paper. I cleaned the glassware with conc nitric and put the two together and the Edwards vac gauge gave a sensible reading with the specifided 92g of mercury.

mick

The above could be wrong because it came from memory and I can not find the original notes. I sorted the stuff out some how but with out the original bits of paper I can not be confident.

mick

[Edited on 11-4-2005 by mick]

mick - 13-4-2005 at 11:58

garage chemist
You were right, I found the original ref.
It gives bubbling air through the mercury to oxidise any rubbish, filtration and nitric acid wash. I did the filtration and a good wash and shake with 10% nitric.
sorry
mick

Twospoons - 13-4-2005 at 13:42

Mercury tilt, float and vibration switches are still for sale through electronics component distributors like Farnell. So theres no need to rely on scavenging in scrap yards.

BromicAcid - 13-4-2005 at 17:17

Go straight for the gold, don't fiddle with little switches. Buy a mercury filled plumb bob from ebay or some other place. I bought one and got enough mercury for all my experiments probably for life. Nearly 300 g in one fell swoop for $8

aikon - 13-4-2005 at 21:39

Quote:

Originally posted by BromicAcid
...Buy a mercury filled plumb bob...

What is a plumb bob?

Esplosivo - 13-4-2005 at 21:56

Use google... An example of a common plumb bob sometimes also called a plumb line. It is used to establish what is vertical, I don't think it requires any more explanation. Play safe with Hg, take the necessary precaution guys.

[Edited on 14-4-2005 by Esplosivo]

jimwig - 23-4-2005 at 16:13

i always check out wall thermostats for the leveling vials of mercury - used a switches.

I have accumulated quiet a bit from various small sources of discarded mercury.

Once bought an entire flask at a yard sale.

Fancy that.

Blackout - 8-5-2005 at 04:38

I've foud a 1% mercurochrome (C20H8Br2HgNa2O6) solution at the grocery store. So, if I place a zinc plate in the solution, I belive that just a simple replacement will occur. The zinc plate will be covered of mercury.

BromicAcid - 8-5-2005 at 05:42

I think the mercury is somewhat tied up in the molecule, you would have to destroy it before being able to extract the mercury, ashing followed by boiling in HNO3 probably.

Just doing a quick google search it looks like it was banned in the United States although I could have swore I saw it recently, though it looks like there is an effort to bring it back.

unionised - 8-5-2005 at 11:18

I presume you mean wet ashing, roasting the stuff would reduce the mercury to the metal and boil it off.

BTW, don't forget that 1% dye is rather less than 1% mercury (about .26% I think). I doubt this is a very cheap supply.

mercury sources

dogboy - 23-10-2005 at 22:13

One might try these as sources for mercury 1) http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/bnsdocs/hgsbook/auto.pdf
2) www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/hw/factsheets/MercurySwitchFactsheet.pdf
3) http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~epados/health/mercury/device_m.htm

Fleaker - 3-11-2005 at 14:54

I suggest you try someone who deals in furnace repair. They often repair and replace obsolete thermostats which each have about 10g of mercury in them. I actually know a repairman who's saved up a couple dozen (that I'll hopefully relieve him of

). I'd have to skim off the glass and dust floating on top, but otherwise, clean mercury. Just my anecdote

prole - 3-11-2005 at 15:39

Jeez, is mercury watched now, too? I had no idea. I bought mine from a scientific supply house recently for my manometer. Or are you guys just enjoying the thrill of scavenging? I suppose the hazmat fees can sting you, but add other chems to justify the expense. The folks I deal with cater to the hobbyist and have lots of neat things in their catalogue. If you want to know who I deal with I'll gladly either list here in another post if no objections or in a U2U.

If one has nothing to hide, one should not live in fear.

Fleaker - 3-11-2005 at 16:00

Well post up their contact information then! I'd be glad to deal with a company that looks kindly on hobby chemistry.

The_Davster - 3-11-2005 at 16:40

I know of only one company friendly to amateurs, but they do not carry chemicals to my knowledge. Feel free to post it or PM it to those interested. (such as me)

prole - 4-11-2005 at 07:22

http://www.elementalscientific.net/downloadcat.html

I've been dealing with them for over ten years, even back when they were Hagenow Labs. They are friendly, sell chemicals and glass, and will special order just about anything.

It appears there is no hazmat fee for mercury in their catalogue

Never had any problems with them at all. For example: I special ordered a Bennert manometer (lots of delicate glass), and the shipping company destroyed it. It was a $350 piece of equipment, and Elemental replaced it free of charge. If their prices seem high, the quality of their service justifies any seemingly high expense, IMHO.

[Edited on 11/4/2005 by prole]

[Edited on 11/4/2005 by prole]

The_Davster - 4-11-2005 at 18:32

Heh....turns out I have used them as well.

I like the ammounts they sell in.

EDIT: One problem with them I had was I got a bomex 100mL beaker, not pyrex which I ordered, but since all the other glass I got was fine I did not really mind.

[Edited on 5-11-2005 by rogue chemist]

Rosco Bodine - 5-11-2005 at 06:16

Scrap metal yards keep the mercury which
they accumulate as salvage from various switches and relays and other junk . They tend to save it until they have a substantial amount , because there is probably a hundredweight minimum freight or some similar unit that it is commonly exchanged and price quoted in commerce , like the " international flask " which IIRC is 78 pounds . But you can buy scrap mercury at scrap price just like scrap metals of other sorts , and then you can filter it and wash it with muriatic acid to remove many impurities . To get it absolutely pure would probably require distillation , or chemical purification can be done by conversion to the nitrate , heating to oxide , dissolving in HCl , and back to elemental mercury again by amalgamation of pure electrical conductor grade aluminum in dilure HCl .
After all the aluminum is dissolved , pure mercury is left as the residue .

quicksilver - 5-11-2005 at 06:41

Quote:

Originally posted by Rosco Bodine
Scrap metal yards keep the mercury which
they accumulate as salvage from various switches and relays and other junk . They tend to save it until they have a substantial amount , because there is probably a hundredweight minimum freight or some similar unit that it is commonly exchanged and price quoted in commerce , like the " international flask "

I once hit a real winner that way. The yard had mil surplus stuff that I could not believe. Powdered metals- Ni, Sn, Al, Cu, in the most unique and fine sizes, all much finer that 325 mesh. I still have that crap. I got so much for so little $ that I almost bought him out.

Some of it was sub-sieve level and expensive to produce. The way I found it was to find a yard with mil stuff in front and just wander around where they put large caches of batteries, electronics and stuff that needs protection from the elements (no pun intended).

mick - 5-11-2005 at 12:26

Another source of mercury is the old blood pressure gauges.
mick

ChemGrl5 - 7-11-2005 at 01:51

Jeez, is mercury watched now, too? I had no idea. I bought mine from a scientific supply house recently for my manometer. Or are you guys just enjoying the thrill of scavenging? I suppose the hazmat fees can sting you, but add other chems to justify the expense. The folks I deal with cater to the hobbyist and have lots of neat things in their catalogue. If you want to know who I deal with I'll gladly either list here in another post if no objections or in a U2U.

If one has nothing to hide, one should not live in fear.

Well I'm not from Gringolanda, or from over the rainbow, I live in the U.S. and here if it is not illegal today it will be tomorrow. I personaly belive that it is important to have alternative sorces, and I would encourage others to continue to post whenever a way is found to procure a chem with no "strings attached". Am I doing anything wrong? NO. However I am somewhat fearful of my Government, (they have not been waging a war on terror, it's a war on personal freedom, yours and mine). The media here has done a great job in educating the population to the fact that the ONLY thing chemistry is good for is making drugs, bombs, and poison gas. I would belive this faster than I would belive that I am free and have nothing to fear living in the U.S.
I hope I haven't offended anyone, and I just feel it needs to be said I love my country, and as long as we have scrapyards and each other we can "pretend" to be free a while longer. Besides scavanging can be fun.

prole - 7-11-2005 at 11:11

Gringolandia is Spanish slang for the United States of America and all of its inhabitants, which is also the end of the rainbow.

As for fear, if one shows no fear, chances are (in my experience) LE will show no interest in you. If you run, they will chase you. If you hide, they will find you. Give them no reason, they'll ignore you.

I do agree however, that alternative sources should always be sought out regardless of legality, and that scavenging is a thrill unto itself.

This probably now belongs in whimsy, sorry.

[Edited on 11/7/2005 by prole]

tumadre - 6-12-2005 at 10:58

as of january 1, 2006, mercury in Washington state will be banned.
all forms of mercury avalible in otc chemicals will be removed
exept for the mercury in batterys and the mercury in certain chemicals in whitch the removal of that ion is deemed expensive enough to defer kewls from obtaining that material
thermometers included.

This is in the name of avoiding mercury poisoning, I think that the #of deaths due to household mercury is less than 0 in the past 10 years, however, they included industrial accidents when they convinced the government to ban mercury.

I expect other states to follow in the same

The_Davster - 6-12-2005 at 15:27

Land of the free my ass.... :mad:

So they plan on removing thermostats from the market as well?

12AX7 - 6-12-2005 at 15:43

Ours are digital. Who needs mercury.

Avoiding Mercury

chloric1 - 6-12-2005 at 17:40

Well I have not touched the stuff since 1992 and from further research I would be hard pressed to use it again. The only legitimate use I would want to use it for is as a cathode in electrolytic reductions. Lead would suffice in most cases and I am sure there are Indium alloys that would have compariable hydrogen overvoltages. Maybe a higher current density is needed but I am not wanting to be around mercury fumes. Handling lead compunds is my level of danger for me. Might even consider selling my Cadmium metal. It is fun to make hoemmade Lead nitrate though.

Douchermann - 7-12-2005 at 06:39

Everyone thinks america is land of the free... its not. Before it gets banned in the state you live in, buy a whole bunch of it and put it in a nice sealed jar. It will keep for a long long time. My friend found a jar of mercury that was about 30 years old (His dad used to have his own lab) and all we did was clean the oxide off and it was back to its shiny self. There was about 3oz in there but I want more. Its fun to play with as long as the neccesary safety precautions are taken.

garage chemist - 7-12-2005 at 08:33

What does "Banned" actually mean? Does it just mean that it's not OTC any more?
Or does it mean that possession is illegal?

Fleaker - 7-12-2005 at 16:06

I think banned means "banned for consumer sale without legitimate use" meaning that you have to have a business or research-related explanation for its use. The removal of mercury from the consumer market will have detrimental effects; sure it has replacements for almost any use (except barometers, manometers, and other tools where it must be used owing to its 13.6 g/cc density) but truth be told, few of them are better than mercury or cheaper.

Douchermann - 7-12-2005 at 19:39

Yeah, you'll probably have to sign your privacy away to the dea if you order any mercury when it gets banned. Just make up some bullcrap like you a building a manometer for yourself or something. Those use a ton of mercury.

S.C. Wack - 8-12-2005 at 03:26

WA law excerpt:

A school may not purchase for use in a primary or secondary classroom bulk elemental mercury or chemical mercury compounds. By January 1, 2006, all primary and secondary schools in the state must remove and properly dispose of all bulk elemental mercury, chemical mercury, and bulk mercury compounds used as teaching aids in science classrooms, not including barometers.

Effective January 1, 2006, no person may sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale or use in this state a mercury-added novelty. A manufacturer of mercury-added novelties must notify all retailers that sell the product about the provisions of this section and how to properly dispose of any remaining mercury-added novelty inventory.

Effective January 1, 2006, no person may sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale or use in this state a manometer used to measure blood pressure or a thermometer that contains mercury. This subsection (2)(a) does not apply to: (i) An electronic thermometer with a button cell battery containing mercury; (ii) A thermometer that contains mercury and that is used for food research and development or food processing, including meat, dairy products, and pet food processing; (iii) A thermometer that contains mercury and that is a component of an animal agriculture climate control system or industrial measurement system or for veterinary medicine until such a time as the system is replaced or a nonmercury component for the system or application is available; (iv) A thermometer or manometer that contains mercury that is used for calibration of other thermometers, manometers, apparatus, or equipment, unless a nonmercury calibration standard is approved for the application by the national institute of standards and technology; (v) A thermometer that is provided by prescription. A manufacturer of a mercury thermometer shall supply clear instructions on the careful handling of the thermometer to avoid breakage and proper cleanup should a breakage occur; or (vi) A manometer or thermometer sold or distributed to a hospital, or a health care facility controlled by a hospital, if the hospital has adopted a plan for mercury reduction consistent with the goals of the mercury chemical action plan developed by the department under section 302, chapter 371, Laws of 2002. A manufacturer of thermometers that contain mercury must notify all retailers that sell the product about the provisions of this section and how to properly dispose of any remaining thermometer inventory.

Effective January 1, 2006, no person may sell, install, or reinstall a commercial or residential thermostat that contains mercury unless the manufacturer of the thermostat conducts or participates in a thermostat recovery or recycling program designed to assist contractors in the proper disposal of thermostats that contain mercury in accordance with 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901, et seq., the federal resource conservation and recovery act.

No person may sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale oruse in this state a motor vehicle manufactured after January 1, 2006, if the motor vehicle contains an automotive mercury switch.

Douchermann - 8-12-2005 at 07:05

Wow... That really sucks for washington. Everyone in washington, buy as much mercury as you can right now and hide it until you need it haha.

neutrino - 8-12-2005 at 17:18

It talks about selling in state, but not buying from out-of-state.

I don't think this will make it impossible to obtain mercury, it will just make it somewhat harder.

chloric1 - 8-12-2005 at 20:57

Well, as recently as 2003 or 2004 you would occasionally find 5KG jugs of the stuff for about $200 on ebay. LAter is was small amounts. Now there is nothing! I have not seen mercury for quite a while on ebay.

Fleaker - 9-12-2005 at 09:56

Good thing to mention chloric, I've noticed that as well along with other things that have all of a sudden gone missing like >1 oz sales of any alkali metal, dangerous chemical compounds, and the removal of a lot glassware.

From what I was told by one ebay seller who was trying to unload the rest of his sodium (several kilograms of it!) is that ebay is making a conscious effort to prevent the sale of dangerous goods. If I can dig up his email...I might just post it.

IrC - 9-12-2005 at 18:19

If you don't post it please U2U (or email it as you have my email address) it to me as I have not had a seller of Na to deal with since ebay squashed heruur, just about my all time favorite seller of mad science. It has been very depressing on ebay since they kicked him out. As to mercury or lithium I do know of a source but I will not post it just to keep the wrong person from informing ebay. You never know who is reading this! U2U works if you need it.

[Edited on 10-12-2005 by IrC]

Fleaker - 9-12-2005 at 18:24

I'll get that to you post haste now that I see you have a genuine interest.

He sold good quality material too, free of oxidation. I believe he had potassium as well, and he had it all in bulk.

[Edited on 10-12-2005 by Fleaker]

neutrino - 10-12-2005 at 18:29

He told me he wasn't selling it. I guess he ran out.

Fleaker - 10-12-2005 at 19:59

Must have...I'm sure you noticed the use of the past tense, and on the email I sent you, I'm sure you observed the date, it was months ago I talked with him.

hell.fire - 12-12-2005 at 18:07

Mercury is used by people that make neon lights and signs. :-)

lacrima97 - 14-12-2005 at 13:40

Do most plumb bobs contain mercury? I see many plumb bobs on ebay, but they do not specify if they are mercury filled or not.

Fleaker - 14-12-2005 at 15:32

Some of them do indeed contain mercury as BromicAcid mentioned earlier in this thread. I imagine they contain anywhere from 50-200grams of it (depending on the size of the plumb) The real old ones were solid lead (hence the name plumb=plumbum=lead)

[Edited on 14-12-2005 by Fleaker]

BromicAcid - 14-12-2005 at 18:47

I've bought a few of them and I guess I should buy many more as mercury is increasingly going out of style, I really have no use for it, but what can I say, I love the stuff. All the plumb bobs that I have purchased have all specifically stated liquid filled or mercury filled somewhere in the description.

Duster - 15-12-2005 at 08:28

This all got me thinking and I decided to browse ebay for "mercury"... I dont recommend it, apparently Mercury was a popular car

However, I did make some intresting finds!

Mercury tilt switches. I use to have a couple of these when I was a kid (yes a kid), and they were pretty fun to play with. Never did use them as a switch though. One seller has about 80 for $3.50 a pop, with $5 shipping plus $1 for every other item. That sounds awfully expensive. The seller claimed ".6 thousandths of an ounce". Now, obviously he's a bit off, but its either .6 ounces or .06 with the way he was talking. I doubt these hold more than half an ounce of mercury, and going with .06 thats about 2ml... Bit expensive eh?

The other source I have found so far are mercury relays. I found one so far with a big ampule of this liquid metal on top. I enquired for a picture showing the scale, prefferably with a ruler. Its $20 buy it now plus actual shipping... Does anyone have any information on mercury filled relays?

By the way, here's the link to the tilt switches:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=75591...

BromicAcid - 15-12-2005 at 08:44

Jeeze, they've gone up in price, I remember when they were 10 for $5 on eBay, and you could get a modest quantity of mercury out of them, how things have changed in the last three years. Yup, the one's that are for sale for $3.25 a piece are the ones that were cheap not too long ago

MephistosMinion - 16-12-2005 at 05:17

I buy them from the local electronics store for $2 a pop. From memory I got about 9g from 10 of them.

hell.fire - 16-12-2005 at 17:05

Sweeet Hg. :-)
Google found me source for mercury it's a bit expensive but it saves having to mess arround getting it from tilt switches and other mentioned mercurry fiiled goodies.

Its 380g for:
UK £20.99
US $37.14

Free delivery to those people in the UK.
The site also sells alot of other chems but they're a bit expensive if you ask me. Some chems are only available to the UK.

http://www.thechemicalshop.com

Do'nt buy it all people save me some lol.

lacrima97 - 16-12-2005 at 18:59

These people, I have found out, tend to make a transaction with you and not send what you ordered.

kno3.com is another company that seems to do this.

Go to www.elementalscientific.com

Very nice chems.

hell.fire - 16-12-2005 at 20:17

I have ordered from KNO3.com many time's and they have never faild me. I used to buy H202, PIC and KNO3, But now i've found cheaper sources. The only real use I have for kno3.com now is the PIC, sadly my other source for viso is out of stock.

Also I did'nt notice the Hg on Kno3.com before
untill today lol

I've ordered some HNO3 from the site that I posted for the Hg i'll post back with results when and if it arives. It should be here after the weekend.

[Edited on 17-12-2005 by hell.fire]

lacrima97 - 17-12-2005 at 10:26

Hmm, maybe they were only unreliable in only a few cases?

Misanthropy - 31-5-2006 at 20:51

Hah! I found a 16oz pepsi bottle full in the bushes once as a kid. Dad had liters of it back in the day. Wish I still had it.