Even if you are not familiar with this situation, I think it will not be superfluous to find out how to behave if you break a mercury thermometer. This can prevent panic, wrong behavior, followed by many troubles. In the first place - with health.
It is not superfluous to indicate that the news, if the thermometer was broken, should be taken care of. When the mercury thermometer was broken, you can immediately see the small silver balls that can roll into all sorts of cracks. In the thermometer a small amount of mercury, so the danger is not so much mercury itself as its compounds. The most harmful are mercury vapor, as this is a toxic substance.
Symptoms of poisoning with mercury vapor will not take long: nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headache. But these are so superficial symptoms that many people and do not suspect that they are already developing an unpleasant, dangerous disease. As a result, poisoning with mercury in a few years can manifest itself in the defeat of the kidneys and neurosis. After processing the room, drink plenty of liquid, so that the mercury leaves the body (it leaves through the kidneys).
If suddenly a mercury ball hit the food path, vomiting, suffocation, blue skin. In this case, you need to immediately call an ambulance.
When he broke the thermometer, first of all it is necessary to withdraw children and old people from the premises. Lead them better away from the place with mercury. Then illuminate the space, so that no silver ball is left undetected. You can bring a lamp to the place, or shine a flashlight. To take bare hands with a poisonous substance is not worth it - better wear rubber gloves, on your feet - plastic bags. To less breathe dangerous pairs, put on a cotton-gauze dressing, moistened with water or soaked in soda. It is also dangerous to stay indoors for a long time. Therefore, go to the air every 15 minutes.
As a tool to collect mercury broom does not work, it's better to take a brush and roll the balls on the leaf. You can use a needle or a spoke, a rubber pear, a syringe, an adhesive tape, etc. But you can not collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner, it will blow up the vapors even more, and you will not be able to choose mercury completely from it. If the balls roll in the cracks, you can sprinkle sand in that place - then it will be easier to roll them out with a brush. Or blot the place with a piece of cotton wool soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate (0, 2% - 2 g of potassium permanganate per 1 liter of water). If mercury has spread on a sofa, chair or other porous surface, it is better to hand over the product in a special dry cleaning.
The collected substance should be poured into a glass jar with a lid, into which the same solution should be drawn. There you also need to shake off the mercury, which did not spill out and which contains a broken mercury thermometer. Do not put a jar of mercury in the vicinity of heated objects (stove, batteries). Better take it out on the balcony or put it on the window.
Also, it should be disinfected the place where the mercury thermometer was broken and the mercury was spilled. To do this, you need to moisten it with a solution of potassium permanganate or a soap-salt solution according to the recipe: 30 g of soda and 40 g of soap (which for better solubility rubbed on the grater) per liter of water, or a solution of bleach. From the rag, which wiped the floor, it is also better to get rid of, also closing in a glass jar. It is necessary to wipe and furniture, located next to the unsafe area. Water blocks the volatility of mercury. This solution should stand at the scene about one and a half - two days. Then rinse with cold water.
The room must be ventilated. But in no event, until you have collected mercury balls, do not allow a draft! Well, if the temperature outside the window is lower than in the room - at low temperatures, the release of toxic fumes is reduced. Therefore, if there is an air conditioner, you can turn it on cold.
How to behave if mercury hits your clothes? It should be washed (not put in a washing machine) in cold water for a period of time, then for half an hour in a soapy-soda solution (at 70-80 0 C) and then washed for 20 minutes in alkaline solution and finally rinsed in cold water.
What to do with the jar containing the collected mercury? The easiest way is to throw it into the garbage can. But without special treatment, mercury will release toxic substances and other people may also suffer: two grams of mercury will pollute six thousand cubic meters of air. You do not need to drain it into the sewer system - mercury will settle on the sewer pipes, from where it will be required to take it incredible effort. The correct variant is to be taken to the fire department, the MES station, to the district SES, or to call representatives of the Civil Defense and Emergencies Department to the house.
After the cleaning, you need to make several procedures for your own safety: rinse your throat with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, brush your teeth, take several tablets of activated charcoal, drink plenty of liquid.