what is mercury used in?

Question

what is mercury used us besides thermometers, batteries, fillings and blood pressure

Answer 1

Mercury is used in laboratories for making thermometers, barometers, diffusion pumps, and many other instruments. It is used for mercury switches and other electrical apparatus. It is used as an electrode in some types of electrolysis and for making batteries (mercury cells).

Gaseous mercury (mercury in gas form) is used in mercury-vapour lamps and advertising signs. Mercury is important in some types of industry, for instance for caustic soda and chlorine production. It is used for making some pesticides and antifouling paint. Mercury is also the basis of dental amalgams (teeth fillings after cavities are removed) and preparations. (1)

Because of its toxicity, all these uses of mercury are being phased out or are under review.

Some mercury salts and organic mercury compounds are still important, including mercurous chloride (calomel) which is used in electrolysis, and mercuric sulfide (vermilion), a high-grade paint pigment. (2)

Answer 2

Mercury was used on the contacts of high power relays. This gave a good electrical connection without the oxidation problems found with dry contacts.

A number of years ago at work we had a Hounsfield tensometer with mercury in the force gauge. When the tension became too high, the mercury would spill out of the end of the glass measuring tube - a health and safety nightmare these days!

In those days no-one used to worry about the dangers of mercury, but in modern times it has been recognised as being particularly harmful. The EEC has banned mercury and other hazardous substances from all electrical and electronic equipment in it's 'waste electrical and electronic equipment' (WEEE) directive.

A couple of decades ago I had a toy that was a plastic maze with a large globule of mercury that you were supposed to tilt around to get from the start to the finish. Toys like these are now banned due to the fact that mercury makes you go a bit mad - like me.

So the real answer is that mercury is being used as little as possible, but in areas where there are no alternatives it is still being allowed. Fluorescent tubes and mercury lamps still use this potentially hazardous substance so don't forget to take your old fluorescent tubes to your local recycling centre for proper disposal!

Answer 3

In the days when I was learning chemistry at school we were taught about mercuric and mercurous compounds which would now be designated Hg() with a figure indicating its valency.

Because it reacts with the metals zinc and aluminium to form amalgams it can be used to make these compounds.

It is used to extract aluminium, from a molten solution of its ores, be being the cathode in a process of electrolysis where carbon is the anode.

Because Mercury has a high density WE used it to calibrate a volume measuring vessel called a 'pycnometer'. A small difference in volume would give a large change in mass. You would not now be allowed to use this method now.

Another use was in the 'rocker' or tilt-switch. Often used in bomb circuits in the 1950-1970 period.

Answer 4

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RE:
what is mercury used in?
what is mercury used us besides thermometers, batteries, fillings and blood pressure

Answer 5

Mercury is used in thermometers, barometers and other scientific apparatus, although the use of mercury in thermometers has been largely phased out in clinical and scientific environments (in favor of alcohol-filled, digital or thermistor-based replacements) due to concerns about the element's toxicity.

Mercury is still used in dental amalgam.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Hello,

Sometimes still used in equipement to measure Barometric pressure. (to tell you if atmospheric pressure is increasing due to areas of high pressure, changable i.e.moving between high & low, or if low pressure i.e. atlantic depressions with increasing rain & wind). But admittedly the trend is now away from mercury based equipment towards digital measuring systems.

Mercury is still used in a wide variety of chemical process & manufacturing process's.

IR

Answer 8

It is/was also used in the lights for lighthouses. The light actually floated in a pool of mercury so it rotated very easily.

Answer 9

Mercury switches are common in thermostats.

Answer 10

No ,we know that it is one of the most toxic metals and it is recommended to avoid its use.

Some years before it was used as thermometers pressure measuring devices