The mercury in my thermometer has separated and so does not give an accurate reading. Does anyone know how to bring it back together?
2007-11-08 19:57:12 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
It is about twelve inches long, very fragile, and is for wine making.
2007-11-08 20:05:21 · update #1
i am not sure that it is mercury
2007-11-08 20:30:10 · update #2
The mercury or whatever it is has separated so that half is at the top and wont come down. I have already put it in the freezer and in boiling water and neither have made any difference.
2007-11-09 04:48:09 · update #3
I was having the same problem, and searched online. The answer that worked for me was to drop it vertically onto a soft surface a bunch of times - it worked after 10-12 times. I listed the source below!
2007-11-12 10:04:11 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mercury Separated In Thermometer
2016-12-10 03:26:25 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd still use it as long as I'm confident that I could keep it from getting broken. If it's stored so that only adults could get at them, and you're careful when you're handling it, it's hard to argue against continuing to use it. The old mercury thermometers are accurate, and perfectly safe as long as they don't get broken. On the other hand, once they are broken, loose mercury is nasty stuff. If you have small kids visiting, though, it may be best to ditch the thermometers. There's a risk they'll do something to break the thermometer. Unfortunately, free liquid mercury is unthreatening, pretty to look at, fascinating to play with, and seriously poisonous over time, and kids if unsupervised will likely do things like play with it or worse eat it thus drastically increasing their exposure.
2016-03-13 22:04:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mercury in thermometers - especially those used for medical or food purposes - is considered so dangerous that it has been banned across the whole of the Eurpean Union.
Take the opportunity to go out a buy a new, safer thermometer.
2007-11-08 20:28:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
try putting it in the fridge/freezer section. if it is a body thermometer, then somewhere colder than 30 deg C should be able to draw all the mercury into the bulb.
2007-11-08 20:03:37 · answer #5 · answered by lsl4x 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Whether it is mercury or not, just cool the whole thing down by putting it in fridge first and then freezer until all liquid is into the bulb (overnight?) then bring it out and keep upright.
2007-11-09 01:12:01 · answer #6 · answered by oldhombre 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ten seconds of Googling brought up this page:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:uPxkRf8ns6kJ:www.chemglass.com/Reuniting%2520Separated%2520Mercury%2520Columns.doc+mercury+separated+thermometer&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
2007-11-08 20:12:04 · answer #7 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Try shaking the thermometer in hard DOWNWARD strokes towards the bulb. Alternatively, but more risky, you can place the thermometer in a very hot liquid so that it well excedes its maximum.
2007-11-08 20:03:26 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Give Lithimud one point for every second he has spent.
2007-11-08 21:07:32 · answer #9 · answered by Pearlsawme 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nurses give it a good shake
2007-11-08 20:01:42 · answer #10 · answered by DAVID H 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋