4 ms·
This was my thought as well - I've heard metallic mercury is relatively safe. However, a little bit of googling turned up this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M
by jobu 11y ago
This was my thought as well - I've heard metallic mercury is relatively safe. However, a little bit of googling turned up this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning#Elemental_mercury https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning#Elemental_me...
The issue with metallic mercury is the vapors are easily absorbed through the lungs, and not easily filtered (requires an activated carbon filter).
- kragen 11y agoIt is indeed relatively safe, in the sense that it takes thousands of times as much metallic mercury to kill you as it would take dimethylmercury. But vapors from metallic mercury have been known to cause acute poisoning for centuries; that article mentions a well-known case from 1810.