• Question: is it dangerous handling mecury?

    Asked by calvis to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 25 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 25 Jun 2012:


      Most heavy metals are pretty bad for you if ingested in reasonable quantities. Don’t eat it and wash your hands after playing with it and it’s not dangerous.

      Unless your talking about the planet Mercury, in which case it is very dangerous.

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 25 Jun 2012:


      Yes, with your bare hands.

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 25 Jun 2012:


      Handling mercury can cause the metal to build up in your body, which makes you mad. Mercury used to be used for making hats (not sure what exactly), so milliners (who make hats) often went mad. That’s where the phrase “As mad as a hatter” comes from (and also the character in Alice in Wonderland).

    • Photo: Michael Bloom

      Michael Bloom answered on 25 Jun 2012:


      Its about as dangerous as driving a car and you need to be taught to do it in the same way as you need to have driving lessons.
      Mercury can be fun, it can be beautiful, and sometimes it can even be useful. -Like for making thermometers.
      However again like driving a car, if you do it wrong you can hurt yourself and others.

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