# Broken Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb - Mercury Cleanup
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-compact-fluorescent-lightbulb-mercury-cleanup/394719
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 5, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-compact-fluorescent-lightbulb-mercury-cleanup/394719 "2007-03-05T20:59:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-compact-fluorescent-lightbulb-mercury-cleanup/394719/1 "2007-03-05T20:59:06Z")
My husband broke a compact fluorescent lightbulb in our bathroom and proceeded to clean it up using not just a vacuum cleaner, but one of those “wind tunnel” types that sprays exhaust out the front.
He thinks he might’ve found the little blob of mercury in the sink (it’s in a baggie). The vacuum cleaner was already full of gunk.
Has anyone dealt with this?
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-compact-fluorescent-lightbulb-mercury-cleanup/394719/2 "2007-03-05T21:12:29Z")
[According to the EPA](http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:YN35CL5zVXwJ:www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf+%22compact+fluorescent%22+mercury+milligrams&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a), there’s about 4 miilgrams of mercury in a compact fluorescent lamp. At [a density of 13.5 g/cc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)) , that’d make a blob with a volume of about 0.3 microliters. That’s _very_ small, almost unseeably small.
I wouldn’t worry about it, but would make an effort not to make it a habit.
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### Author:  [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-compact-fluorescent-lightbulb-mercury-cleanup/394719/3 "2007-03-05T21:15:36Z")
Thanks!
We have small children, so we worry more. I was out with them when it happened, and he aired the place out pretty well before we came home.