Doesn’t every home have at least three old fever thermometers stuffed in a drawer somewhere? Digital ones just became common a decade ago. I still occasionally use my old style thermometers. I brought a couple home with me from hospital visits in the 80’s. I have a digital one too, but use whatever comes out of the drawer first.
What has happened to plain common sense in America? School officials pissing their panties over this? I could understand an elementary school getting upset. Young Kids have been known to play with mercury (a very bad idea). But a high school chemistry student? Chemistry labs have a lot of toxic stuff in them.
When I started reading, I assumed the thermometer was broken. (What do you do then? Sop it up with a sponge? But do what with the sponge? 50+ years ago, I popped a thermometer with a match wanting to play hookey, can’t remember how my Mom cleaned it up.)
But I see no description of the breakage in this thread. Surely, you’re not speaking of an unbroken thermometer?
What does “…the thermometer was discovered as the substances were checked before going through the school” mean? Do the students at this school have to go through airport-style security before going to class?
Definitely an over-reaction. I could maybe see them not allowing it into the school in case it was accidentally broken, but obviously an intact mercury thermometer in and of itself poses no threat. My guess is that the whole circus started over a miscommunication. Someone called the office and said “Johnny is bringing a thermometer with mercury in it for a chemistry class demonstration” and after passing through two or three people the message became “Johnny broke a mercury thermometer in chemistry class.” The resulting clearing of the school and Hazmat team is still overkill, but not completely surprising.
When I was in high school (late 90’s-early 2000’s) someone broke a mercury thermometer in chemistry class. The teacher cleaned up the spill according to some established procedure, and the room was off-limits with the windows open for a day or two. I would have LOVED to have school canceled instead though!
I’m wondering what high school chemistry labs use in todays classes? Have they stripped out any chemical or acid that is possibly dangerous? Is lemon juice the only acid allowed?
I don’t understand what schools are doing anymore.
Yes, it was an over-reaction, but the news link says that students were specifically instructed NOT to bring certain toxic substances for the exercise.
Just suspend the kid for the day and unbunch the panties, admin. And switch to decaf.
I bet the school uses fluorescent light bulbs. Better call in the hazmat team until they can all be replaced with LEDs.
I wonder if my neighbors or the city would go nuts if they know I have some vintage electrical equipment (didn’t the transformers and oil filled capacitors usually contain PCBs).
That’s what I thought of immediately. Everybody’s supposed to switch to fluorescents to save energy. What if one breaks and the (admittedly small amount of) mercury inside gets out? Evacuate the room! Open the windows! Get rid of the carpet it spilled on! Etc.
Back when I was in school, the teacher let us all play with the mercury. As I recall, the only concern was making sure none of us stole it.
That said, this isn’t just hysteria. Exposure to mercury and mercury vapor really does harm people. But a single exposure like the linked article described is not going to hurt anyone.
A guy in my science class decided to see how hot the bunsen burner flame was by sticking the bulb end of a thermometer into it (not the brightest guy in the room it must be said). Blew the top off the thermometer and sprayed half the class room with glass and mercury.
The teacher just made sure we found as much as we could and got it into a jar. Fun stuff to play with.
The stupidity of this is just… beyond words.
the ever vigilant high school security found it as they searched the kids coming into school.
