# School goes into lockdown and hazmat crew called over a thermometer. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083 "2012-12-05T17:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/21 "2012-12-05T21:25:21Z")
This is why it’s taking so long. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/22 "2012-12-05T21:25:55Z")
I research project I worked on as a summer job while in undergrad involved a several-metre wide pool of mercury that was being spun on an air bearing to create a large parabolic mirror. Occasionally the mirror would collapse and the mercury levels in the air would be hazardous, but so long as it was intact, all was fine. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/23 "2012-12-05T22:47:03Z")
When I was a kid, back in the '50s, everyone played with mercury from broken thermometers . . . even if we had to break them to get to it. It was fun, and nobody knew it was harmful. It may, however explain a lot regarding the Boomer Generation. Then, in high school, I got kicked out of Chemistry lab for throwing iron filings at a bunsen burner. I guess that was harmful, theoretically. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/24 "2012-12-05T23:01:23Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > 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? 😕 I thought the same thing. “Oh, boo-hoo, someone broke a … What? nothing _broke?_” What kind of idiot teacher called the principal in the first place? > [@muldoonthief](#): > > “Then where the hell is my pen?” ^^ username/post combo 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/25 "2012-12-05T23:12:31Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > 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. I did the same thing when I was a kid at home (oral thermometer stuck in gas stove pilot light) and yes, the bulb exploded. Anyway, their reaction was definitely way over the top, even if they did say not to bring in any hazardous materials; not like they brought in a jar of mercury but a sealed thermometer. Not that such over-reactions are uncommon these days… I was also going to mention the fluorescent lights too, unless for some reason they don’t use any (never seen any school that didn’t use them though), and I’m sure every once in a while one gets broken for whatever reason. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/26 "2012-12-05T23:13:21Z")
> [@](#): > > “It’s almost stupid,” said sophomore Kyle Salvaggio. No almost about it, son. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 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. But as far as any of us can tell, there was no “exposure”. There was the theoretical _possibility_ of an exposure, IF the thermometer broke. I mean, sure, we’re dealing with a bunch of teenagers, and the possibility that an old style thermometer could get broken is quite real. So take away the kid’s thermometer (and make him write “I will follow instructions concerning my chemistry assignments and not bring potentially hazardous materials to school” 500 times on the blackboard or send him to the Re-Education Camps or whatever schools do to rulebreakers these days), but lock down the whole school and call in the hazmat crew?!? Ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/27 "2012-12-05T23:22:19Z")
This has that whiff of zero-tolerance absurdity all over it. The teacher informed the principal, and no doubt the district procedure manual mandates that a possible “exposure” situation means you have to lock down the school and call the HazMat teams whether it’s mercury inside a thermometer or plutonium leaking into the school. ---
**Author:** ![Noodles\_Fellicini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Noodles\_Fellicini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noodles_Fellicini)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/28 "2012-12-05T23:30:43Z")
My siblings and I unearthed a small ceramic jar with a cork stopped that held about 1/2 ounce of mercury. We had so much fun rolling it around on stuff until mom confiscated it when we were fighting over who got to take it to show and tell first. This was 40 years ago; today the school would probably have to be demolished if there was only a rotted bit of cork protecting it from that much mercury. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/29 "2012-12-05T23:37:10Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > When I was a kid, back in the '50s, everyone played with mercury from broken thermometers . . . even if we had to break them to get to it. It was fun, and nobody knew it was harmful. It may, however explain a lot regarding the Boomer Generation. We played with a bowl of mercury on the lab desk. AFAIK, no one died immediately after, nor was an ambulance called, nor was the chemistry teacher taken from the lab in a straight jacket or the school quarantined. The amount in a thermometer is negligible. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/30 "2012-12-05T23:57:00Z")
The principal should be made to pay for this out of his own pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/31 "2012-12-06T00:43:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The principal should be made to pay for this out of his own pocket. I’m guessing the principal was doing what he’d been instructed to do. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/32 "2012-12-06T02:31:19Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > 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.) There are mercury clean-up kits, we have them in our (grown-up, industrial lab). I believe it’s a zinc powder included, I’ve used them a few times as we still use mercury thermometers in the lab. You sprinkle the mercury with the zinc powder, then drip water on the zinc+mercury. It forms a safer amalgam that can be disposed of. I don’t know how this amalgam is ultimately disposed of, I just always seal it in a can and hand it off to EHS to get rid of. _sigh_ - we do have a fight with EHS every year or so, where they want us to get rid of our mercury thermometers. Trouble is, despite being toxic, mercury makes a damn precise thermometer. You can be far more precise with a $25 NIST trackable mercury thermometer that never needs calibration than you can with a handheld thermocouple that costs hundreds of dollars and needs regular calibration. I am on a hot-streak though, no thermometers broken in about 3 years now, knock on wood. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/33 "2012-12-06T04:01:41Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Here’s a [picture](http://periodictable.com/Images/MercuryMiner.JPG) of a guy floating on top of a huge pool of mercury. Maybe so, but he looks to me more like he’s sitting in a shallow puddle of it. For one thing I think about 1/6 of his body would have to be submerged to keep the rest exposed (though I should look that ratio up). For another thing, I have played in mercury puddles, and it is VERY HARD to maintain balance. The mercury pushes you out and you can’t get any traction. It’s like trying to force magnets together backwards with a long pole. Lots of us played with mercury in years past. I had a five pound bottle as a child, and over the years it all gradually disappeared into the basement where I played. I was surprised to see mercury for sale on Amazon, and no warnings or limitations. Of course, I didn’t proceed through the ordering process, so maybe the warnings were waiting for me. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/34 "2012-12-06T04:03:30Z")
[http://www.amazon.com/GalliumSource-LLC-Liquid-Mercury-99-999%25/dp/B007JMA9V2/ref=sr\_1\_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1354766520&sr=8-5&keywords=Mercury](http://www.amazon.com/GalliumSource-LLC-Liquid-Mercury-99-999%25/dp/B007JMA9V2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1354766520&sr=8-5&keywords=Mercury) I think I like the “Ordering for Christmas?” part best. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/35 "2012-12-06T04:06:23Z")
OK, that’s funny. The density I remembered is for the planet Mercury. The metal has a density about 13 times greater then we do, so I was way off. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/36 "2012-12-06T19:11:58Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > When I was a kid, back in the '50s, everyone played with mercury from broken thermometers . . . even if we had to break them to get to it. It was fun, and nobody knew it was harmful. It may, however explain a lot regarding the Boomer Generation. I remember my mom, sister, and I playing with the mercury from a broken thermometer when I was a kid. This was fun, even for Mom, until it came in contact with her wedding ring. The mercury had to be (expensively) professionally cleaned from the ring, and then, IIRC, the ring had to be re-silver-plated because mercury and silver just don’t get along, apparently. ETA: Or maybe mercury and silver get along _too_ well, i.e. the mercury tries to bond with the silver at a molecular level? ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/37 "2012-12-07T00:02:08Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Here’s a [picture](http://periodictable.com/Images/MercuryMiner.JPG) of a guy floating on top of a huge pool of mercury. Robert De Niro? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/38 "2012-12-07T02:05:17Z")
When I was growing up we had about a half cup of the stuff under the bathroom sink. I’d get it out to play with every few years. I suppose it evaporated or something when the house burned one night. ---
**Author:** ![midnight-dreary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@midnight-dreary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midnight-dreary)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/39 "2012-12-07T02:24:52Z")
Wow! talk about over reaction. At my school, our teachers made dry ice bombs. I found it funny, that later on, I saw an episode of myth busters, and they did a dry ice bomb. They had blast shields and everything! We had nothing like that. I’m only 19, too, so it’s not like my schooling happened in a different era, either. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083/40 "2012-12-07T06:08:41Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I remember my mom, sister, and I playing with the mercury from a broken thermometer when I was a kid. This was fun, even for Mom, until it came in contact with her wedding ring. The mercury had to be (expensively) professionally cleaned from the ring, and then, IIRC, the ring had to be re-silver-plated because mercury and silver just don’t get along, apparently. > > ETA: Or maybe mercury and silver get along _too_ well, i.e. the mercury tries to bond with the silver at a molecular level? Indeed, that’s how they make “silver” (only about 1/4 is actually silver) fillings for teeth, which is an [amalgam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_%28dentistry%29) of mercury and silver and several other metals. Also, the effects of mercury on aluminum are [even more dramatic](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Ilxsu-JlY) (and for this reason it [isn’t allowed on airplanes](http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/why-is-mercury-classified-as-dangerous-goods-by-the-airlines-and-how-is-mercury-corrosive-to-aluminum)). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-goes-into-lockdown-and-hazmat-crew-called-over-a-thermometer/643083.md?page=3)