Mercury thermometers

[Roland]

we have a number of these all securely wrapped in bubble wrap, we don`t use them. Presumably, you don`t need dispose of them ?
Thanks

 

[TheTemporayPreproom]

No we just keep them stored. might be worth adding to a disposal at some point when you are getting rid of other stuff.

 

[Peter Dale]

Mine have been placed in my disposal storage area ready for the next time I need to order waste collection.

 

[MedChem&Gin]

We had over 200 of them which we kept together with the chemicals that were earmarked for disposal and they went with them when we eventually organised it!

 

[Dr. G-nome]

Our HoD still insists on using these for VIth form practicals the exact reason is unclear..
We have had 3 breakages in 8 years which I have had to deal with (all breakages were caused by teachers, not pupils).

 

[hershpat]

Our HoD still insists on using these for VIth form practicals the exact reason is unclear..
We have had 3 breakages in 8 years which I have had to deal with (all breakages were caused by teachers, not pupils).

They are more accurate and go to a higher temp, I am guessing they are a chemistry specailist.

 

[Nick Mitchener]

Our HoD still insists on using these for VIth form practicals the exact reason is unclear..
We have had 3 breakages in 8 years which I have had to deal with (all breakages were caused by teachers, not pupils).

you can buy more expensive spirit thermometers which will match the performance of the mercury ones.

 

[Nicki]

We had a chem lecturer who kept asking for mercury thermometers instead of our high temp spirit one as they were more accurate until we demonstrated using a digital thermometer that the spirit ones were accurate and maybe it was the students that were the problem

 

[werpaj]

We disposed of ours last year, after having several break in brand-new melting point kits (which needed to be disposed too ) and got some new high temp spirit ones instead! Only ever used them for melting point kits, so added them to a chemical disposal

 

[Nicki]

We disposed of ours last year, after having several break in brand-new melting point kits (which needed to be disposed too ) and got some new high temp spirit ones instead! Only ever used them for melting point kits, so added them to a chemical disposal

We had this - was asked if we could just burn it off Give me strength!!!

 

[Dr. G-nome]

They are more accurate and go to a higher temp, I am guessing they are a chemistry specailist.

Yes they are a Chemistry Specialist - I'm a Biologist so I don't understand that kind of stuff lol... I just go with it

 

[Paul]

They are more accurate and go to a higher temp

A digital stick thermometer would be better and more accurate without the issues.

 

[HatMan]

A digital stick thermometer would be better and more accurate without the issues.

That's not quite true.
I just recently calibrated a digital thermometer (not a cheap stick) against mercury* ones as it felt wrong - turned out to be nearly 1.5C out!
Just because something is digital with a 2 decimal place resolution doesn't mean it's accurate.

*Using average reading of multiple 50x0.1C mercuries that actually all read the same to within a division ...

 

[Paul]

Just because something is digital with a 2 decimal place resolution doesn't mean it's accurate.

We used to calibrate the mercury plant thermometers once a week, they can be wrong.

It's not calibrated unless you use a ££££ NPL thermometer.

 

[New but Old]

In a previous life, early/mid 90s calibration against National traceable sources showed mercury to be more accurate than digital but there was the odd outlier