[JustPiper]

I emailed it to her Ma, but the scarey incident on her local news, with little info of course, was this guy receiving leaking mercury.

Anyone know what that would do besides evacution as it did?

[nw_arizona_granny]

It is possible that all the mercury stuff is hype by the liberal crowd.

No, I wouldn't want to play with it, but have as a kid.

We used it to catch fine gold in the pan.

So I wouldn't get all hyper about it.

Now if you were attempting to cook it off with out a retort, you might fall over dead (sooner or later).

Mercury is heavy and you can see where it goes, it does not travel in the air unless you build a fire under it.

I considered the evacuation to be a Sierra Club new law, not a reason for fear.

Mercury is a liquid metal, not a powder.

Not something I would want your daughter to be handling, but not a danger, if she does not touch it.

[null and void]

Liquid mercury is essentially non-toxic.

In many countries it is a folk medicine give to infants for digestive upset.

Mercury vapor is toxic, so heating it is a bad idea. Cleanup can be as simple as picking up the spill, sprinkling the affected area with copper powder to amalgamate any little bits that got missed, sweeping up the powder, and coating the area with -believe it or not- hair spray to encapsulate any residue.

OTOH, Methyl Mercury is VERY toxic, and will cheerfully soak through rubber gloves...