Heck, when I was a kid and a thermometer broke we used to "play" with the spilled mercury -- pushing the little balls around on the table. The other day, my husband and I had to turn in 5 lbs of mercury in powdered form that had been left in our manufacturing plant years ago by the previous owner. It was in a Rubbermaid container. We took it to the county hazardous waste yard, had to wait at the gate for 1/2 hour to be admitted while they checked our credentials. After they buzzedus in, my husband had to stop at a special office and spend another 1/2 hour filling out forms. Finally he came out, accompanied by a lady, and retrieved our small box of mercury from the car. She was filling out still more forms and weighing it. Then she had him place it on a roll around cart and she finally took it inside the warehouse. It cost us $50 to get rid of it. She blamed Homeland Security. It was so much trouble that it is no wonderthat people dispose of things illegally.
My father worked at a lab when I was as kid (1960 or so) and it closed, he brought home all kinds of cool stuff. One was a jar of pure mercury, about 1/3 of a cup. Us kids found it and played with all the time, I even put it in my mouth, it felt really strange. I subsequently graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins University.
powdered mercury? Obviously a compound of some sort. what was it combined with?