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sometimes, even when you read stuff like you posted, you have to think for yourself.

the people that wrote this should go back to school. when i log out, i'm going to be sending the author of that paper a note.

writing something that causes panic for the untechnical reader is disservice.

organic mercury is deadly toxic. overeating fish with high concentration of mercury is bad. inorganic mercury (salts like oxide and chloride) are something you are careful with. metallic mercury should be contained. its not rocket science.

what the article doesn't tell you is what concentration (micrograms per cubic meter of air) of any form makes it of concern and what level makes it dangerous.

closing a school for breaking a thermometer in a confined area is dumb. pick it up with a mercury disposal kit.
if it all evaporated, there isn't enough mercury atoms to reach a dangerous concentration. its mathematically impossible. its not even enough to reach a level of concern. but if you like living in panic mode, who am i to stop you?

let's look at an easy example.

there's about 5 micrograms of mercury in a compact fluorescent bulb. congratulations. you just dropped it on the floor and it broke. if every particle of mercury dissipated in the air, that would contaminate about 5 cubic meters of air. but if you look down, most of that mercury is trapped in the fluor dust. maybe 5% of the 5 micrograms gets airborne. if you are really REALLY concerned, open a window and gather up the dust by blotting it with a wet paper towel. throw it in the trash.

see comment 123

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/home_journal...

what we have is a general population that fears chemicals. its amazing. the chemistry set that i had as a kid, and the chemical books i used to experiment in the basement with, would cause evacuations now.

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