Applications
Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical and electronic applications. It is used in some thermometers, especially ones which are used to measure high temperatures. A still increasing amount is used as gaseous mercury in
fluorescent lamps, while most of the other applications are slowly phased out due to health and safety regulations and is in some applications replaced with less toxic but considerably more expensive
Galinstan alloy.
[40]
Medicine
The deep violet glow of a mercury vapor discharge in a
germicidal lamp, whose spectrum is rich in invisible ultraviolet radiation.
Mercury and its compounds have been used in medicine, although they are much less common today than they once were, now that the toxic effects of mercury and its compounds are more widely understood. The element mercury is an ingredient in
dental amalgams.
Thiomersal (called
Thimerosal in the United States) is an
organic compound used as a
preservative in
vaccines, though this use is in decline.
[41] Another mercury compound
Merbromin (Mercurochrome) is a topical antiseptic used for minor cuts and scrapes is still in use in some countries.
Since the 1930s some
vaccines have contained the preservative
thiomersal, which is metabolized or degraded to
ethyl mercury. Although it was
widely speculated that this mercury-based preservative can cause or trigger
autism in children, scientific studies showed no evidence supporting any such link.
[42] Nevertheless thiomersal has been removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all U.S. vaccines recommended for children 6 years of age and under, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine.
[43]
Mercury in the form of one of its common ores, cinnabar, is used in various traditional medicines, especially in
traditional Chinese medicine. Review of its safety has found cinnabar can lead to significant mercury intoxication when heated, consumed in
overdose or taken long term, and can have adverse effects at therapeutic doses, though this is typically reversible at therapeutic doses. Although this form of mercury appears less toxic than others, its use in traditional Chinese medicine has not yet been justified as the therapeutic basis for the use of cinnabar is not clear.
[44]
Today, the use of mercury in medicine has greatly declined in all respects, especially in developed countries.
Thermometers and
sphygmomanometers containing mercury were invented in the early 18th and late 19th centuries, respectively. In the early 21st century, their use is declining and has been banned in some countries, states and medical institutions. In 2002, the
U.S. Senate passed legislation to phase out the sale of
non-preion mercury thermometers. In 2003,
Washington and
Maine became the first states to ban mercury blood pressure devices.
[45] Mercury compounds are found in some
over-the-counter drugs, including topical
antiseptics, stimulant laxatives,
diaper-rash ointment,
eye s, and
nasal sprays. The
FDA has "inadequate data to establish general recognition of the safety and effectiveness", of the mercury ingredients in these products.
[46] Mercury is still used in some diuretics, although substitutes now exist for most therapeutic uses.
Production of chlorine and caustic soda
Chlorine is produced from
sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) using
electrolysis to separate the metallic
sodium from the chlorine gas. Usually the salt is dissolved in water to produce a brine. By-products of any such
chloralkali process are hydrogen (H
2) and
sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is commonly called caustic soda or
lye. By far the largest use of mercury
[47][48] in the late 20th century was in the mercury cell process (also called the
Castner-Kellner process) where metallic sodium is formed as an
amalgam at a
cathode made from mercury this sodium is then reacted with water to produce sodium hydroxide.
[49] Many of the industrial mercury releases of the 20th century came from this process, although modern plants claimed to be safe in this regard.
[48] After about 1985, all new chloralkali production facilities that were built in the United States used either
membrane cell or diaphragm cell technologies to produce chlorine.
Laboratory uses
Some medical thermometers, especially those for high temperatures, are filled with mercury however, they are gradually disappearing. In the United States, non-preion sale of mercury fever thermometers has been banned since 2003.
[50]
Some
transit telescopes use a basin of mercury to form a flat and absolutely horizontal mirror, useful in determining an absolute vertical or perpendicular reference. Concave horizontal parabolic mirrors may be formed by rotating liquid mercury on a disk, the parabolic form of the liquid thus formed reflecting and focusing incident light. Such telescopes are cheaper than conventional large mirror telescopes by up to a factor of 100, but the mirror cannot be tilted and always points straight up.
[51][52][53]
Niche uses
Skin tanner containing a low-pressure mercury vapor lamp and two infrared lamps, which act both as light source and
electrical ballast
Assorted types of fluorescent lamps.
Gaseous mercury is used in
mercury-vapor lamps and some "
neon sign" type advertising signs and
fluorescent lamps. Those low-pressure lamps emit very spectrally narrow lines, which are traditionally used in
optical spectroscopy for calibration of spectral position. Commercial calibration lamps are sold for this purpose however simply reflecting some of the fluorescent-lamp ceiling light into a spectrometer is a common calibration practice.
[55] Gaseous mercury is also found in some
electron tubes, including
ignitrons,
thyratrons, and
mercury arc rectifiers.
[56] It is also used in specialist medical care lamps for skin tanning and disinfection (see pictures).
[57] Gaseous mercury is added to
cold cathode argon-filled lamps to increase the
ionization and
electrical conductivity. An argon filled lamp without mercury will have dull spots and will fail to light correctly. Lighting containing mercury can be
bombarded/oven pumped only once. When added to
neon filled tubes the light produced will be inconsistent red/blue spots until the initial burning-in process is completed eventually it will light a consistent dull off-blue color.
[58]
Cosmetics
Mercury, as
thiomersal, is widely used in the manufacture of
mascara. In 2008, Minnesota became the first state in the US to ban intentionally added mercury in cosmetics, giving it a tougher standard than the federal government.
[59]
A study in geometric mean urine mercury concentration identified a previously unrecognized source of exposure (skin care products) to inorganic mercury among
New York City residents. Population-based biomonitoring also showed that mercury concentration levels are higher in consumers of seafood and fish meals.
[60]
Historic uses
Many historic applications made use of the peculiar physical properties of mercury, especially as a dense liquid and a liquid metal:
- Quantities of liquid mercury ranging from 90 to 600 grams (3.2 to 21 oz) have been recovered from elite Maya tombs or ritual caches at six sites. This mercury may have been used in bowls as mirrors for divinatory purposes. Five of these date to the Classic Period of Maya civilization (c. 250–900) but one example predated this.[61]
- In Islamic Spain, it was used for filling decorative pools. Later, the American artist Alexander Calder built a mercury fountain for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. The fountain is now on display at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona.[62]
- Mercury was used inside wobbler lures. Its heavy, liquid form made it useful since the lures made an attractive irregular movement when the mercury moved inside the plug. Such use was stopped due to environmental concerns, but illegal preparation of modern fishing plugs has occurred.
- The Fresnel lenses of old lighthouses used to float and rotate in a bath of mercury which acted like a bearing.[63]
- Mercury sphygmomanometers (blood pressure meter), barometers, diffusion pumps, coulometers, and many other laboratory instruments. As an opaque liquid with a high density and a nearly linear thermal expansion, it is ideal for this role.[64]
- As an electrically conductive liquid, it was used in mercury switches (including home mercury light switches installed prior to 1970), tilt switches used in old fire detectors, and tilt switches in some home thermostats.[65]
- Owing to its acoustic properties, mercury was used as the propagation medium in delay line memory devices used in early digital computers of the mid-20th century.
- Experimental mercury vapor turbines were installed to increase the efficiency of fossil-fuel electrical power plants.[66] The South Meadow power plant in Hartford, CT employed mercury as its working fluid, in a binary configuration with a secondary water circuit, for a number of years starting in the late 1920s in a drive to improve plant efficiency. Several other plants were built, including the Schiller Station in Portsmouth, NH, which went online in 1950. The idea did not catch on industry-wide due to the weight and toxicity of mercury, as well as the advent of supercritical steam plants in later years.[67][68]
- Similarly, liquid mercury was used as a coolant for some nuclear reactors however, sodium is proposed for reactors cooled with liquid metal, because the high density of mercury requires much more energy to circulate as coolant.[69]
- Mercury was a propellant for early ion engines in electric space propulsion systems. Advantages were mercurys high molecular weight, low ionization energy, low dual-ionization energy, high liquid density and liquid storability at room temperature. Disadvantages were concerns regarding environmental impact associated with ground testing and concerns about eventual cooling and condensation of some of the propellant on the spacecraft in long-duration operations. The first spaceflight to use electric propulsion was a mercury-fueled ion thruster developed by NASA Lewis and flown on the Space Electric Rocket Test "SERT-1" spacecraft launched by NASAat its Wallops Flight Facility in 1964. The SERT-1 flight was followed up by the SERT-2 flight in 1970. Mercury and caesium were preferred propellants for ion engines until Hughes Research Laboratory performed studies finding xenon gas to be a suitable replacement. Xenon is now the preferred propellant for ion engines as it has a high molecular weight, little or no reactivity due to itsnoble gas nature, and has a high liquid density under mild cryogenic storage.[70][71]
Others applications made use of the chemical properties of mercury:
- The mercury battery is a non-rechargeable electrochemical battery, a primary cell, that was common throughout the middle of the 20th century. It was used in a wide variety of applications and was available in various sizes, particularly button sizes. Its constant voltage output and long shelf life gave it a niche use for camera light meters and hearing aids. The mercury cell was effectively banned in most countries in the 1990s due to concerns about the mercury contaminating landfills.
- Mercury was used for preserving wood, developing daguerreotypes, silvering mirrors, anti-fouling paints (discontinued in 1990), herbicides (discontinued in 1995), handheld maze games, cleaning, and road leveling devices in cars. Mercury compounds have been used in antiseptics, laxatives, antidepressants, and in antisyphilitics.
- It was allegedly used by allied spies to sabotage Luftwaffe planes: a mercury paste was applied to bare aluminium, causing the metal to rapidly corrode this would cause structural failures.[72]
- Chloralkali process: The largest industrial use of mercury during the 20th century was in electrolysis for separating chlorine and sodium from brine mercury being the anode of the Castner-Kellner process. The chlorine was used for bleaching paper (hence the location of many of these plants near paper mills) while the sodium was used to make sodium hydroxide for soaps and other cleaning products. This usage has largely been discontinued, replaced with other technologies that utilize membrane cells.[73]
- As electrodes in some types of electrolysis, batteries (mercury cells), sodium hydroxide and chlorine production, handheld games, catalysts, insecticides.
- Mercury was once used as a gun barrel bore cleaner.[74][75]
- From the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, a process called "carroting" was used in the making of felt hats. Animal skins were rinsed in an orange solution (the term "carroting" arose from this color) of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate, Hg(NO3)2·2H2O.[76] This process separated the fur from the pelt and matted it together. This solution and the vapors it produced were highly toxic. The United States Public Health Service banned the use of mercury in the felt industry in December 1941. The psychological symptoms associated with mercury poisoning inspired the phrase "mad as a hatter". Lewis Carrolls "Mad Hatter" in his book Alices Adventures in Wonderlandwas a play on words based on the older phrase, but the character himself does not exhibit symptoms of mercury poisoning.[77]
- Gold and silver mining. Historically, mercury was used extensively in hydraulic gold mining in order to help the gold to sink through the flowing water-gravel mixture. Thin mercury particles may form mercury-gold amalgam and therefore increase the gold recovery rates.[5] Large-scale use of mercury stopped in the 1960s. However, mercury is still used in small scale, often clandestine, gold prospecting. It is estimated that 45,000 metric tons of mercury used in California for placer mining have not been recovered.[78] Mercury was also used in silver mining.[79]
Historic medicinal uses
Mercury(I) chloride (also known as calomel or mercurous chloride) has been used in
traditional medicine as a
diuretic, topical
disinfectant, and
laxative.
Mercury(II) chloride (also known as mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate) was once used to treat
syphilis (along with other mercury compounds), although it is so toxic that sometimes the symptoms of its toxicity were confused with those of the syphilis it was believed to treat.
[80] It is also used as a disinfectant.
Blue mass, a pill or syrup in which mercury is the main ingredient, was prescribed throughout the 19th century for numerous conditions including constipation, depression, child-bearing and toothaches.
[81] In the early 20th century, mercury was administered to children yearly as a laxative and dewormer, and it was used in teething powders for infants. The mercury-containing organohalide
merbromin (sometimes sold as Mercurochrome) is still widely used but has been banned in some countries such as the U.S.
[82]
