(Side: Why is it that so many people go "ooh it's neurotoxic!" and when I mention fillings they say "oh but that's different, it's a stable form of mercury mixed with {arsenic, radium, cyanide, other weird thing I don't really want embedded in my flesh}?)

I sure hope I'm missing some secret reason why this wouldn't work well.

I umm.. ehem.. went and maybe umm tired it a little bit after seeing this because it sounded so darn cool. The liquid mercury I've culled from old thermostats had no discernible effect.

Edit: I tried it on a piece of aluminum angle bar. I even tried filing it a little to rough it up. Nothing. Anyone else had any success?

In the article they mention that it would be dangerous to bring mercury to the aircraft's cabin. Well, I have never seen an aircraft cabin where the aluminium fuselage was exposed. Thus, I thought that mercury would corrode all the way to the fuselage. From that to inferring that it would corrode paint as well would not be unreasonable, right?

I think that it would be easier and cheaper to simply fire actual guns at the plane. A hit on a wing will bring down the plane quicker than mercury and hits will be easier.

From that to inferring that it would corrode paint as well would not be unreasonable, right?

It wouldn't, but I think that the article exaggerated the danger a bit. I don't think that the mercury from a single broken thermometer would eat through the floor and reach the fuselage. At least, I've never heard of it happening.

http://www.break.com/index/burning-mercury-experiment.html

Mercury by itself is very toxic. There was a custodian who broke a thermometer in our office building once. That would have been ok - had she not spread it everwhere by playing with it. And, speaking from experience, as someone who broke a thermometer as a kid in his room and was mesmerized by the liquid, I can't blame them. Whole building had to be detox'd - almost spaceman suit E.T. style.

And yet here we are with popsci near the top of HN. I blame Jeff Atwood.

The scariness of the article seems to reside mostly in the comments here and choice of headline. (although the picture of the dissolving I-beam isn't particularly reassuring...)

Both of these comments (in the same thread) do debunk it:

http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i...

http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i...

Dear HN - I love youse guys.

Am I in time for today's Two Minute Hate?

It's important to clean it properly (good ventilation, don't spread it around, don't vacuum clean), but unless you do something really stupid (that would get significant amount vaporized and inhaled), it should be ok.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember if you break a household thermometer is do not panic. The amount of mercury contained in an oral thermometer is small and does not present an immediate threat to human health.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs46.html (CDC Public Health Statement for Mercury)

IIRC I used a paper towel (whilst wearing rubber gloves, with the windows all open) to absorb the mercury and slid it into a plastic bottle and bagged it like 10 times before I went outside to make sure I wasn't exposed too long.

From my understanding they recommend all the precautions, not because like one drop will kill you, but because "it's better safe than sorry". You have an entire lifetime, just like you shouldn't be exposed to a huge dose of radiation, you shouldn't expose yourself to a huge dose of mercury, because fish contain mercury (and my lack of eating fish has likely balanced out any mercury I was actually ever exposed to) and if you eat tons of fish, sucking on broken thermometers and breaking florescent bulbs might just get enough mercury into you to make you nuts... although if you're purposefully exposing yourself to raw mercury to begin with I believe it's probably a moot point.

Too heavy for aviation but potentially useful for fuel cell vehicles.

I know knowledge is power and all that, but I almost wish I hadn't found out about this.

I doubt this would do serious harm to a plane before landing. I doubt if this would even matter in an unpressurized cargo hold because I was always told it evaporated quite quickly at low pressures.

Jees.