Mercury In Our World and Community!

Mercury through the Ages
You will explore the historical uses of mercury, starting from ancient cultures in Egypt and China, ending with a 1950s American car classic and everything in between. You can contrast these historical uses with the current uses described in previous sections of this curriculum

The Ancients
Mercury has been known since ancient times. The chemical symbol, Hg, is taken from the Latin, hydrargyrus, meaning "liquid silver". Evidence shows that the Chinese were using mercury before 2000 B.C. The ancients realized mercury was toxic and assigned the task of mining quicksilver to slaves and prisoners. The average life span of miners was 3 years from when they started this hazardous work. Ancient Egyptian tombs contain vials of mercury, demonstrating the ability to mine and refine mercury.

Virtually all mercury is derived from cinnabar, or mercury sulfide (HgS). Red cinnabar is so rich in mercury content that droplets of elemental mercury can be found in samples of the ore. The ore is heated with a reducing agent (such as oxygen, iron, and quicklime) and the mercury vapor is released into vertical columns of water where the mercury liquefies. Since mercury is quite dense, mercury collects at the bottom while most impurities float on the surface where they can be scraped away.

Cinnabar-mercury ore

From the Middle Ages through the Renaissance

During the middle ages, alchemists experimented with various ways of turning metals and other substances into gold. Many used mercury in their processes and many were poisoned, although no one knew the cause at the time.

Alchemist's text

Many of the English monarchs during this period also dabbled in alchemy and some suspect that at least some of their erratic behavior can be explained by mercury poisoning! King Charles II, who became king of England in 1660, was a practicing chemist/alchemist who had his own laboratory. He experienced personality changes late in life and died of kidney failure, probably due to mercury poisoning.

Historians of science have studied the lives of several famous scientists of the period and conclude that historical accounts of certain periods of their lives, which correspond with their use of mercury, exhibit strong evidence of the symptoms of mercury poisoning.

One such notable is Sir Isaac Newton, although historians are quick to point out that the period of suspected mercury poisoning in his life did not occur while he was deriving the calculus or deducing the law of gravitation. Newton also was an alchemist who actually tasted the chemicals he worked with. At age 49, he became emotionally disturbed for a couple years. In 1979, hair strands from his corpse were tested for mercury and were found to contain 75 parts per million. (Normal levels are about 5 parts per million.)

Another scientist who worked with mercury and exhibited some erratic behaviors was chemist and physicist Sir Michael Faraday, discoverer of electricity. He used mercury in his electrical equipment and suffered from memory loss and a nervous breakdown.

Mercury in Medicine

Mercury has been used in a variety of medical remedies for a long time. One of its most important uses was for treatment of syphilis. Since syphilis was rather widespread among the ruling families of Europe and mercury was the most prominent treatment for several centuries, it is surmised that many of these rulers experienced mercury poisoning. The "common man" was also subject to this disease and the treatment was the same-mercury. The following account illustrates how knowledge of this treatment regime was put to good use in a recent archaeological study.

Archaeologists seeking the elusive remains of Fort Clasop, the winter quarters of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805-1806, are getting down to basics-they are looking for the camp's privies. Researchers from the National Park Service, the Museum of the Rockies and the University of Washington are analyzing levels of mercury in the soil at the site, near Astoria Oregon. Mercury was a common Army treatment for syphilis: Meriweather Lewis dispensed it in large doses to the men of the Corps of Discovery.

High levels of the metal in specific soil samples would indicate the site of a privy. "With 33 men there for 106 days, we should be able to find some high concentrations of mercury," said Cindy Orlando, Superintendent of the Fort Clatsop National memorial. Because Army regulations at the time stipulated that privies be locate certain distances from encampments, finding signs of one would make it easier to locate the 50-foot by 50-foot fort.

Route of the Lewis and Clark expedition

Mercury was also part of a common anti-depressive medication formulation used during the 19th century. The following article, entitled "Lincoln's Little Blue Pill," appearing on ABCNews.com on July 17, 2001, shows how users of this medication were probably exchanging one set of symptoms (depression) for another (mercury poisoning.) It also illustrates how the affects of mercury are reversible once the exposure is eliminated.

At one point during a debate, Lincoln reached over and picked up a man by the collar and shook him "until his teeth chattered," according to a study that appears in the summer issue of Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. He became so angry "his voice thrilled and his whole frame shook," the study says. Lincoln only stopped when someone, "fearing that he would shake Ficklin's head off," broke his grip. The study says mercury poisoning may explain Lincoln's behavior. "We wondered how a man could be described as having the patience of a saint in his 50s when only a few years earlier he was subject to outbursts of rage and bizarre behavior," said Dr. Norbert Hirschhorn, a retired public health physician, medical historian and lead author of the study.

Abraham Lincoln during a calmer moment

The study reformulated "blue mass," a common anti-depressive medication of the 19th century that Lincoln took. The study shows that it would have delivered a daily dose of mercury exceeding the current EPA safety standard by nearly 9,000 times. "Mercury poisoning certainly would explain Lincoln's known neurological symptoms: insomnia, tremor and rage attacks," said Dr. Robert G. Feldman, an expert on heavy metal poisoning and co-author of the paper. "But what is even more important, because the behavioral effects of mercury may be reversible, it also explains the composure for which he was famous during his tenure as president.

The ingredients in "blue mass," besides mercury, included licorice root, rose water, honey, sugar and dead rose petals, according to the study. It was compounded with an old-fashioned mortar and pestle and rolled to size on a 19th-century pill tile. The vapor released by two pills in the stomach would have been 40 times the safe limit set by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Health, the researchers found. The amount of solid mercury absorbed from two pills would have been 750 micrograms. The EPA indicates that only up to 21 micrograms of any form of mercury per day may safely be ingested. Someone who consumed the common dose of two to three little pills per day would have been at serious risk for mercury poisoning, the study says. Mercury was also used in antiseptic formulations (e.g. mercurochrome) and anti-itching compounds. (e.g. calamine lotion).

Industrial Mercury

By the 1800s, mercuric nitrate was widely used to soften fur for hats. The resulting exposure of workers lead to a classic syndrome and the phrase "mad as a hatter." In Danbury, Connecticut, a center of hat making, the effects of exposure were characterized as "Danbury Shakes." It was not until 1941 that the use of mercury nitrate in hat making was banned in most states.

One of the world's best-known mercury mines--the Almaden mine in Spain-has been in continuous operation since 400 B.C. Mercury's discovery in California predates the discovery of gold by several years. The discovery of commercial mercury ore bodies led to the development and operation of numerous mines from the 1840s to the early 1960s, from which more than 220,000,000 pounds of elemental mercury were produced. The 1848 discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada created a ready market for mercury produced by the mines in California's Coast Ranges. Mercury forms a relatively insoluble amalgam with gold, and miners used this property to increase gold recovery. An estimated 10 to 30 percent of the mercury was lost to the environment in this process, transported into streams and reservoirs along with the discharged sediments (tailings or ³slickens²) from the hydraulic mining operations. Mercury from hydraulic mining has been transported with sediments downstream into the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary, where it has likely contributed to elevated mercury concentrations in fish, resulting in consumption advisories.

Mercury in the Twentieth Century

Due to its many unique properties, mercury achieved widespread use during the 1900s in industrial, commercial and residential applications. Many of these uses are still occurring today; other uses have been banned or phased out, for example mercury in latex paints, children's sneakers that lit up and maze games.

One particularly interesting use of mercury that has since been eliminated was in cars. Up to 40 pounds of mercury were incorporated into the road leveling device on one model of late 1950s Studebaker. Who knows what happened to all that mercury and are the vintage Studebaker owners of today aware of what is in their vehicles? (Other uses of mercury in cars, such as in tilt switches which control trunk lights, have not been totally phased out as of yet.)

Mercury In Our World and What Can You Do!

Activity 8 - Mercury through the ages
Using the attached, "Unique Properties of Mercury" and the Mercury though the Ages information have the students complete the following activity.

For each of the following historic uses of mercury, indicate the unique property(s) of mercury that forms the basis for this use and, if time permits, think of or research a non-mercury alternative to that use.

Mercury In Our World and Community!

Mercury Right Here and Now!

You may have already started by eliminating mercury in your school and home or maybe you reduced your energy consumption. Now it is time to take even greater action. In order to take community action you need to know where your community stands. Have the students find out what people know or do not know about mercury by conducting the "Local Survey about Mercury". Once the students have done this, have them report on their findings and the implications of those findings to the full group.

Activity 9 - A Local Survey About Mercury

Objectives:
Students will:

1. design and conduct a survey of their community on the subject of mercury;
2. evaluate the results of the survey and develop an action plan to address the survey findings.

Materials:

• Sample Survey

Background:

• Are residents in your community concerned about mercury?
• Do any businesses use mercury in their operations?
• Does your community have the cleanup equipment to handle a mercury spill?
• Do residents in your community know about the health threats of mercury?
• Are any lakes in your region listed in the state fish advisory?
• Do anglers care?
  

One method of finding answers to these questions and others is to design a survey and conduct it in your community. It is an interactive process that requires preparation, involvement and interpretation. The results can lead students to take an active role in tackling an environmental problem in their community.

Several different methods can be used to study information and opinions about environmental issues. Here are 2 different methods.

Surveys can be used to collect information about environmental
conditions in your school and community. They focus on information about a specific problem in a certain area.
Example: How many mercury thermometers do you have in your home?

Opinionnaires measure the beliefs or opinions of people at a specific time. They are that person's opinion - which may or may not be accurate or correct. For example:

I believe mercury is dangerous to human health.

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Before a method is selected, it is important that students carefully decide the exact information that needs to be collected, the geographic area they want to cover, and the target population that will be surveyed. A combination of methods can also be used. Accurate collection of the information is next. The students should prepare a data summary sheet to record their information.

Once the data has been collected, students will be challenged to interpret the information and suggest ways to share their results and actions that need to be taken.

A valuable book to assist you in developing and utilizing surveys is, "Investigating and Evaluating Environmental Issues and Actions: Skill Development Modules", by Harold Hungerford and others. Stipes Publishing Company, 10-12 Chester Street, Champaign, IL 61820

Procedure:
1. Have the students use the sample survey or design a new one to conduct a community survey on the topic of mercury. Students are encouraged to add new questions especially targeted at their community.
2. Students will identify a target audience and conduct the survey. Target audiences could include: homeowners, adults, students, or teachers.
3. Tabulate and analyze the results of the survey and prepare a report. Students should then identify various action steps they could take to increase the knowledge of the target audience on the subject of mercury.

Sample Mercury Survey

Hello, my name is _______________________. I am a student at _____________School. I am doing research on mercury in our community. I would like to ask you several questions about this topic. The survey will take about 10 minutes.

Person Responding: Male ____ Female ____
Age: <20 ____ 20-40 ____ 40-60 ____ 60+ ____

1. Do you consider mercury dangerous to human health?
Yes ____ No ____
2. In the last year, have you heard or read of any local or national news story that describes an incident involving mercury? Yes ____ No ____
3. Do you fish?
Yes ____ No ____
If yes, have you consulted the state fish advisory that describes the warnings for eating fish from certain bodies of water?
Yes ____ No ____

For each of the following statements, tell me whether you strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree.
4. All thermometers contain mercury.

5. Mercury should be stored in locked cabinets if it is used at school.

6. Switches and thermostats that contain mercury should be clearly labeled.

Please rate on a scale of 1 (not important) to 5 (very important) the following statements:

7. Mercury should be banned from use in children's toys.

8. Non-essential uses of mercury should be phased out in our community.

9. Firefighters and emergency personnel should be trained to handle a mercury spill.

Please answer True or False to the following:

T ____ F ____ 10. Mercury spills in schools have resulted in evacuations and expensive cleanups.
T ____ F ____ 11. Several different cultures use mercury for ceremonial or religious purposes.
T ____ F ____ 12. Once mercury gets into your body, it may stay there for several weeks.
T ____ F ____ 13. The burning of fossil fuels like coal releases mercury into the air.

Please answer the following questions:
14. What would you do if you found a jar of mercury in your basement?

15. Do you read and follow the advice given in our state's Fish Consumption Advisory? Why or Why not?

16. What are the symptoms of mercury poisoning?

17. Circle the household items that may contain mercury.

Thank you.

Mercury In Our World and Community
Now may be the time to take community action. Your class or a group of students may wish to develop a community action plan. This activity can be done at the beginning of the project; then you will need to revise the plan based on what the students learned from the previous activities. Or you may wish to do the plan at the end of your class mercury activities.

Activity 10- Mercury Community Action Projects

Objective:
Students will develop and implement an action plan to reduce the concerns and impacts of mercury in their community.

Materials:
Background materials in this set of activities.

Background:
Your students will be participating the "real world"! Completing a "Community Action Project" is based on the following assumptions:

• Society must solve community environmental issues with participation from its young members.
  
• Students need to know they can be forces for constructive change.
  
• Students need the opportunity to investigate and act upon a problem of their choice to increase their motivation to learn.
  
• The school and its community need to be connected to show relevance to the real world. The classroom is part of the community and the community is part of the classroom.

The Community Action Project will provide the students an opportunity to apply the knowledge they have acquired about mercury to improve how mercury is handled in the community. The students will use skills in research, investigation, problem-solving and working in groups.

Procedure
Students can undertake this activity as a class or in groups. They will brainstorm a list of recommendations for their community on mercury reduction. Based on this list, they will choose one activity and develop an action plan that will include the following:

• Identify the problem to be addressed
  
• List methods to address the problem
  
• Select the best action
  
• Determine the resources needed to complete the plan
  
• Identify possible partners for the program
  
• Develop a time line
  
• Implement the project
  
• Evaluate the project and suggest changes for future efforts
  

The class or groups will then implement their action plan.

The following are some possible activities that the students can develop for action plans:

• Organize a community outreach program about mercury; for example display and handout(s) about mercury and take it to various public venues.
• Discuss mercury spill prevention and clean up with school janitorial staff, local fire department and/or Hazmat (hazardous materials) Team.
• Promote a mercury or household hazardous waste collection program in your community.
• Design and print labels for equipment that contains mercury and work with school janitorial staff, nursing homes and/or others to place these on mercury thermostats and other equipment;
• Check store inventories and work with store owners to ensure that no mercury-containing games (e.g. maze games or toys) are being sold to small children.
• "Adopt" a hospital, or nursing home
  and work with them to minimize their use of mercury and safely recycle their existing mercury.
• Work with your electric utility to promote a mercury thermostat recycling program.
• Perform mercury school audits for grade schools and middle schools in your school district.
• Determine if there are any rules pertaining to mercury in your community or state, and if not, start a campaign to establish rules.
• Investigate what popular stores in your community or state are doing concerning the selling of items that contain mercury (Walgreens, Walmart, Home Depot, etc.)
• Other ideas from the students