Skip to main content
Like
Create new Glog
previous
next
Email share
95 views | 0 likes | 0 reposts
Hg
Mercury, aka quicksilver, has a safe toxicity level of 15 ppm. Today, mercury, is the leading cause for heavy metal toxicity. Mercury toxicity has been around since the first century, when the Roman's prisoners worked in cinnabar mines. Hat makers in the 1800s were exposed to mercury and led to insanity, which started the phrase ''mad as a hatter.''
Most of the mercury found in our environment comes from volcanos, but other large sources are power plants (where mercury hasn't been removed from the gas,) gold production, smelters, and cement production. No mater its source, mercury will get into any nearby bodies of water., where it will contaminate the inhabitants which inturn poison those that eat them.
Mercury is used in thermometers, in the production of mascara, flourescent light bulbs, medicine (though it is much less common nowadays,) and in some dental fillings.
The fish themselves have very little to fear from mercury, as it just builds up in their tissues. But for anyone who eats those fish, humans, eagles, loons, minks, otters, they get mercury poisoning. For animals, this means that it either gets stored in the kidney or liver, and is slowly eliminated. But sometimes, in females, it will affect any eggs or babies she may have, resulting in altered behavior, slowed growth, or impaired reproduction. When humans are exposed to/consume large amounts of mercury, it can cause damage to our nervous system as well as our kidneys.
MERCURY
http://www.naturalnews.com/cartoons/seafood-mercury-warning_600.jpg
http://theiguana.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/mercury.jpg
ATOMIC NUMBER 80
ATOMIC MASS 220.59
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL0M_6bfzkU
