Mercury thermometer broke in dishwasher

[FightingChance]

My roommate, who is kind of retarded, but a meat thermometer in the dishwasher. After the cycle, the thermometer was found to be broken and all the mercury gone.

What now? Has all the mercury been washed away, or is it now in all the dishes that were in there? I'd really like to avoid taking on any more heavy metals than I have to.

 

[silverpig]

Are you sure it was mercury?

 

[warmodder]

Wouldn't it have been washed away when the dishwasher drained? I don't think it should be a problem.

 

[Fenixgoon]

That, and most thermometers are alcohol based these days, IIRC

 

[Zenmervolt]

Mercury has not been widely used in anything other than meteorological thermometers for many years. Most likely the thermometer used either Alcohol or some other amalgam that had no mercury in it unless it was really, really old.

ZV

 

[FightingChance]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Are you sure it was mercury?

Pretty sure. I can't imagine what else would be in a meat thermometer.

While I imagine most of, or at least the visible amount of mercury has been washed away, I'm concerned it either coated the silverware or is still in the dishwasher somehow. Can mercury become a vapor/mist?

Edit: It was an alcohol thermometer as previously suggested. Phew.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: FightingChance

Originally posted by: silverpig
Are you sure it was mercury?

Pretty sure. I can't imagine what else would be in a meat thermometer.

While I imagine most of, or at least the visible amount of mercury has been washed away, I'm concerned it either coated the silverware or is still in the dishwasher somehow. Can mercury become a vapor/mist?

Most meat thermometers are spring based. And as the others have said, mercury hasn't been used in thermometers for a long long time. And I'm quite sure they'd not be used in food.

Yes mercury can vaporize, but you can google it's boiling temperature.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: FightingChance

Originally posted by: silverpig
Are you sure it was mercury?

Pretty sure. I can't imagine what else would be in a meat thermometer.

Any number of other non-toxic amalgams.

When was it purchased? If it was purchased in the last 20 years, it certainly isn't mercury. If in the last 10 years, it almost certainly is not mercury.

I've never seen a meat thermometer that used liquid though. I've only ever seen them as dial-type thermometers that use a bi-metallic strip or as LCD thermometers that use a thermosensor (usually a thermistor of some sort), neither of which would ever have used mercury.

ZV