Mercury has been used in many devices, ranging from bulb switches, to
pendulum weights, to sealing steam heating piping from condensate returns.
Quite a bit of mercury was used in barometers, from where the present
weather pressure systems got their nomenclature, such as 29.8 inches of Hg.
Including sensitive thermometers, mercury still has many uses, including
small amounts in every fluorescent light bulb, a hot topic today.

The price of mercury approximates $1,300 a flask of 76 pounds.


on 7/8/11 2:17 PM, Arianne at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Not to mention pints of mercury.  (Where does one run into a PINT of
> mercury?

-- 
Linwood Cottage, Sheffield

Man was made at the end of the week's work, when God was tired.
-- Notebook, 1903; Mark Twain, a Biography