03-12-2006, 02:30 AM
Well, I'm sure you'll get lots of different responses to this one. My personal feeling is that you should get out the vacuum, suck all the pieces up, forget about it and be done with it. Whatever mercury vapor was in there is gone, and elemental mercury (of which there is probably little, anyway) is relatively harmless, despite common misconceptions about it.
I've heard that you can cool it down to harden it up, and then sweep the pieces into the dustpan, but I'm not sure about it, really. I just don't think there's enough mercury to worry about. I have no idea what the correct procedure to dispose of it is, and I'd hate to see the fire department and special disposal units have to come out because you dropped a bulb (they almost certainly would in a school, unfortunately).
Good luck, and I say don't stress about it.
-Tofer
I've heard that you can cool it down to harden it up, and then sweep the pieces into the dustpan, but I'm not sure about it, really. I just don't think there's enough mercury to worry about. I have no idea what the correct procedure to dispose of it is, and I'd hate to see the fire department and special disposal units have to come out because you dropped a bulb (they almost certainly would in a school, unfortunately).
Good luck, and I say don't stress about it.
-Tofer