Zyra International //// Mercury //// Site Index

Where to Get some Mercury
Basic guidance on how to acquire some of the liquid metal mercury:


If you would like to get some mercury, perhaps a small jar of the liquid metal, for your own experimental purposes, here are a few things you should know:

* Mercury is a much misunderstood and feared substance and is sometimes regarded as "waste" when it should be regarded as "resource". So, it's sometimes possible to find some mercury in the form of old mercury rectifiers, mercury switches, and other industrial electrical engineering items, in scrap yards, or in disregarded areas of industrial estates. It's worth asking around.

* You can buy laboratory quality mercury from chemistry suppliers, but it's not cheap, and you need to be a company as the chemistry supply companies sometimes feel silly delivering stuff to a residential address!

* Do not break thermometers, barometers, and other small scientific instruments, to get the tiny amount of mercury out. It's wasteful, expensive, and the quantity of mercury is too small to demonstrate the nature of the material to best effect.

* By far the best way to get hold of a moderate amount of mercury for your own personal experimental uses is: Put up a free advertisement somewhere! "Wanted: liquid metal mercury" ... This is likely to do well as it's often the case that there as many people who want to part with some mercury as there are people who would like to get some mercury! This page at Zyra's website is one of a matched pair of pages, the other being How to Get Rid of Some Mercury! (please note that I will not enter into mercury dealing, matching buyers to sellers, etc).

* If you manage to get some mercury, you must take moral responsibility for what you do with it. It is beholden upon you to look after the stuff and make sure it does not end up poisoning someone. It shouldn't be released into the environment, and it must not be spilled anywhere it can't be completely recovered. Mercury metal has a variety of safety hazards associated with it including its toxicity, effects of conductivity and being a liquid versus electrical equipment, weight, and dynamics. Knowledge and understanding the physics can save you from problems. Being an atomic element, it can't be destroyed, and eventually the guardianship should to be passed on to someone else. It is a valuable resource, recyclable, and useful. So, it's to be considered an asset, not a liability.

* How much is mercury worth? There is an official price, quoted on the stock exchange, like there is for gold. It's quoted on the commodities market, on the metals market, and when searching for it you may find it's worth knowing that mercury is officially quoted per 76lb flask. Don't ask me what the current price is, but instead look up "mercury per 76lb flask". Last time I looked it was 700 dollars per flask. This has almost no bearing on the unofficial buying and selling or free transfer of small jam jars of mercury for personal experiments, where the important thing is not the price, but trusting the other person has enough knowledge and good sense to do the right thing.


The writer of this page takes no liability for you doing the right or wrong things with the elment mercury whether you follow the advice on this page or not! Do what you will, and at your own risk be it! Use common sense and personal responsibility! Also, it's up to you to get some mercury if that is what you intend to do. I'll not be a dating agency to match up mercury acquisition and disposal partners!