Leaky barometer linked to mercury spill

Thursday, February 24, 2011

A leaking barometer is the likely cause of the mercury spill that temporarily closed Mountain Home High School last week.

The nearly 50-year-old device, which was not used last Monday night in the BSU basic chemistry course taught in the science laboratory at the high school, appears to have sprung a leak in one of its gaskets, the instructor for the class that night said.

The instructor, Neil, Hillesland, is a retired Mountain Home High School chemistry teacher.

For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition.

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there is the answer for all you overly dramatic people.

-- Posted by shockwave on Thu, Feb 24, 2011, at 11:18 AM
I'm so sorry that this great tragedy happened. It was cause for great alarm.(ha)

When I was a kid,(yes, in the good old days)

we used to break open thermometers to get the mercury out and play with it, with no apparent effects. "They" say that we get mercury in our tuna fish, also.

I guess I must have a superhuman immune system.

Our government is full of overreacting buffoons that want to intrude in every aspect of our lives under the guise of "protecting" us.

There was a simple solution:

have the school custodian scrape the mercury up and properly dispose of it.

Sheesh.

-- Posted by Franco8274 on Thu, Feb 24, 2011, at 12:31 PM

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