Phase Out
As of 2012 many mercury-in-glass thermometers are used in meteorology; however, they were becoming increasingly rare for other uses, as many countries banned them for medical use due to the toxicity of mercury. Some manufacturers use galinstan, a liquid alloy of gallium, indium, and tin, as a replacement for mercury.
The typical "fever thermometer" contains between 0.5 to 3 g (.3 to 1.7 dr) of elemental mercury. Swallowing this amount of mercury would, it is said, pose little danger but the inhaling of the vapour could lead to health problems.
Read more about this topic: Mercury-in-glass Thermometer
Famous quotes containing the word phase:
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)