I ran across an article about the release of mercury from wildland fires and thought it might be of interest. The research estimates that fires in parts of the west are major emitters of mercury. Here is an excerpt from the article: "Mercury does not originate in fires. Instead, it comes from industrial and natural sources, often settling into soil and plant matter. Intense fires then release the mercury back into the atmosphere, where it poses a new danger because it can reach sensitive waterways and other areas."
Sorry, I don't know how to post links, but here is the address for the complete article:
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[url "http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/mercury.shtml"]http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/mercury.shtml[/url] [/size][/font]
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congrats you just posted a link. all you have to do is copy the web address in the bar up top and then paste it into your message. when mercury vaporizes with heat, it under goes a chemical change and when that vapor gets into the air....atmosphere...it both bonds with other atoms for another change in chemical identity and forms new compounds. now not all of it will do this but generally speaking a considerable amount of it will be changed, and that which does "land" again would have to land in conditions just right for it to become mercury again, it would have to pick up whatever it was missing atomically even though it is an element that just means it can not be broken down anymore than that, but it will change under different evironments, fire, cold, water (which it does not mix well with its a metal) so typically mercury will sink to the bottom of whatever it is in, or to some area with molecules the same size and weight around so it can "settle" otherwise it is pretty dispersed. the one thing to really rememeber about all that type of stuff is that the EPA has actual yearly exposure limits to this stuff for a "person" that they will allow so much contact every year at a certain level before they will even consider entering a report. so its kind of like the way mom gave out candy, you can have some but not too much....or you will get sick. ta da.
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