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Thermometers

The organic chem teaching labs switched from mercury to non-mercury thermometers in the summer of 1998. This was done for safety and environmental reasons, and with the strong encouragement and support (including financial) of the campus EH&S Department. The current thermometers range from -20° to 150°C. They are filled with a red liquid for easy reading. Occasionally, an experiment calls for a thermometer which can read above 150°C. Our only thermometers which read above this temperature are filled with mercury. If you are given one of these thermometers for special use, you will be advised to handle it very, very carefully so that you do not break it and spill mercury in the labroom. If you do spill mercury, tell your TA and the Lab Coordinator immediately, so that they can properly and promptly clean up the mercury.

Thermometers

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