Mercury Tilt Switch - Old School Accelerometer

[ivaneduardo747]

I HAVE JUST HIT THUMBS UP FOR BOTH OF THE TOP COMMENTS

[NevilleStyke]

I used to have those in my old pinball machines to sense a tilt.

[rhblakeman]

@NevilleStyke They also used a pendulum hanging into a hole in a plate. One side of the switch action was the pendulum and the other the plate, similar to the Operation game where the probe is the pendulum and the edge of the body part is the plate. If the pendulum swung from moving the machine it made contact and triggered the tilt relay. Mercury tilts came later.

[NevilleStyke]

@rhblakeman My old 1963 El Toro (Williams) had both the pendulum and mercury switches wired in parallel.

[MisterAlexUk]

The God of RoHS looks down on you.

[ted3681]

to dispose of it contact a local office that can handle it or try selling it on eBay or try newspaper or crags list make sure you dont sell it to a stupid person or child good luck!. look up how to dispose of mercury on the inter net

[Gintaras]

More like old school gyro.

[fennecfanatic]

@Gintaras Gyroscopes are actually for measuring rotational speed. An accelerometer is what would normally be used these days for what mercury switches were once used for.

[sidthemyth]

not curious enough it may seem

[j0han1]

Mercury does not wet your skin, if it would, it would be bad. Salts of this should be avoided though.

[Mothdust666]

...Wanna see grouse old-school mercury action?

Search mercury rectifier.

[Mothdust666]

I was expecting to see an accelerometer made from mercury switches. Lame.

And mercury's nasty stuff. It's hardcore on the scale of nasty, just under radioactive crap.

[thaSparkaZ]

How you put the flux into the bottle?

[jodex96]

That is Mercury. And that's made in factory I think.

[hate4uall]

mercury is not as bad as u think eating a AA is also bad

[5cottee]

Its a shame this stuff is poisonous :( its looks awsome

[generfeld]

I broke open a thermometer and collected the mercury once...put it in a plastic sandwich bag and played with it for a while...put it on my hand, etc. It's really interesting/cool. Not too healthy though.

[jkgamm041]

That's an old school mercury bulb (switch). The mercury touches both leads and completes the circuit. They have ones even more sensitive. Great for homemade security alarms on your doors or windows. A nasty little device that bomb makers use to use, activated by slight motion.

[CuriousInventor]

any suggestions for the proper way / place to dispose of mercury?

[moron4hire]

perhaps you could do something similar to how paint is usually disposed: by adding kitty litter to the pail. It clumps the paint and prevents it from leaking anyway, specifically the ground and the water table. Disposing of mercury would have similar concerns, so I suspect that whatever you need to do, some sort of solidifying is in order.

[gailgrove]

Noooo! You must take it some where that takes to be recyceled.

[maglight117]

@CuriousInventor go to a recycling center

[macuser7080]

@CuriousInventor check your local codes and or city laws would be first. Most citys have a designated time and place to despose of hazardous materials.

[tomek123kotek]

@CuriousInventor send it to russia

[themoviekidownz]

@CuriousInventor

eat it.

[fennecfanatic]

@CuriousInventor epa[dot]gov/mercury/spills/#di­sposal

[konayasai]

@CuriousInventor You could send it to me; I could use some in upcoming experiments.

[daggaman1]

@CuriousInventor send to meh!

[stevebigler]

@CuriousInventor Send it to me properly wrapped for safety reasons. The safest way to ship it is in a plastic soda bottle... then fill the bottle with water... or tissue. I reuse it in scientific research.

[iulian28ti]

hmmmm, mercury.

pretty dangerous, don't you think ? :P

[MRSketch09]

Risk and success are intertwined my friend.