Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 10 November 1972:
Vol. 178. no. 4061, pp. 611 - 612
DOI: 10.1126/science.178.4061.611
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Mercury Detection by Means of Thin Gold Films

John J. McNerney 1, Peter R. Buseck 1, and Roland C. Hanson 2

1 Departments of Chemistry and Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe 85281
2 Department of Physics, Arizona State University

The adsorption of elemental mercury vapor on a thin (several hundred angstroms) gold film produces resistance changes in the film. An instrument for the detection of mercury based on this phenomenon is simple and rapid and requires no chemical separations other than passage of the vapor sample through a few standard dry filters. The instrument is portable, and the technique is directly applicable to environmental problems and geochemical prospecting. The limit of detection of the prototype instrument is 0.05 nanogram of mercury.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Preliminary studies on mercury solubility in the presence of iron oxide phases using static headspace analysis.
(2003)
Environmental Geosciences 10, 151-155
Mercury Exposure From Dental Amalgam Fillings: Absorbed Dose and the Potential for Adverse Health Effects.
J.R. Mackert Jr and A. Berglund (1997)
Critical Reviews in Oral Biology & Medicine 8, 410-436
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Soil Radon and Elemental Mercury Distribution and Relation to Magmatic Resurgence at Long Valley Caldera.
S. N. Williams and S. N. WILLIAMS (1985)
Science 229, 551-553
   Abstract »    PDF »
Clinical Science: Intra-oral Air Mercury Released from Dental Amalgam.
M.J. Vimy and F.L. Lorscheider (1985)
Journal of Dental Research 64, 1069-1071
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Effect of Dental Amalgams on Mercury Levels in Expired Air.
C.W. Svare, L.C. Peterson, J.W. Reinhardt, D.B. Boyer, C.W. Frank, D.D. Gay, and R.D. Cox (1981)
Journal of Dental Research 60, 1668-1671
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)