Is this bad?

[Feralpeg]

I had a barometer like the one below until about an hour ago. My dog knocked it off and broke it. The smell from it was horrible. It smelled a lot like alcohol. Does anyone know what is in one of these things? Is it bad for a person? I mopped it up as fast as I could and opened the door to air things out, but I'm sure we inhaled quite a bit in the process. I doubt that there was mercury in it, but I don't really know. I do know that Mercury is not a good thing.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Im guessing its not mercury. We have one at the daycare center and my boss wouldnt allow it if it were mercury.

 

[FireDancer]

Well, you would know if it was mercury and since it is liquid it rules out aneroid which uses two different metals. I am going to guess it was either water or alcohol.

 

[Feralpeg]

I did end up calling poison control. It turns out that it contained white spirits. It is a substance often used by painters. It can be toxic after long exposure, but not with such a brief exposure. It is considered an irritant and can give a person a headache. I already had a headache from the dogs!

Thanks for your help, folks!

 

[tink1969]

I had the exact same barometer in a window. About a month ago the cat knocked it over. The glass was everywhere on my carpet and liquid splashed down the wall and a huge area of the carpet was soaked.
I immediately wiped down the wall with water then cleaned with TSP.
I vacuumed the glass and steamed cleamed the liquid ASAP.
There is no evidence left on the wall or my carpet.
I just vacuumed the whole area about three times to make sure I picked up all the tiny bits of glass. (Love the Dyson vacuum by the way)
I too thought there was mercury in the liquid because of the smell, but realized that wasn't the case.
The odor sure was bad!!

 

[CathrynRose]

Oh, we dropped one of those. We're still alive....so far.

I don't think it's mercury.