Mercury-in-glass thermometers are being heated in flames to have the necks of the glass tubes narrowed at the plant of Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment
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Contributor:
Imaginechina Limited / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
W8HRK6File size:
103.4 MB (2.1 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
7360 x 4912 px | 62.3 x 41.6 cm | 24.5 x 16.4 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
3 February 2015Photographer:
ImaginechinaMore information:
Mercury-in-glass thermometers are being heated in flames to have the necks of the glass tubes narrowed at the plant of Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment & Supply Co., Ltd. in Yancheng city, east China's Jiangsu province, 3 February 2015. Measuring one's body temperature with a glass thermometer is pretty handy, but making the instruments is not so easy. A finished mercury-in-glass thermometer requires at least 25 intricate steps including blending the mercury bulb, crafting the neck of the tube and narrowing the throat. Sadly, such thermometers may soon be phased out as the World Health Organization has slated to ban them for medical use by 2020 due to the toxicity of mercury, and the Chinese government has also commited to start to phase out the use of the thermometer from 2016. Now about 120 million mercury-in-glass thermometers are manufactured in China every year. Some manufacturers have therefore started to use galinstan, a liquid alloy of gallium, indium, and tin, as a replacement for mercury.