Barometer is safe alternative to mercury instrument.November 15, 2002 - Consisting of 64 in. U-shaped tube filled with red, non-toxic silicon fluid and gas, Eco-celli® Barometer is mercury-free liquid barometer that is as accurate as standard liquid barometers but contain no hazardous material. Scale slides between 32 in. methyl-alcohol thermometer and barometer to compensate for thermal expansion of silicon fluid due to changes in room temperature and provides accurate, easy-to-obtain results.
(Archive News Story - Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)
Original Press release
Allivan Marketing
25 Appaloosa Cir., PO Box 320
Tyngsboro, MA, 01879
USA
Hazardous Material Removed from Weather Instrument Used in Many Homes and Schools
Tyngsboro, MA - Evangelista Torricelli invented the first liquid barometer in 1643, and it could have contributed to his death in 1647 at age 39. Because of its physical properties, Torricelli used liquid mercury in a 32-inch long tube to indicate air pressure, and all liquid barometers have been made virtually the same since. Mercury has been used for hundreds of years in the production of many products including paints, herbicides, medical instruments, thermometers and barometers. We now know
mercury to be one of the 20 most dangerous elements on earth. Despite this knowledge, it is still present all round us, including in many homes and schools. There is enough mercury in a single oral thermometer to contaminate a 14-acre pond. This has prompted dozens of government and municipal agencies across the country to take steps to remove mercury thermometers from daily use by allowing trade-ins for mercury-free thermometers. Interestingly, a mercury barometer can fill over 100 oral thermometers, yet no steps have been taken to safely replace mercury barometers because-until now-a safe alternative was not available.
After 350 years, there is a mercury-free, completely safe alternative to the traditional Torricelli mercury instrument. Invented in 1998 in Belgium, Allivan is introducing this first mercury-free liquid barometer to the US. Patented as the "Eco-celli® Barometer, this instrument is just as accurate as the standard liquid barometer but contains no hazardous mercury.
"Mercury pollution of our air and water is a major environmental
problem," says meteorologist Russ Christie for Allivan, the distributor of the Eco-celli®. "Now with the introduction of the Eco-celli Barometer, mercury barometers can follow the same path to obsolescence as the mercury thermometer."
The Eco-celli® Barometer consists of a 64-inch long U-shaped tube filled with a red, non-toxic silicon fluid and gas. Adjacent to the barometer tube is a 32-inch long methyl-alcohol thermometer. A truly unique scale slides between the thermometer and barometer to compensate for the thermal expansion of the silicon fluid due to changes in room temperature, providing an accurate, easy-to-obtain reading.
Christie adds, "In addition to being in countless homes, mercury barometers are often used in grammar, middle and high schools as an instructional tool in science curriculum. Breaking one of these traditional mercury instruments in a school would necessitate closing it for several days while a HAZMAT team decontaminates the building. That's how dangerous mercury is!"
Given that the Eco-celli is just as accurate, easier to read, terrific looking and half the price of a traditional mercury Torricelli, it makes no sense to have a hazardous mercury barometer in your home or school any longer. For additional information and product images, visit the Allivan web site at http://www.allivanmktg.com.
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