Does mercury chloride (ii) evaporate at room temperature? [closed]








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Closed 6 years ago.




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if you leave mercury chloride (ii) exposed to air in a room does it evaporate to any significant level which can cause toxicity?




According to [this 1911 *Journal of the American Chemical Society* article (Johnson, F. M. G, *JACS* **1911**, *33*, 777)](http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja02219a001), the vapor pressure of $\ce{HgCl2}$ is 3 mmHg at 152 degrees Celsius. Since the article is behind a paywall, I will reproduce the data below:


$$\begin{array}{|c|c|}
\hline
T/ \mathrm{^\circ C} & P/ \mathrm{mmHg} \\ \hline
152 & 3\\
195 & 20 \\
231 & 82 \\
256 & 198\\
262 & 237 \\
275 & 325\\
278 & 421 \\
283 & 481\\
302 & 754\\
\hline \end{array}$$


The authors did not report values for lower temperatures since their method focused on setting a pressure in the system and then measuring the temperature of sublimation/boiling point. However, using the data and some help from the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship, an estimate for the room temperature vapor pressure is $2.4\times 10^{-4}\ \mathrm{mmHg}$, which assuming you are at 1 atm, is 0.32 parts per million when the atmosphere is saturated. Consult a safety data sheet or other source for toxicity considerations at that exposure level. 


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