How to use Personal Home Mercury Test Kit

 

Personal Mercury Test Kit

Number 80 on the "periodic table" of elements

Preparation of Test Solutions

1. Remove the 3 small plastic ampoules from the large test tube
2. In the empty large test-tube, add 6 ml. of the solution to be tested
3. Add the colorless liquid from the blue cap vial (reagent 2) to the solution to be tested in the large test tube ("combined solutions"). Turn the test large test tube gently up and down a few times (at least 3) to make sure that the 2 liquids are well mixed together
4. Add the colorless liquid from the clear cap vial (reagent 1) to the reddish brown substance in the red cap vial (reagent 3). Close the cap of the red cap vial and shake until the reddish-brown substance has been mostly dissolved ("mixed solution"). This might take a little while
5. The solutions are now ready for testing

Conducting the test

1. Pour the "mixed solutions" (reagents 1 and 3) in the vial with the reddish brown substance into the large test-tube containing the "combined solutions" (reagent 2 and solution to be tested)
2. Allow combined solutions in the large test-tube to settle for 6 minutes - no shaking is required but you may have to tilt the test tube or "roll" it gently a few times to make sure the solutions are mixed well to obtain a true and accurate color change
3. Compare the color of the combined solutions in the large test-tube to the color strip provided. In case of comparison difficulties, try holding the test-tube against the color strip just above liquid level of large test-tube. Move along the color strip until color of solution matches with that of the color strip
4. The number on the color strip indicates the concentration of mercury ions present in the solution in ppm
5. If the concentration of the mercury ions is higher than 2 ppm the solution will change into a strong pink color after a period of time
6. If the concentration is extremely low or no mercury ions are present, the color of the solution will clear and become almost colorless after a period of time. However, when saliva is tested and there are strong digestive enzymes present, these digestive enzymes may affect the final color. Instead of becoming colorless, the solution may turn into a different color (such as green)

Test Interference:
The test results can be affected by the presence of ions from gold, silver, palladium, rhodium, platinum, iridium, ruthenium ("noble metals") as well as tin.

Color strip

The numbers indicate concentration in ppm



Sample of a HMT Mercury Test kit with color strip for results analysis