From the 'Bad Ideas' file
Reminds me of a conversation with Peter Graneau one evening when he called me to discuss a railgun experiment. I had read about his mercury fountains, but he described his experiments as "shooting mercury right in your face", and I kinda rolled my eyes and wondered ....
Mercury diffusion pumps used to be common in vacuum systems. Oil diffusion pumps produced molecular fragments of many different weights, so tended to act as contaminants in mass spectrometer applications. Mercury produced only a small cluster of mercury peaks, easier to work around. Not recommended for casual use, though.
Mercury diffusion pumps used to be common in vacuum systems. Oil diffusion pumps produced molecular fragments of many different weights, so tended to act as contaminants in mass spectrometer applications. Mercury produced only a small cluster of mercury peaks, easier to work around. Not recommended for casual use, though.