Is dissolved mercury absorbed by plastics?
May 19, 2010
From our technical expert and training course lecturer Jan Frank Mars:
“Do dissolved metals (like mercury) absorb in PE tubing or well material?
The answer is no! All plastics are made of non-polar molecules, this implies plastics are hydrophobic. Dissolved metals are positively charged ions, which “love” to be in the aquatic phase -water is a polar molecule- and is repelled by non-polars.
For this reason salts easily dissolve in water and do not dissolve in petrol. Whereas volatiles like benzene (non-polar molecules) are easily absorbed in plastics.”
Jan Frank Mars
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