Difficult choices as death nears. As the changes described in this article develop in the final days or hours of a progressive terminal illness, difficult choices may arise. There may be questions about whether to provide food and fluids, receive blood transfusions, or treat infections.
The use of mercury in thermometers dates back hundreds of years. It was widely used because it reliably expands and contracts with changes in temperatures. It is highly poisonous, however, and can enter the body through the respiratory or digestive tracts, or directly through the skin.
Mercury is a liquid at room temperature, it will solidify if you make cold enough, -40 C and be gas if you make it hot eno â¦ ugh, +357 C. It expands and contracts easily in this liquid form, which is why old thermometers used it. Arsenic Facts A chemical element, or an element, is a material which cannot be broken down or changed into another substance using chemical means. 2  By definition, arsenic is a chemical elemâ¦.