Mercury and Mechanical Vs. Solid State Relays:

Mercury:          Solid state:      EMR:

Contains no mercury                                                               No                   Yes                  Yes
Provide air gap isolation:                                                        Yes                  No                   Yes
Photo-coupled isolation of input to output                             No                   Yes                  No
Can accommodate high inrush well                                        Yes                  Yes                  No
Does not have arcing                                                              Yes                  Yes                  No
Quiet operation                                                                       Yes                  Yes                  No
Silent operation                                                                       No                   Yes                  No
Environmentally friendly                                                        No                   Yes                  Yes
Can be mounted at any angle                                                 No                   Yes                  Yes
Does not produce heat or require a heat sink                          Yes                  No                   Yes
Available as a hybrid                                                              No                   Yes                  Yes
Can be used in hazardous environments                                 Yes                  Yes                  Yes
Extremely fast switching                                                        No                   Yes                  No
Is well suited for proportional power control                         No                   Yes                  No
Can be used for phase angle control                                       No                   Yes                  No
Can be exported to other countries easily                               No                   Yes                  Yes
RoHS                                                                                      No                   Yes                  Yes
Millions of operations                                                             Yes                  Yes                  No
Billions of operations                                                             No                   Yes                  No
Contains no moving parts                                                       No                   Yes                  No
Little to no leakage current/voltage w/o snubber                    Yes                  Yes                  Yes
Has input currents as low as 2 mA                                         No                   Yes                  No
Has no inrush on input terminals                                            No                   Yes                  No
Current limited control input available                                   No                   Yes                  No
Fast switching time                                                                 No                   Yes                  No
Easily disposed of                                                                   No                   Yes                  Yes
Consumes minimal power, Input side                                     No                   Yes                  No
Consumes minimal power, output side                                   Yes                  Yes                  Yes
Consumes no power on output side                                        Yes                  No                   Yes
Can be used in variable power applications to save energy    No                   Yes                  No
Risk of fines due to improper handling and disposal             Yes                  No                   No
Universal acceptability globally                                              No                   Yes                  Yes
Easily compatible with industrial control components           No                   Yes                  Yes
Finger safe operation                                                              No                   Yes                  Yes