Mercury is one of the few metals that is liquid at ordinary temperatures. It is a shiny, mobile liquid, silver-white in color. Mercury has many properties that make it useful.a mercury thermometer For example, mercury expands and contracts evenly when heated or cooled. It also remains liquid over a wide range of temperatures. These properties make mercury an ideal component of thermometers, barometers, and other scientific instruments.
Mercury conducts electricity and is used in some electric switches and relays to make them operate silently and efficiently. Industrial chemical manufacturers use mercury in electrolysis cells to change substances with electricity. Mercury vapor, used in fluorescent lamps, gives off light when electricity passes through it.
Mercury combines with all the common metals, except iron and platinum, to form alloys called amalgams. In one method of extracting gold and silver from their ores, the metals are amalgated with mercury; the mercury is then removed by distillation. Another amalgam, with silver, is used by dentists to fill cavities in teeth. Many dry cell batteries contain amalgams of zinc and cadmium to prevent impurities from shortening the life of the battery.
Mercurous compounds include mercurous chloride, also called calomel, and mercurous sulfate. Calomel is an antiseptic used to kill bacteria. Scientists use mercurous sulfate to speed up certain tests on organic compounds. Mercuric compounds include mercuric chloride, a powerful poison that surgeons once used to disinfect wounds. Mercuric chloride is also called corrosive submercuric fulminate of mercury. Most ammunition uses mercuric fulminate to set off its explosive. Paint manufacturers use mercuric sulfide in making a red pigment called vermillion. Several organic mercuric compounds have important medical uses. For example, some medicines called diuretics, which physicians use to treat kidney disease, contain these compounds. The antiseptic Mercurochrome is also a mercuric compound.
Mercury ranks about 67th in natural abundance among the elements in crustal rocks. Most of the mercury used by people comes from an ore called cinnabar. To obtain pure mercury, refiners heat cinnabar in a flow of air. Oxygen in the air combines with sulfur in the ore, forming sulfur dioxide gas and leaving mercury behind. Antoine Laurent one knows who discovered mercury, but the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus, and Romans knew about the metal, and ancient alchemists made use of it in their experiments. It was first distinguished as an element by the French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier in his classical experiment on the composition of air.
Mercury was named for the swift messenger of the gods in Roman mythology. Its symbol, Hg, comes from the Latin word for quicksilver, hydrargyrum. Its atomic weight is 200.59; its atomic number is 80. Mercury melts at -37.97° F (-38.87° C) and boils at 673.84° F (356.58° C)
Mercury conducts electricity and is used in some electric switches and relays to make them operate silently and efficiently. Industrial chemical manufacturers use mercury in electrolysis cells to change substances with electricity. Mercury vapor, used in fluorescent lamps, gives off light when electricity passes through it.
Mercury combines with all the common metals, except iron and platinum, to form alloys called amalgams. In one method of extracting gold and silver from their ores, the metals are amalgated with mercury; the mercury is then removed by distillation. Another amalgam, with silver, is used by dentists to fill cavities in teeth. Many dry cell batteries contain amalgams of zinc and cadmium to prevent impurities from shortening the life of the battery.
Mercurous compounds include mercurous chloride, also called calomel, and mercurous sulfate. Calomel is an antiseptic used to kill bacteria. Scientists use mercurous sulfate to speed up certain tests on organic compounds. Mercuric compounds include mercuric chloride, a powerful poison that surgeons once used to disinfect wounds. Mercuric chloride is also called corrosive submercuric fulminate of mercury. Most ammunition uses mercuric fulminate to set off its explosive. Paint manufacturers use mercuric sulfide in making a red pigment called vermillion. Several organic mercuric compounds have important medical uses. For example, some medicines called diuretics, which physicians use to treat kidney disease, contain these compounds. The antiseptic Mercurochrome is also a mercuric compound.
Mercury ranks about 67th in natural abundance among the elements in crustal rocks. Most of the mercury used by people comes from an ore called cinnabar. To obtain pure mercury, refiners heat cinnabar in a flow of air. Oxygen in the air combines with sulfur in the ore, forming sulfur dioxide gas and leaving mercury behind. Antoine Laurent one knows who discovered mercury, but the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus, and Romans knew about the metal, and ancient alchemists made use of it in their experiments. It was first distinguished as an element by the French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier in his classical experiment on the composition of air.
Mercury was named for the swift messenger of the gods in Roman mythology. Its symbol, Hg, comes from the Latin word for quicksilver, hydrargyrum. Its atomic weight is 200.59; its atomic number is 80. Mercury melts at -37.97° F (-38.87° C) and boils at 673.84° F (356.58° C)
