What is so special about Mercury (the metal)?
The ancients thought they would live longer taking it, and stocked up on it, and even now people have a thing about it.
Is there some thing special about it, is it rare like gold, or is it just pretty?
Answers:
The main reason is that it is special is because it is a liquid at room temperature, unlike the vast majority of other metals. It has a high density, so that makes it excellent for use in thermometers and barometers (Pressure measurement). Often moderate pressures, and more especially vacuum, is still quoted in terms of inches or mm of mercury (1 atmosphere pressure is approximately 30" or 760 mm Hg). It was also historically widely used in the manufacture of sodium hydroxide and chlorine from salt.
Unfortunately, it is not used as much these days as it is highly toxic by ingestion, and by skin contact.
Ironically, though, it is still used in dental amalgams for making fillings, simply because a better alternative has not been found. I believe it is, though, being phased out, and is banned in some countries. It is also used in the preparation child vaccinations in extremely low concentrations. There is also some concern over this, although this is also being phased out where practicable.
One of the most fascinating things I found about Mercury was when my science teacher (Many years ago) was pushing it across a wooden bench with a pen. Firstly, the high surface tension meant that it was almost a perfect sphere. Secondly, unlike water, oil etc., it did not leave a trail behind it. Finally, if you split it up into separate droplets, they would really easily join together to make one larger droplet as soon as they came into contact with one another.
It is probably these last fascinating properties that make it so special in many peoples minds.
It's silver it's quick and it's poisonous
Mercury is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Hg.
Mercury is one of five elements that are liquid at or near standard room temperature (the others are the metals caesium, francium, and gallium, and the nonmetal bromine)
Mercury should be handled with care. Containers of mercury should be securely sealed to avoid spills and evaporation. Heating of mercury, or compounds of mercury that may decompose when heated, should always be carried out with adequate ventilation in order to avoid human exposure to mercury vapor. Most of its compounds are highly toxic, especially its inorganic compounds.
Fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic organic compound of mercury.
It's the only metal that's liquid at room temperature. And I think (might be making this bit up) that under certain circumstances it will actually move aware if you try and touch it,
So it if fairly special.
it is a metal but a liquid at room temperature
It's liquid at room temp and it dose look pretty. But can you imagine how many people have died trying to find cures to everlasting life. I bet more people have died trying to solve that answer than some of the bloodiest wars.
Its a metal but it is liquid at room temperature which makes it strange and unusual.
It is pretty and poisonous too.
The 1st Emperor of China thought it conferred longevity and he drank it; it made him mad and killed him. Legend has it that under his tomb is an enormous lake of the stuff, in the form of a map of the known world (when he lived)
Soil samples from the area indicate very high levels of mercury but the Chinese believe in letting the ancestors rest in peace and so will not permit excavation so we may never know the truth of it.
It must be ever so clever, I've got some in a wood and brass thingy in a glass tube, and ...wait for it, It knows the exact temperature. how clever is that.
I used to have a jar, teachers got freaked out when i used to pour it on the table.
People do say its poisonous, but i drank the bottle and it didn't do me any harm - about half a pint. I guess you're supposed to inject it or something to kill yourself.
Pretty stuff
edit: I disagree with the statement somewhere below that its "deadly". I'm still here, after swallowing half a pint of the stuff in 1982. Thats my proof its not deadly, where's yours ?
Mercury is one of only two elements--the other being bromine--that is a liquid at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. It sits next to gold on the periodic table, but behaves in a much different manner. Chemically, mercury is very interesting.
I don't know why mercury was thought to have healing powers. Mercury ions are very toxic, so I try to stay away from mercury. Apparently it's fun to play with.
it's a liquid at room temp and will "run" away from you if you try and pick it up. in reality its pretty toxic which made it a decent medicine, but if you take too much it will kill you or at the very least make you go crazy.
Its a metal, but is liquid at room temperature.
Mercury is the only metal that is
LIQUID= =( quick silver)
It is unique, in that it expands visibly. or contracts,
to a fluctuation on temperature or pressure
It is used in thermometers to measure temperature
and barometers to measure atmospheric pressure
also in SPHIMANONOMETERS to measure blood pressure
Mercury stays in one globule.
if squeezed it flies into many small globules
NOTE:
Mercury is very toxic , and should not be handled , or taken by mouth .;
It was used by dentists, to make amalgam, but has now been banned for that use
In certain polluted areas fish, have poisonous levels of mercury in them .
Mercury is the only unheated liquid metal.
Yes it is very pretty ,but deadly
>^,,^<
Mercury (Hg) occurs naturally in the environment and can be found in metallic, inorganic, and organic forms. The most common natural forms of mercury found in the environment are metallic mercury, mercuric sulfide (cinnabar ore), mercuric chloride, and methylmercury. Mercury and its compounds have a long history of human use for industrial, medicinal, cosmetic, and even spiritual purposes. Modern uses for mercury include electrical switches, thermometers, dental amalgams, lighting (mercury vapor and fluorescent lamps), flow meters, batteries, fungicides, electrochemistry, catalysis, explosives, gold recovery, and bactericides.
. In Roman mythology, Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery. He was the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the gods. In art, he was depicted as a young man wearing a winged hat, winged sandals and carrying a herald’s staff (caduceus) crowned with two snakes. The planet likely received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky compared with the other planets. Many European languages use a derivation of the Latin word Mercurius for the planet – but there are plenty of non-Latin derivative names for Mercury as well. Visit http://www.nineplanets.org/days.html. for more information and a complete list of names. It is now considered a poison that will build up in the body, causing heavy metal toxicity. It can cause brain damage, some people think it is a cause of autism. In women of reproductive age, it is important to diagnose overexposure to mercury even if the patient herself is asymptomatic due to the serious developmental neurotoxicity of this metal (Steuerwald 2000). There may be a reason to look for mercury overexposures even in men and older women. Recent studies have found an association between mercury exposures over time and coronary artery disease, including myocardial infarction (Guallar 2002). The only way to diagnose mercury poisoning is to be clinically alert to the diagnosis, and to take an occupational history and a fish-consumption history in patients with suggestive symptoms, and in all women of reproductive age. Metallic mercury poisoning is almost exclusively confined to the occupational setting. However, some cases have been reported among people who use mercury for hobbies, such as gold mining, where mercury is added to the pan to amalgamate the gold and is subsequently boiled off. Metallic mercury is also used in a Caribbean religious practice known as Santaria. In these rituals mercury can be sprinkled inside a home and can result in serious over-exposures (Wendroff 1997).
Signs and symptoms of metallic mercury poisoning include:
Pneumonitis -- dyspnea, chest pain, cough, interstitial infiltrates (after inhalation)
Salivation, gingivitis
Erethism -- memory loss, excitability, delirium, personality changes, shyness
Tremor, peripheral neuropathy
Nephrotic syndrome
Inorganic mercury poisoning is unusual in the United States. In the past, cases of Acrodynia occurred in infants due to inorganic mercurials used as disinfectants in laundry detergents and baby powders (Weiss 1999). Since these uses have been discontinued, this syndrome has essentially disappeared.
Inorganic mercury can cause:
Ingestion -- ulceration and necrosis of GI tract
Renal failure -- necrosis of proximal tubule
Acrodynia -- pink, peeling skin, salivation, hypotonia, swelling of hands and feet
Organic mercury poisoning is the most common and most worrisome form of mercury poisoning today (Clarkson 2003). Except in very rare cases (eg. exposure to laboratory reagents) this disorder is exclusively associated with ingestion of fish.
Classic symptoms of methyl mercury poisoning in the adult include:
Visual field constriction
Behavioral changes, memory loss, headaches
Ataxia, tremor, loss of fine motor control, spasticity
Paresthesias of extremities and lips
Hair loss
Prenatal exposure to methyl mercury at high levels can cause overt Minamata Disease, with symptoms which include:
Mental retardation
Seizures
Cerebral palsy
Blindness and deafness
Disturbances of swallowing, sucking, and speech
Hypertonia, rigidity, hyperreflexia
At the lower levels more likely to be encountered today, signs and symptoms of prenatal exposure to methyl mercury may include (Mahaffey 2000):
Delayed learning
Shortened attention span
Memory deficits
Delayed language acquisition
Poorer motor control or coordination
Testing Patients For Mercury:
Urine (when exposure to inorganic or metallic mercury is suspected) Toxic range >50 mcg/g creatinine (occupational exposure levels)
Whole Blood (when exposure to organic mercury is suspected) "Safe" range (below EPA reference dose equivalent level) <5 mcg/L Toxic range >60 mcg/L (Rice 2003, Schober 2003)
Hair (less accurate, but provides information over a longer time line) "Safe" range (below EPA reference dose equivalent level) <1 mcg/g
Mercury is used in laboratories for making thermometers, barometers, diffusion pumps, and many other instruments. It is used for mercury switches and other electrical apparatus. It is used as an electrode in some types of electrolysis and for making batteries (mercury cells).
Gaseous mercury is used in mercury-vapour lamps and advertising signs. Mercury is important in some types of industry, for instance for caustic soda and chlorine production. It is used for making some pesticides and antifouling paint. Mercury is also the basis of dental amalgams and preparations
Some folk medicines (Voodoo, Santería, and Espiritismo) use mercury salts. It was sometimes used in skin lightening creams and as antiseptic creams and ointments. Used in preserving solutions for some collected biological specimens. It was used as a reagent in analytical chemistry reactions, photography, and metal etching solutions This metallic mercury is sold under the name "azogue" (pronounced ah-SEW-gay) in stores called "botánicas." Metallic mercury is the familiar liquid used in thermometers (also know as quicksilver). Metallic mercury is used to produce chlorine gas and caustic soda. It is also used in electrical switches, barometers, dental fillings, fluorescent light bulbs, some blood pressure devices, and some batteries.
. It was used in magic tricks turning a copper penny to silver by rubbing the metal on the surface. Unfortunately this is a dangerous practice becasue mercury is readily absorbed into the skin, especially for children.
It's liquid at room temperature, and it's a conductive metal so up until fairly recently, electrical switches were made using it.
It's a poisonous metal. When I was a kid, "mercurochrome" was sold to be put on cuts and scrapes, to disinfect ouchies. In past centuries, it was used in part of the curing process for making leather hats -- causing brain damage in the people using it, thus giving rise to the phrase "mad as a hatter."
It can form an amalgam with gold, and so it was used for purifying gold.
It is so very damaging to the human nervous system that its use is being deprecated.
I once stuck my whole hand into a large pot of mercury, right down to my wrist. It was an amazing feeling ! It needed quite some effort to force my hand in, because of the large weight of mercury displaced (specific gravity about 13·6). And, of course, when I released the pressure and my hand floated to the surface again, it was perfectly dry.
Apart from the fact that it's difficult nowadays to find such a large quantity of mercury all in one place, I don't recommend that you copy my example, especially if there are any scratches at all on your hand, as it can enter the body through even quite small scratches. The other risks of that experiment are that mercury is toxic by absorption through the skin, especially if any droplets remain under the nails, also, any time that the hand is brought near the face, you are likely to inhale minute quantities of the vapour.
Having said that, mercury metal is not quite as dangerous as people make out and you should not get hysterical about casual contact with the metal. The vapour pressure at room temperature is extremely low, so being in the presence of mercury (e.g. from a broken thermometer) for half an hour will not cause any noticeable harm. The sort of people who are at risk from spilled mercury are laboratory technicians or anybody else who works for long periods in a place where there might be spilled mercury (e.g. from thermometers, pressure gauges, sphigmanometers (I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling), etc.) The mercury, once spilled, can fall into minute cracks in the floor or the furniture and then evaporate over a period of years. It is a cumulative poison, which means that the body, left to its own devices, eliminates the mercury extremely slowly. So even if you breathe in microgramme quantities of mercury each day, you will eventually suffer from the effects of chronic mercury poisoning.
Heated mercury is a much bigger risk than mercury at room temperature, as its vapour pressure is much higher, but it is only in specialised applications that one comes across heated metal (e.g. in mercury rectifiers).
A lot more dangerous than the metal itself are the compounds of mercury, especially the soluble ones, such as mercury(II) chloride, the nitrates of mercury etc. The only compound of mercury I know of that is non-toxic is cinnabar, the naturally occurring red sulphide, which is still sometimes used today in sealing wax.
Allan Deeds.
Liquid and extremely poisonous
It's the only liquid metal.
Doctors on sailing warships used to grind it up in fat and apply it to the appropriate area of sailors who had enjoyed themselves ashore. It didn't work too well but it helped! It was known as 'Blue Ointment'.
Mercuric compounds act much faster in poisoning you than the liquid metal but I suggest you do not do any tests to prove this. Just look at people who have drunk water contaminated with industrial effluent.
RoyS.
The previous repondents have got it pretty much covered but didn't answer about it's rarity. It is quite rare - about as rare as silver rather than gold. It does make amalgams (any alloy with mercury is an amalgam) with most metals - I used to cover a penny with mercury to make it into a 'silver' coin. It's fascination is that it's a liquid metal, shiny and very heavy (even lead will float in it.) It is poisonous by breathing as it gives off a vapour even at room temperature and ALL of its compounds are poisonous especially organo-mercury however the liquid metal is not nearly as toxic. It takes about a tablespoon of the liquid metal to cause death. (I simply don't believe the guy who said he drank it!).
It is a liquid at room temperature and can be used in thermometers for taking the human temperature.
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Is there some thing special about it, is it rare like gold, or is it just pretty?
Answers:
The main reason is that it is special is because it is a liquid at room temperature, unlike the vast majority of other metals. It has a high density, so that makes it excellent for use in thermometers and barometers (Pressure measurement). Often moderate pressures, and more especially vacuum, is still quoted in terms of inches or mm of mercury (1 atmosphere pressure is approximately 30" or 760 mm Hg). It was also historically widely used in the manufacture of sodium hydroxide and chlorine from salt.
Unfortunately, it is not used as much these days as it is highly toxic by ingestion, and by skin contact.
Ironically, though, it is still used in dental amalgams for making fillings, simply because a better alternative has not been found. I believe it is, though, being phased out, and is banned in some countries. It is also used in the preparation child vaccinations in extremely low concentrations. There is also some concern over this, although this is also being phased out where practicable.
One of the most fascinating things I found about Mercury was when my science teacher (Many years ago) was pushing it across a wooden bench with a pen. Firstly, the high surface tension meant that it was almost a perfect sphere. Secondly, unlike water, oil etc., it did not leave a trail behind it. Finally, if you split it up into separate droplets, they would really easily join together to make one larger droplet as soon as they came into contact with one another.
It is probably these last fascinating properties that make it so special in many peoples minds.
It's silver it's quick and it's poisonous
Mercury is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Hg.
Mercury is one of five elements that are liquid at or near standard room temperature (the others are the metals caesium, francium, and gallium, and the nonmetal bromine)
Mercury should be handled with care. Containers of mercury should be securely sealed to avoid spills and evaporation. Heating of mercury, or compounds of mercury that may decompose when heated, should always be carried out with adequate ventilation in order to avoid human exposure to mercury vapor. Most of its compounds are highly toxic, especially its inorganic compounds.
Fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic organic compound of mercury.
It's the only metal that's liquid at room temperature. And I think (might be making this bit up) that under certain circumstances it will actually move aware if you try and touch it,
So it if fairly special.
it is a metal but a liquid at room temperature
It's liquid at room temp and it dose look pretty. But can you imagine how many people have died trying to find cures to everlasting life. I bet more people have died trying to solve that answer than some of the bloodiest wars.
Its a metal but it is liquid at room temperature which makes it strange and unusual.
It is pretty and poisonous too.
The 1st Emperor of China thought it conferred longevity and he drank it; it made him mad and killed him. Legend has it that under his tomb is an enormous lake of the stuff, in the form of a map of the known world (when he lived)
Soil samples from the area indicate very high levels of mercury but the Chinese believe in letting the ancestors rest in peace and so will not permit excavation so we may never know the truth of it.
It must be ever so clever, I've got some in a wood and brass thingy in a glass tube, and ...wait for it, It knows the exact temperature. how clever is that.
I used to have a jar, teachers got freaked out when i used to pour it on the table.
People do say its poisonous, but i drank the bottle and it didn't do me any harm - about half a pint. I guess you're supposed to inject it or something to kill yourself.
Pretty stuff
edit: I disagree with the statement somewhere below that its "deadly". I'm still here, after swallowing half a pint of the stuff in 1982. Thats my proof its not deadly, where's yours ?
Mercury is one of only two elements--the other being bromine--that is a liquid at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. It sits next to gold on the periodic table, but behaves in a much different manner. Chemically, mercury is very interesting.
I don't know why mercury was thought to have healing powers. Mercury ions are very toxic, so I try to stay away from mercury. Apparently it's fun to play with.
it's a liquid at room temp and will "run" away from you if you try and pick it up. in reality its pretty toxic which made it a decent medicine, but if you take too much it will kill you or at the very least make you go crazy.
Its a metal, but is liquid at room temperature.
Mercury is the only metal that is
LIQUID= =( quick silver)
It is unique, in that it expands visibly. or contracts,
to a fluctuation on temperature or pressure
It is used in thermometers to measure temperature
and barometers to measure atmospheric pressure
also in SPHIMANONOMETERS to measure blood pressure
Mercury stays in one globule.
if squeezed it flies into many small globules
NOTE:
Mercury is very toxic , and should not be handled , or taken by mouth .;
It was used by dentists, to make amalgam, but has now been banned for that use
In certain polluted areas fish, have poisonous levels of mercury in them .
Mercury is the only unheated liquid metal.
Yes it is very pretty ,but deadly
>^,,^<
Mercury (Hg) occurs naturally in the environment and can be found in metallic, inorganic, and organic forms. The most common natural forms of mercury found in the environment are metallic mercury, mercuric sulfide (cinnabar ore), mercuric chloride, and methylmercury. Mercury and its compounds have a long history of human use for industrial, medicinal, cosmetic, and even spiritual purposes. Modern uses for mercury include electrical switches, thermometers, dental amalgams, lighting (mercury vapor and fluorescent lamps), flow meters, batteries, fungicides, electrochemistry, catalysis, explosives, gold recovery, and bactericides.
. In Roman mythology, Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery. He was the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the gods. In art, he was depicted as a young man wearing a winged hat, winged sandals and carrying a herald’s staff (caduceus) crowned with two snakes. The planet likely received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky compared with the other planets. Many European languages use a derivation of the Latin word Mercurius for the planet – but there are plenty of non-Latin derivative names for Mercury as well. Visit http://www.nineplanets.org/days.html. for more information and a complete list of names. It is now considered a poison that will build up in the body, causing heavy metal toxicity. It can cause brain damage, some people think it is a cause of autism. In women of reproductive age, it is important to diagnose overexposure to mercury even if the patient herself is asymptomatic due to the serious developmental neurotoxicity of this metal (Steuerwald 2000). There may be a reason to look for mercury overexposures even in men and older women. Recent studies have found an association between mercury exposures over time and coronary artery disease, including myocardial infarction (Guallar 2002). The only way to diagnose mercury poisoning is to be clinically alert to the diagnosis, and to take an occupational history and a fish-consumption history in patients with suggestive symptoms, and in all women of reproductive age. Metallic mercury poisoning is almost exclusively confined to the occupational setting. However, some cases have been reported among people who use mercury for hobbies, such as gold mining, where mercury is added to the pan to amalgamate the gold and is subsequently boiled off. Metallic mercury is also used in a Caribbean religious practice known as Santaria. In these rituals mercury can be sprinkled inside a home and can result in serious over-exposures (Wendroff 1997).
Signs and symptoms of metallic mercury poisoning include:
Pneumonitis -- dyspnea, chest pain, cough, interstitial infiltrates (after inhalation)
Salivation, gingivitis
Erethism -- memory loss, excitability, delirium, personality changes, shyness
Tremor, peripheral neuropathy
Nephrotic syndrome
Inorganic mercury poisoning is unusual in the United States. In the past, cases of Acrodynia occurred in infants due to inorganic mercurials used as disinfectants in laundry detergents and baby powders (Weiss 1999). Since these uses have been discontinued, this syndrome has essentially disappeared.
Inorganic mercury can cause:
Ingestion -- ulceration and necrosis of GI tract
Renal failure -- necrosis of proximal tubule
Acrodynia -- pink, peeling skin, salivation, hypotonia, swelling of hands and feet
Organic mercury poisoning is the most common and most worrisome form of mercury poisoning today (Clarkson 2003). Except in very rare cases (eg. exposure to laboratory reagents) this disorder is exclusively associated with ingestion of fish.
Classic symptoms of methyl mercury poisoning in the adult include:
Visual field constriction
Behavioral changes, memory loss, headaches
Ataxia, tremor, loss of fine motor control, spasticity
Paresthesias of extremities and lips
Hair loss
Prenatal exposure to methyl mercury at high levels can cause overt Minamata Disease, with symptoms which include:
Mental retardation
Seizures
Cerebral palsy
Blindness and deafness
Disturbances of swallowing, sucking, and speech
Hypertonia, rigidity, hyperreflexia
At the lower levels more likely to be encountered today, signs and symptoms of prenatal exposure to methyl mercury may include (Mahaffey 2000):
Delayed learning
Shortened attention span
Memory deficits
Delayed language acquisition
Poorer motor control or coordination
Testing Patients For Mercury:
Urine (when exposure to inorganic or metallic mercury is suspected) Toxic range >50 mcg/g creatinine (occupational exposure levels)
Whole Blood (when exposure to organic mercury is suspected) "Safe" range (below EPA reference dose equivalent level) <5 mcg/L Toxic range >60 mcg/L (Rice 2003, Schober 2003)
Hair (less accurate, but provides information over a longer time line) "Safe" range (below EPA reference dose equivalent level) <1 mcg/g
Mercury is used in laboratories for making thermometers, barometers, diffusion pumps, and many other instruments. It is used for mercury switches and other electrical apparatus. It is used as an electrode in some types of electrolysis and for making batteries (mercury cells).
Gaseous mercury is used in mercury-vapour lamps and advertising signs. Mercury is important in some types of industry, for instance for caustic soda and chlorine production. It is used for making some pesticides and antifouling paint. Mercury is also the basis of dental amalgams and preparations
Some folk medicines (Voodoo, Santería, and Espiritismo) use mercury salts. It was sometimes used in skin lightening creams and as antiseptic creams and ointments. Used in preserving solutions for some collected biological specimens. It was used as a reagent in analytical chemistry reactions, photography, and metal etching solutions This metallic mercury is sold under the name "azogue" (pronounced ah-SEW-gay) in stores called "botánicas." Metallic mercury is the familiar liquid used in thermometers (also know as quicksilver). Metallic mercury is used to produce chlorine gas and caustic soda. It is also used in electrical switches, barometers, dental fillings, fluorescent light bulbs, some blood pressure devices, and some batteries.
. It was used in magic tricks turning a copper penny to silver by rubbing the metal on the surface. Unfortunately this is a dangerous practice becasue mercury is readily absorbed into the skin, especially for children.
It's liquid at room temperature, and it's a conductive metal so up until fairly recently, electrical switches were made using it.
It's a poisonous metal. When I was a kid, "mercurochrome" was sold to be put on cuts and scrapes, to disinfect ouchies. In past centuries, it was used in part of the curing process for making leather hats -- causing brain damage in the people using it, thus giving rise to the phrase "mad as a hatter."
It can form an amalgam with gold, and so it was used for purifying gold.
It is so very damaging to the human nervous system that its use is being deprecated.
I once stuck my whole hand into a large pot of mercury, right down to my wrist. It was an amazing feeling ! It needed quite some effort to force my hand in, because of the large weight of mercury displaced (specific gravity about 13·6). And, of course, when I released the pressure and my hand floated to the surface again, it was perfectly dry.
Apart from the fact that it's difficult nowadays to find such a large quantity of mercury all in one place, I don't recommend that you copy my example, especially if there are any scratches at all on your hand, as it can enter the body through even quite small scratches. The other risks of that experiment are that mercury is toxic by absorption through the skin, especially if any droplets remain under the nails, also, any time that the hand is brought near the face, you are likely to inhale minute quantities of the vapour.
Having said that, mercury metal is not quite as dangerous as people make out and you should not get hysterical about casual contact with the metal. The vapour pressure at room temperature is extremely low, so being in the presence of mercury (e.g. from a broken thermometer) for half an hour will not cause any noticeable harm. The sort of people who are at risk from spilled mercury are laboratory technicians or anybody else who works for long periods in a place where there might be spilled mercury (e.g. from thermometers, pressure gauges, sphigmanometers (I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling), etc.) The mercury, once spilled, can fall into minute cracks in the floor or the furniture and then evaporate over a period of years. It is a cumulative poison, which means that the body, left to its own devices, eliminates the mercury extremely slowly. So even if you breathe in microgramme quantities of mercury each day, you will eventually suffer from the effects of chronic mercury poisoning.
Heated mercury is a much bigger risk than mercury at room temperature, as its vapour pressure is much higher, but it is only in specialised applications that one comes across heated metal (e.g. in mercury rectifiers).
A lot more dangerous than the metal itself are the compounds of mercury, especially the soluble ones, such as mercury(II) chloride, the nitrates of mercury etc. The only compound of mercury I know of that is non-toxic is cinnabar, the naturally occurring red sulphide, which is still sometimes used today in sealing wax.
Allan Deeds.
Liquid and extremely poisonous
It's the only liquid metal.
Doctors on sailing warships used to grind it up in fat and apply it to the appropriate area of sailors who had enjoyed themselves ashore. It didn't work too well but it helped! It was known as 'Blue Ointment'.
Mercuric compounds act much faster in poisoning you than the liquid metal but I suggest you do not do any tests to prove this. Just look at people who have drunk water contaminated with industrial effluent.
RoyS.
The previous repondents have got it pretty much covered but didn't answer about it's rarity. It is quite rare - about as rare as silver rather than gold. It does make amalgams (any alloy with mercury is an amalgam) with most metals - I used to cover a penny with mercury to make it into a 'silver' coin. It's fascination is that it's a liquid metal, shiny and very heavy (even lead will float in it.) It is poisonous by breathing as it gives off a vapour even at room temperature and ALL of its compounds are poisonous especially organo-mercury however the liquid metal is not nearly as toxic. It takes about a tablespoon of the liquid metal to cause death. (I simply don't believe the guy who said he drank it!).
It is a liquid at room temperature and can be used in thermometers for taking the human temperature.
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