Mercury metal: Sources and Applications

Mercury is a metal Element

Mercury is a naturally occurring metallic chemical element. It is said that long ago, magma erupting from a volcano in Italy flowed down and cooled deep in the rock layers, and the water rose on its way to the surface. As the water rises, it leaves behind sulphur deposits that form a red mineral, cinnabar, known as mercury sulphide. Elemental mercury is found in the earth's crust in as little as 0.5 parts per million (ppm), making it rarer than uranium but rarer than mercuric sulphide.

Mercury was known to the ancient Chinese, Egyptians and Indians, and has been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to around 1500 BC. And there are still legends in China about the tomb of Qin Shi Huang containing large amounts of mercury. In the fourth century B.C., we find Aristotle referring to mercury in his book as "hydro-argyros" - which translates as liquid silver or mercury. The Romans modified the Greek name slightly and called mercury Hydragyrum, from which we get the modern scientific symbol for mercury, Hg.

Elemental mercury, the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, gets its name from the Roman god because its high surface tension causes it to form spheres that can roll and flow quickly. The surface tension causes it to form spheres that can roll and flow quickly. As a result, it is a silvery-white metal, which is why mercury is also known as quicksilver.

Applications of Mercury

Elemental mercury is used in thermometers, sphygmomanometers, and thermostats because it has the ability to expand and contract uniformly and can be used to measure changes in temperature. Because it has the ability to expand and contract uniformly, it can be used to measure changes in temperature and pressure. and pressure changes. Although many liquids can be used in pressure measuring devices, mercury is used because of its high density and the small amount of space required. Mercury is used because it is dense and requires less space. It is also a good conductor of electricity and is therefore a useful component in electronic switches.

Mercury is also used in dental fillings, paints, soaps, batteries and fluorescent lamps. Mercury dissolves many metals to form amalgams and extracts gold dust from rocks by dissolving gold and then boiling off the mercury. Amalgams used for dental fillings contain tin and silver alloyed with mercury. Mercury is used as a fungicide in paints because of its bactericidal properties. It was used as a fungicide in paints, although such paints are no longer sold.