What is mercury? Detailed answer

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What is mercury? Detailed answer

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What is mercury?

Mercury is a very unusual metal that is liquid at room temperature.

Mercury freezes at -39°C and boils at 357°C. It is 13,6 times heavier than water. The surface tension of mercury is high enough that some objects sink in it. It tends to break up into tiny droplets and spread.

In nature, mercury is found in the reddish mineral cinnabar. Cinnabar is part of many rocks, but mostly rocks of volcanic origin.

Mercury evaporates easily. To obtain pure metal from ore, it is necessary to heat this ore to a temperature of about 482 ° C. The vapors collect and condense to form mercury.

Mercury in various forms has long been used by man. Before the advent of writing, cinnabar served as the basis for the manufacture of red dyes. As early as 415 BC, mercury was obtained from ore and used to coat metal surfaces and in the treatment of certain diseases. Alchemists who tried to obtain precious metals believed that mercury was a magical material. They widely used it in their experiments and rituals.

Currently, mercury is widely used in medicine. Despite the fact that mercury and its components are poisonous, it is added in the manufacture of medicines and disinfectants. Approximately one third of all mercury production goes to medicine.

Mercury is known to us for its use in thermometers. This is due to the fact that mercury reacts quickly and uniformly to changes in temperature. Today, mercury is also used in paints, dentistry, chlorine, caustic soda, and electrical equipment.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

How does a country live on a time that is a fraction of Greenwich Mean Time - 5 hours and 45 minutes?

Our planet is divided into time zones, each of which is one hour from the previous one. However, some territories, such as India or the Canadian island of Newfoundland, live on "half" time, where the offset relative to the neighbors is not a whole hour, but half an hour. The most unique country in this respect is Nepal, where the offset relative to Greenwich Mean Time is 5 hours and 45 minutes. The situation is similar in the New Zealand-owned Chatham archipelago, where the difference with Greenwich Mean Time is 12 hours 45 minutes.

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