Mercury (element)

Appearance
silvery

Spectral lines of Mercury (UV not seen)

General properties
Physical properties
Phase liquid
Density (near r.t.) (liquid) 13.534 g·cm−3
Melting point 234.32 K-38.83 ° ,C-37.89 ° ,F
Boiling point 629.88 K356.73 ° ,C674.11 ° ,F
Critical point 1750 K, 172.00 MPa
Heat of fusion 2.29 kJ·mol−1
Heat of vaporization 59.11 kJ·mol−1
Specific heat capacity (25 °C) 27.983 J·mol−1·K−1
Vapor pressure
P (Pa) 1 10 100 1k 10 k 100 k
at T (K) 315 350 393 449 523 629
Atomic properties
4, 2 (mercuric), 1 (mercurous)
Oxidation states
(mildly basic oxide)
Electronegativity 2.00 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies 1st: 1007.1 kJ·mol−1
2nd: 1810 kJ·mol−1
3rd: 3300 kJ·mol−1
Atomic radius 151 pm
Covalent radius 132±5 pm

Van der Waals radius 155 pm

Mercury chemical element with the symbol Hg (Latinized Greek: hydrargyrum, from
"hydr-" meaning watery or runny and "argyros" meaning silver) and atomic number
80. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and
pressure; the only other element that is liquid under these conditions is bromine.[1]
With a freezing point of −38.83 °C and boiling point of 356.73 °C, mercury has one
of the broadest ranges of its liquid state of any metal. A heavy, silvery d-block metal,
mercury is also one of the five metallic chemical elements that are liquid at or near
room temperature and pressure,[2][3] the others being caesium, francium, gallium, and
rubidium.

Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar (mercuric

sulfide), which is the source of the red pigment vermilion, and is mostly obtained by
reduction from cinnabar. Cinnabar is highly toxic by ingestion or inhalation of the
dust. Mercury poisoning can also result from exposure to soluble forms of mercury
(such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury), inhalation of mercury vapor, or eating
seafood contaminated with mercury.

Mercury is used in thermometers, barometers, manometers, sphygmomanometers,

float valves, some electrical switches, and other scientific apparatus, though concerns
about the element's toxicity have led to mercury thermometers and
sphygmomanometers being largely phased out in clinical environments in favor of
alcohol-filled, digital, or thermistor-based instruments. It remains in use in a number
of other ways in scientific and scientific research applications, and in amalgam
material for dental restoration. It is used in lighting: electricity passed through
mercury vapor in a phosphor tube produces short-wave ultraviolet light which then
causes the phosphor to fluoresce, making visible light.

Properties
Physical properties

A pound coin (density ~7.6 g/cm3) floats in mercury due to the combination of the
buoyant force and surface tension.

Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white metal. As compared to other metals, it is a poor

conductor of heat, but a fair conductor of electricity.[4]

Chemical properties

Mercury has an exceptionally low melting temperature for a d-block metal. A

complete explanation of this fact requires a deep excursion into quantum physics, but
it can be summarized as follows: mercury has a unique electronic configuration where
electrons fill up all the available 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f, 5s, 5p, 5d and 6s
subshells. As such configuration strongly resists removal of an electron, mercury
behaves similarly to noble gas elements, which form weak bonds and thus easily
melting solids. The stability of the 6s shell is due to the presence of a filled 4f shell.
An f shell poorly screens the nuclear charge that increases the attractive Coulomb
interaction of the 6s shell and the nucleus (see lanthanide contraction). The absence of
a filled inner f shell is the reason for the much higher melting temperature of
cadmium. Metals such as gold have atoms with one less 6s electron than mercury.
Those electrons are more easily removed and are shared between the gold atoms
forming relatively strong metallic bonds.[3][5]

At its melting point (−38.86 °C), the density of mercury is[6] 13.534 g/cm3.

Reactivity and compounds

See also: Category:Mercury compounds

Mercury dissolves to form amalgams with gold, zinc and many other metals. Because
iron is an exception, iron flasks have been traditionally used to trade mercury. Other
metals that do not form amalgams with mercury include tantalum, tungsten and
platinum. When heated, mercury also reacts with oxygen in air to form mercury
oxide, which then can be decomposed by further heating to higher temperatures.[7]

Since it is below hydrogen in the reactivity series of metals, mercury does not react
with most acids, such as dilute sulfuric acid, though oxidizing acids such as
concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid or aqua regia dissolve it to give sulfate,
nitrate, and chloride salts. Like silver, mercury reacts with atmospheric hydrogen
sulfide. Mercury even reacts with solid sulfur flakes, which are used in mercury spill
kits to absorb mercury vapors (spill kits also use activated carbon and powdered zinc).
[7]

Some important mercury salts include:

• Mercury(I) chloride (calomel) is sometimes still used in medicine,

acousto-optical filters and as a standard in electrochemistry;[8]
• Mercury(II) chloride is a very corrosive, easily sublimating and
poisonous substance;[4]
• Mercury fulminate, (a detonator widely used in explosives);[4]
• Mercury(II) oxide, the main oxide of mercury;
• Mercury(II) sulfide (found naturally as the ore cinnabar, or vermilion
which is a high-grade paint pigment);[4]
• Mercury(II) selenide, Mercury(II) telluride, Mercury cadmium
telluride and mercury zinc telluride are semiconductors and infrared detector
materials.[9]

In these compounds, mercury displays two oxidation states: +1 and +2. The +1 state
oxidation involves the dimeric cation, Hg2+
2. Solutions of Hg2+
2 are in equilibrium with Hg2+ and metallic mercury:
 Hg2+ + Hg Hg2+
2

This equilibrium causes solutions of Hg2+

2 to have a small amount of Hg2+ present. Consuming the Hg2+ by another reaction,
such as complexation with strong ligands or precipitation of an insoluble salt, will
cause all the Hg2+
2 to fully disproportionate to Hg2+ and elemental mercury.[10]

Besides Hg2+
2, mercury also forms other mercury polycations such as Hg2+
3.[11]

Higher oxidation states of mercury were confirmed in September 2007, with the
synthesis of mercury(IV) fluoride (HgF4) using matrix isolation techniques.[12]

Laboratory tests have found that an electrical discharge causes the noble gases to
combine with mercury vapor. These compounds are held together with van der Waals
forces and result in Hg·Ne, Hg·Ar, Hg·Kr, and Hg·Xe (see exciplex). Organic mercury
compounds are also important. Methylmercury is a dangerous compound that is
widely found as a pollutant in water bodies and streams.[13]

Mercury and aluminium

Mercury discharge (spectrum) tube

Mercury readily combines with aluminium to form a mercury-aluminium amalgam

when the two pure metals come into contact. However, when the amalgam is exposed
to air, the aluminium oxidizes, leaving mercury behind. The oxide flakes away,
exposing more mercury amalgam, which repeats the process. This process continues
until the supply of amalgam is exhausted. Because this process releases mercury, a
small amount of mercury can "eat through" a large amount of aluminium over time,
by progressively forming amalgam and relinquishing the aluminium as oxide.[14]

Aluminium in air is ordinarily protected by a molecule-thin layer of its own oxide,

which is not porous to oxygen. Mercury coming into contact with the oxide is not
detrimental, although if any elemental aluminium is exposed, the mercury may
combine with it and potentially damage the aluminium.[14][15] For this reason,
restrictions are placed on the use and handling of mercury in proximity with
aluminium. In particular, mercury is not allowed aboard an aircraft under most
circumstances because of the risk of it forming an amalgam with exposed aluminium
parts in the aircraft.[14]

Isotopes
Main article: Isotopes of mercury

There are seven stable isotopes of mercury with 202Hg being the most abundant
(29.86%). The longest-lived radioisotopes are 194Hg with a half-life of 444 years, and
203
Hg with a half-life of 46.612 days. Most of the remaining radioisotopes have half-
lives that are less than a day. 199Hg and 201Hg are the most often studied NMR-active
nuclei, having spins of 1⁄2 and 3⁄2 respectively.[4]

History
The symbol for the planet Mercury (☿) has been used since ancient times to represent
the element

Mercury was found in Egyptian tombs that date from 1500 BC[16] It was also known to
the ancient Chinese.[17] In China and Tibet, mercury use was thought to prolong life,
heal fractures, and maintain generally good health. One of China's emperors, Qín Shǐ
Huáng Dì — allegedly buried in a tomb that contained rivers of flowing mercury on a
model of the land he ruled, representative of the rivers of China — was killed by
drinking a mercury and powdered jade mixture (causing liver failure, poisoning, and
brain death) intended to give him eternal life.[18][19] The ancient Greeks used mercury
in ointments; the ancient Egyptians and the Romans used it in cosmetics which
sometimes deformed the face. By 500 BC mercury was used to make amalgams
(Medieval Latin amalgama, "alloy of mercury") with other metals.[20] The Indian word
for alchemy is Rasavātam which means "the way of mercury".[21]

Alchemists thought of mercury as the First Matter from which all metals were formed.
They believed that different metals could be produced by varying the quality and
quantity of sulfur contained within the mercury. The purest of these was gold, and
mercury was called for in attempts at the transmutation of base (or impure) metals
into gold, which was the goal of many alchemists.[22]

Hg is the modern chemical symbol for mercury. It comes from hydrargyrum, a

Latinized form of the Greek word Ύδραργυρος (hydrargyros), which is a compound
word meaning "water-silver" (hydr- = water, argyros = silver) — since it is liquid like
water and shiny like silver. The element was named after the Roman god Mercury,
known for speed and mobility. It is associated with the planet Mercury; the
astrological symbol for the planet is also one of the alchemical symbols for the metal.
Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name became the
common name.[22]

The mines in Almadén (Spain), Monte Amiata (Italy), and Idrija (now Slovenia)
dominated the mercury production from the opening of the mine in Almadén 2500
years ago until new deposits were found at the end of the 19th century.[23]

Occurrence
Mercury output in 2005
Mercury is an extremely rare element in the Earth's crust, having an average crustal
abundance by mass of only 0.08 parts per million (ppm).[24] However, because it does
not blend geochemically with those elements that constitute the majority of the crustal
mass, mercury ores can be extraordinarily concentrated considering the element's
abundance in ordinary rock. The richest mercury ores contain up to 2.5% mercury by
mass, and even the leanest concentrated deposits are at least 0.1% mercury (12,000
times average crustal abundance). It is found either as a native metal (rare) or in
cinnabar, corderoite, livingstonite and other minerals, with cinnabar (HgS) being the
most common ore. Mercury ores usually occur in very young orogenic belts where
rock of high density are forced to the crust of the Earth, often in hot springs or other
volcanic regions.[25]

Beginning in 1558, with the invention of the patio process to extract silver from ore
using mercury, mercury became an essential resource in the economy of Spain and its
American colonies. Mercury was used to extract silver from the lucrative mines in
New Spain and Peru. Initially, the Spanish Crown's mines in Almaden in Southern
Spain supplied all the mercury for the colonies.[26] Mercury deposits were discovered
in the New World, and more than 100,000 tons of mercury were mined from the
region of Huancavelica, Peru, over the course of three centuries following the
discovery of deposits there in 1563. The patio process and later pan amalgamation
process continued to create great demand for mercury to treat silver ores until the late
19th century.[27]

Native mercury with cinnabar, Socrates mine, Sonoma County, California. Cinnabar
sometimes alters to native mercury in the oxidized zone of mercury deposits.

Former mines in Italy, the United States and Mexico which once produced a large
proportion of the world supply have now been completely mined out or, in the case of
Slovenia (Idrija) and Spain (Almadén), shut down due to the fall of the price of
mercury. Nevada's McDermitt Mine, the last mercury mine in the United States,
closed in 1992. The price of mercury has been highly volatile over the years and in
2006 was $650 per 76-pound (34.46 kg) flask.[28]

Mercury is extracted by heating cinnabar in a current of air and condensing the vapor.
The equation for this extraction is

HgS + O2 → Hg + SO2

In 2005, China was the top producer of mercury with almost two-thirds global share
followed by Kyrgyzstan.[29] Several other countries are believed to have unrecorded
production of mercury from copper electrowinning processes and by recovery from
effluents.

Because of the high toxicity of mercury, both the mining of cinnabar and refining for
mercury are hazardous and historic causes of mercury poisoning. In China, prison
labor was used by a private mining company as recently as the 1950s to create new
cinnabar mercury mines. Thousands of prisoners were used by the Luo Xi mining
company to establish new tunnels.[30] In addition, worker health in functioning mines
is at high risk.

The European Union directive calling for compact fluorescent bulbs to be made
mandatory by 2012 has encouraged China to re-open deadly cinnabar mines to obtain
the mercury required for CFL bulb manufacture. As a result, environmental dangers
have been a concern, particularly in the southern cities of Foshan and Guangzhou, and
in the Guizhou province in the south west.[30]

Abandoned mercury mine processing sites often contain very hazardous waste piles of
roasted cinnabar calcines. Water run-off from such sites is a recognized source of
ecological damage. Former mercury mines may be suited for constructive re-use. For
example, in 1976 Santa Clara County, California purchased the historic Almaden
Quicksilver Mine and created a county park on the site, after conducting extensive
safety and environmental analysis of the property.[31]

Releases in the environment

Amount of atmospheric mercury deposited at Wyoming's Upper Fremont Glacier over
the last 270 years

Preindustrial deposition rates of mercury from the atmosphere may be about 4 ng /(1
L of ice deposit). Although that can be considered a natural level of exposure,
regional or global sources have significant effects. Volcanic eruptions can increase the
atmospheric source by 4–6 times.[32]

Natural sources, such as volcanoes, are responsible for approximately half of

atmospheric mercury emissions. The human-generated half can be divided into the
following estimated percentages:[33][34][35]

• 65% from stationary combustion, of which coal-fired power plants are

the largest aggregate source (40% of U.S. mercury emissions in 1999). This
includes power plants fueled with gas where the mercury has not been
removed. Emissions from coal combustion are between one and two orders of
magnitude higher than emissions from oil combustion, depending on the
country.[33]
• 11% from gold production. The three largest point sources for mercury
emissions in the U.S. are the three largest gold mines. Hydrogeochemical
release of mercury from gold-mine tailings has been accounted as a significant
source of atmospheric mercury in eastern Canada.[36]
• 6.8% from non-ferrous metal production, typically smelters.
• 6.4% from cement production.
 • 3.0% from waste disposal, including municipal and hazardous waste,
crematoria, and sewage sludge incineration. This is a significant underestimate
due to limited information, and is likely to be off by a factor of two to five.
• 3.0% from caustic soda production.
• 1.4% from pig iron and steel production.
• 1.1% from mercury production, mainly for batteries.
• 2.0% from other sources.

The above percentages are estimates of the global human-caused mercury emissions
in 2000, excluding biomass burning, an important source in some regions.[33]

Current atmospheric mercury contamination in outdoor urban air is (0.01–0.02 µg/m3)

indoor concentrations are significantly elevated over outdoor concentrations, in the
range 0.0065–0.523 µg/m3 (average 0.069 µg/m3).[37]

Mercury also enters into the environment through the improper disposal (e.g., land
filling, incineration) of certain products. Products containing mercury include: auto
parts, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, medical products, thermometers, and thermostats.[38]
Due to health concerns (see below), toxics use reduction efforts are cutting back or
eliminating mercury in such products. For example, most thermometers now use
pigmented alcohol instead of mercury. Mercury thermometers are still occasionally
used in the medical field because they are more accurate than alcohol thermometers,
though both are being replaced by electronic thermometers. Mercury thermometers
are still widely used for certain scientific applications because of their greater
accuracy and working range.

The United States Clean Air Act, passed in 1990, put mercury on a list of toxic
pollutants that need to be controlled to the greatest possible extent. Thus, industries
that release high concentrations of mercury into the environment agreed to install
maximum achievable control technologies (MACT). In March 2005 EPA rule[39]
added power plants to the list of sources that should be controlled and a national cap
and trade rule was issued. States were given until November 2006 to impose stricter
controls, and several States are doing so. The rule was being subjected to legal
challenges from several States in 2005 and decision was made in 2008. The Clean Air
Mercury Rule was struck down by a Federal Appeals Court on February 8, 2008. The
rule was deemed not sufficient to protect the health of persons living near coal-fired
power plants. The court opinion cited the negative impact on human health from coal
fired power plants' mercury emissions documented in the EPA Study Report to
Congress of 1998.[40]

Historically, one of the largest releases was from the Colex plant, a lithium-isotope
separation plant at Oak Ridge. The plant operated in the 1950s and 1960s. Records are
incomplete and unclear, but government commissions have estimated that some two
million pounds of mercury are unaccounted for.[41]

One of the worst industrial disasters in history was caused by the dumping of mercury
compounds into Minamata Bay, Japan. The Chisso Corporation, a fertilizer and later
petrochemical company, was found responsible for polluting the bay from 1932–
1968. It is estimated that over 3,000 people suffered various deformities, severe
mercury poisoning symptoms or death from what became known as Minamata
disease.[42]

Applications

The bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer

Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical
and electronic applications. It is used in some thermometers, especially ones which
are used to measure high temperatures. A still increasing amount is used as gaseous
mercury in fluorescent lamps, while most of the other applications are slowly phased
out due to health and safety regulations and is in some applications replaced with less
toxic but considerably more expensive Galinstan alloy.

Present use

Medicine

Amalgam filling
The deep violet glow of a mercury vapor discharge in a germicidal lamp, whose
spectrum is rich in invisible ultraviolet radiation.
See also: Amalgam (dentistry)

Mercury and its compounds have been used in medicine, although they are much less
common today than they once were, now that the toxic effects of mercury and its
compounds are more widely understood. The element mercury is an ingredient in
dental amalgams. Thiomersal (called Thimerosal in the United States) is an organic
compound used as a preservative in vaccines, though this use is in decline.[43] Another
mercury compound Merbromin (Mercurochrome) is a topical antiseptic used for
minor cuts and scrapes is still in use in some countries.

Mercury(I) chloride (also known as calomel or mercurous chloride) has traditionally

been used as a diuretic, topical disinfectant, and laxative. Mercury(II) chloride (also
known as mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate) was once used to treat syphilis
(along with other mercury compounds), although it is so toxic that sometimes the
symptoms of its toxicity were confused with those of the syphilis it was believed to
treat.[44] It is also used as a disinfectant. Blue mass, a pill or syrup in which mercury is
the main ingredient, was prescribed throughout the 19th century for numerous
conditions including constipation, depression, child-bearing and toothaches.[45] In the
early 20th century, mercury was administered to children yearly as a laxative and
dewormer, and it was used in teething powders for infants. The mercury-containing
organohalide merbromin (sometimes sold as Mercurochrome) is still widely used but
has been banned in some countries such as the U.S.[46]

Since the 1930s some vaccines have contained the preservative thiomersal, which is
metabolized or degraded to ethyl mercury. Although it was widely speculated that this
mercury-based preservative can cause or trigger autism in children, scientific studies
showed no evidence supporting any such link.[47] Nevertheless thiomersal has been
removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all U.S. vaccines recommended for
children 6 years of age and under, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine.
[48]

Mercury in the form of one of its common ores, cinnabar, remains an important
component of Chinese, Tibetan, and Ayurvedic medicine. As problems may arise
when these medicines are exported to countries that prohibit the use of mercury in
medicines, in recent times, less toxic substitutes have been devised.

Today, the use of mercury in medicine has greatly declined in all respects, especially
in developed countries. Thermometers and sphygmomanometers containing mercury
were invented in the early 18th and late 19th centuries, respectively. In the early 21st
century, their use is declining and has been banned in some countries, states and
medical institutions. In 2002, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to phase out the sale
of non-prescription mercury thermometers. In 2003, Washington and Maine became
the first states to ban mercury blood pressure devices.[49] Mercury compounds are
found in some over-the-counter drugs, including topical antiseptics, stimulant
laxatives, diaper-rash ointment, eye drops, and nasal sprays. The FDA has
“inadequate data to establish general recognition of the safety and effectiveness,” of
the mercury ingredients in these products.[50] Mercury is still used in some diuretics,
although substitutes now exist for most therapeutic uses.

Cosmetics

Mercury, as thiomersal, is widely used in the manufacture of mascara. In 2008,

Minnesota became the first state in the US to ban intentionally added mercury in
cosmetics, giving it a tougher standard than the federal government.[51]

A study in geometric mean urine mercury concentration identified a previously

unrecognized source of exposure (skin care products) to inorganic mercury among
New York City residents. Population-based biomonitoring also showed that mercury
concentration levels are higher in consumers of seafood and fish meals.[52]

Production of chlorine and caustic soda

Chlorine is produced from sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) using electrolysis to
separate the metallic sodium from the chlorine gas. Usually the salt is dissolved in
water to produce a brine. By-products of any such chloralkali process are hydrogen
(H2) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is commonly called caustic soda or lye.
By far the largest use of mercury[53][54] in the late 20th century was in the mercury cell
process (also called the Castner-Kellner process) where metallic sodium is formed as
an amalgam at a cathode made from mercury; this sodium is then reacted with water
to produce sodium hydroxide.[55] Many of the industrial mercury releases of the 20th
century came from this process, although modern plants claimed to be safe in this
regard.[54] After about 1985, all new chloralkali production facilities that were built in
the United States used either membrane cell or diaphragm cell technologies to
produce chlorine.

Gold and silver mining

Historically, mercury was used extensively in hydraulic gold mining in order to help
the gold to sink through the flowing water-gravel mixture. Thin mercury particles
may form mercury-gold amalgam and therefore increase the gold recovery rates.[4]
Large scale use of mercury stopped in the 1960s. However, mercury is still used in
small scale, often clandestine, gold prospecting. It is estimated that 45,000 metric tons
of mercury used in California for placer mining have not been recovered.[56] Mercury
was also used in silver mining.[57]

Other present uses

Skin tanner containing a low-pressure mercury vapor lamp and two infrared lamps,
which act both as light source and electrical ballast

Assorted types of fluorescent lamps.

Gaseous mercury is used in mercury-vapor lamps and some "neon sign" type
advertising signs and fluorescent lamps. Those low-pressure lamps emit very
spectrally narrow lines, which are traditionally used in optical spectroscopy for
calibration of spectral position. Commercial calibration lamps are sold for this
purpose; however simply reflecting some of the fluorescent-lamp ceiling light into a
spectrometer is a common calibration practice.[58] Gaseous mercury is also found in
some electron tubes, including ignitrons, thyratrons, and mercury arc rectifiers.[59] It is
also used in specialist medical care lamps for skin tanning and disinfection (see
pictures).[60] Gaseous mercury is added to cold cathode argon-filled lamps to increase
the ionization and electrical conductivity. An argon filled lamp without mercury will
have dull spots and will fail to light correctly. Lighting containing mercury can be
bombarded/oven pumped only once. When added to neon filled tubes the light
produced will be inconsistent red/blue spots until the initial burning-in process is
completed; eventually it will light a consistent dull off-blue color.[61]

Some medical thermometers, especially those for high temperatures, are filled with
mercury; however, they are gradually disappearing. In the United States, non-
prescription sale of mercury fever thermometers has been banned since 2003.[62]
Mercury is also found in liquid-mirror telescopes. The mirror is formed by rotating
liquid mercury on a disk, the parabolic form of the liquid thus formed reflecting and
focusing incident light. Such telescopes are cheaper than conventional large mirror
telescopes by up to a factor of 100, but the mirror cannot be tilted and always points
straight up.[63][64]

Liquid mercury is a part of popular secondary reference electrode (called the calomel
electrode) in electrochemistry as an alternative to the standard hydrogen electrode.
The calomel electrode is used to work out the electrode potential of half cells.[65] Last,
but not least, the triple point of mercury, −38.8344 °C, is a fixed point used as a
temperature standard for the International Temperature Scale (ITS-90).[4]

Proposed uses

Liquid mercury has been proposed as a working fluid for a heat pipe type of cooling
device for spacecraft heat rejection systems or radiation panels.[66]

Historic uses

Old mercury switches

Mercury manometer to measure pressure

Mercury was used for preserving wood, developing daguerreotypes, silvering mirrors,
anti-fouling paints (discontinued in 1990), herbicides (discontinued in 1995),
handheld maze games, cleaning, and road leveling devices in cars. Mercury
compounds have been used in antiseptics, laxatives, antidepressants, and in
antisyphilitics. It was also allegedly used by allied spies to sabotage German planes: a
mercury paste was applied to bare aluminium, causing the metal to rapidly corrode;
this would cause structural failures.[15]

• Chloralkali process: The largest industrial use of mercury during the

20th century was in electrolysis for separating chlorine and sodium from
brine; mercury being the anode of the Castner-Kellner process. The chlorine
was used for bleaching paper (hence the location of many of these plants near
paper mills) while the sodium was used to make sodium hydroxide for soaps
and other cleaning products. This usage has largely been discontinued,
replaced with other technologies that utilize membrane cells.[67]
• Mercury switches (including home mercury light switches installed
prior to 1970), tilt switches used in old fire detectors, tilt switches in many
modern home thermostats,[68] electrodes in some types of electrolysis, batteries
(mercury cells), sodium hydroxide and chlorine production, handheld games,
catalysts, insecticides and liquid mirror telescopes.[69]
• In Islamic Spain, it was used for filling decorative pools. Later, the
American artist Alexander Calder built a mercury fountain for the Spanish
Pavilion at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. The fountain is now on display
at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona.[70]
• Mercury was used inside wobbler lures. Its heavy, liquid form made it
useful since the lures made an attractive irregular movement when the
mercury moved inside the plug. Such use was stopped due to environmental
concerns, but illegal preparation of modern fishing plugs has occurred.
• The Fresnel lenses of old lighthouses used to float and rotate in a bath
of mercury which acted like a bearing.[71]
 • Mercury sphygmomanometers (blood pressure meter), barometers,
diffusion pumps, coulometers, and many other laboratory instruments. As an
opaque liquid with a high density and a nearly linear thermal expansion, it is
ideal for this role.[72]
• Liquid mercury was used as a coolant for some nuclear reactors;
however, sodium is proposed for reactors cooled with liquid metal, because
the high density of mercury requires much more energy to circulate as coolant.
[73]

• The South Meadow power plant in Hartford, CT employed mercury as

its working fluid,in a binary configuration with a secondary water circuit, for a
number of years starting in the late 1920s in a drive to improve plant
efficiency. Several other plants were built, including the Schiller Station in
Portsmouth, NH, which went online in 1950. The idea did not catch on
industry-wide due to the weight and toxicity of mercury, as well as the advent
of supercritical steam plants in later years.[74][75]
• Mercury was a propellant for early ion engines in electric space
propulsion systems. Advantages were mercury's high molecular weight, low
ionization energy, low dual-ionization energy, high liquid density and liquid
storability at room temperature. Disadvantages were concerns regarding
environmental impact associated with ground testing and concerns about
eventual cooling and condensation of some of the propellant on the spacecraft
in long-duration operations. The first spaceflight to use electric propulsion was
a mercury-fueled ion thruster developed by NASA Lewis and flown on the
Space Electric Rocket Test "SERT-1" spacecraft launched by NASA at its
Wallops Flight Facility in 1964. The SERT-1 flight was followed up by the
SERT-2 flight in 1970. Mercury and caesium were preferred propellants for
ion engines until Hughes Research Laboratory performed studies finding
xenon gas to be a suitable replacement. Xenon is now the preferred propellant
for ion engines as it has a high molecular weight, little or no reactivity due its
noble gas nature, and has a high liquid density under mild cryogenic storage.
[76][77]

• Experimental mercury vapor turbines were installed to increase the

efficiency of fossil-fuel electrical power plants.[78]
• Mercury was once used as a gun barrel bore cleaner.[79][80]

Hat making

From the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, a process called "carroting" was used in
the making of felt hats. Animal skins were rinsed in an orange solution (the term
"carroting" arose from this color) of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate,
Hg(NO3)2·2H2O.[81] This process separated the fur from the pelt and matted it together.
This solution and the vapors it produced were highly toxic. The United States Public
Health Service banned the use of mercury in the felt industry in December 1941. The
psychological symptoms associated with mercury poisoning are said by some to have
inspired the phrase "mad as a hatter". Lewis Carroll's "Mad Hatter" in his book Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland was a play on words based on the older phrase, but the
character himself does not exhibit symptoms of mercury poisoning.[82]
Toxicity and safety

Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic and are generally handled
with care; in cases of spills involving mercury (such as from certain thermometers or
fluorescent light bulbs) specific cleaning procedures are used to avoid toxic exposure.
[83]
Essentially, it is recommended to physically merge smaller droplets on hard
surfaces, combining them into a single larger pool for easier removal by using an
eyedropper, or by pushing it into a disposable container. Vacuum cleaners and brooms
should not be used because they cause greater dispersal of the mercury. Afterwards,
sulfur powder, zinc powder, or some other element that readily forms an amalgam
(alloy) with mercury (e.g. finely-divided Cu or Bi) at ordinary temperatures is
sprinkled over the area and subsequently collected and properly disposed of. Cleaning
porous surfaces and clothing is not effective at removing all traces of mercury and it
is therefore advised to discard these kinds of items should they be exposed to a
mercury spill.

Mercury can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes, so
containers of mercury are securely sealed to avoid spills and evaporation. Heating of
mercury, or compounds of mercury that may decompose when heated, is always
carried out with adequate ventilation in order to avoid exposure to mercury vapor. The
most toxic forms of mercury are its organic compounds, such as dimethylmercury and
methylmercury. However, inorganic compounds, such as cinnabar are also highly
toxic by ingestion or inhalation of the dust.[84] Mercury can cause both chronic and
acute poisoning.

[edit] Occupational exposure

Due to the health effects of mercury exposure, industrial and commercial uses are
regulated in many countries. The World Health Organization, OSHA, and NIOSH all
treat mercury as an occupational hazard, and have established specific occupational
exposure limits. Environmental releases and disposal of mercury are regulated in the
U.S. primarily by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Case control studies have shown effects such as tremors, impaired cognitive skills,
and sleep disturbance in workers with chronic exposure to mercury vapor even at low
concentrations in the range 0.7–42 μg/m3.[85][86] A study has shown that acute exposure
(4 – 8 hours) to calculated elemental mercury levels of 1.1 to 44 mg/m3 resulted in
chest pain, dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, impairment of pulmonary function, and
evidence of interstitial pneumonitis.[87] Acute exposure to mercury vapor has been
shown to result in profound central nervous system effects, including psychotic
reactions characterized by delirium, hallucinations, and suicidal tendency.
Occupational exposure has resulted in broad-ranging functional disturbance, including
erethism, irritability, excitability, excessive shyness, and insomnia. With continuing
exposure, a fine tremor develops and may escalate to violent muscular spasms.
Tremor initially involves the hands and later spreads to the eyelids, lips, and tongue.
Long-term, low-level exposure has been associated with more subtle symptoms of
erethism, including fatigue, irritability, loss of memory, vivid dreams, and depression.
[88][89]

[edit] Treatment

Research on the treatment of mercury poisoning is limited. Currently available drugs

for acute mercurial poisoning include chelators N-acetyl-D, L-penicillamine (NAP),
British Anti-Lewisite (BAL), 2,3-dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS), and
dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). In one small study including 11 construction
workers exposed to elemental mercury, patients were treated with DMSA and NAP.[90]
Chelation therapy with both drugs resulted in the mobilization of a small fraction of
the total estimated body mercury. DMSA was able to increase the excretion of
mercury to a greater extent than NAP.[91]

[edit] Fish

Main article: Mercury in fish

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.
Species of fish that are high on the food chain, such as shark, swordfish, king
mackerel, albacore tuna, and tilefish contain higher concentrations of mercury than
others. As mercury and methylmercury are fat soluble, they primarily accumulate in
the viscera, although they are also found throughout the muscle tissue. When this fish
is consumed by a predator, the mercury level is accumulated. Since fish are less
efficient at depurating than accumulating methylmercury, fish-tissue concentrations
increase over time. Thus species that are high on the food chain amass body burdens
of mercury that can be ten times higher than the species they consume. This process is
called biomagnification. Mercury poisoning happened this way in Minamata, Japan,
now called Minamata disease.

[edit] Regulations
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is charged with regulating
and managing mercury contamination. Several laws give the EPA this authority,
including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Additionally, the Mercury-
Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act, passed in 1996, phases out
the use of mercury in batteries, and provides for the efficient and cost-effective
disposal of many types of used batteries.[92] North America contributed approximately
11% of the total global anthropogenic mercury emissions in 1995.[93]

In the European Union, the directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain
Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (see RoHS) bans
mercury from certain electrical and electronic products, and limits the amount of
mercury in other products to less than 1000 ppm.[94] There are restrictions for mercury
concentration in packaging (the limit is 100 ppm for sum of mercury, lead, hexavalent
chromium and cadmium) and batteries (the limit is 5 ppm).[95] In July 2007, the
European Union also banned mercury in non-electrical measuring devices, such as
thermometers and barometers. The ban applies to new devices only, and contains
exemptions for the health care sector and a two year grace period for manufacturers of
barometers. [96]

Norway enacted a total ban on the use of mercury in the manufacturing and
import/export of mercury products, effective January 1, 2008.[97] In 2002, several
lakes in Norway were found to have a poor state of mercury pollution, with an excess
of 1 mg/g of mercury in their sediment.[98]

External links
Background

Mercury is one of the basic chemical elements. It is a heavy, silvery metal that is
liquid at normal temperatures. Mercury readily forms alloys with other metals, and
this makes it useful in processing gold and silver. Much of the impetus to develop
mercury ore deposits in the United States came after the discovery of gold and silver
in California and other western states in the 1800s. Unfortunately, mercury is also a
highly toxic material, and as a result, its use has severely declined over the past 20
years. Its principal applications are in the production of chlorine and caustic soda, and
as a component of many electrical devices, including fluorescent and mercury-vapor
lamps.

Mercury has been found in Egyptian tombs dating to about 1500 B.C., and it was
probably used for cosmetic and medicinal purposes even earlier. In about 350 B.C., the
Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle described how cinnabar ore was heated to
extract mercury for religious ceremonies. The Romans used mercury for a variety of
purposes and gave it the name hydrargyrum, meaning liquid silver, from which the
chemical symbol for mercury, Hg, is derived.

Demand for mercury greatly increased in 1557 with the development of a process that
used mercury to extract silver from its ore. The mercury barometer was invented by
Torricelli in 1643, followed by the invention of the mercury thermometer by
Fahrenheit in 1714. The first use of a mercury alloy, or amalgam, as a tooth filling in
dentistry was in 1828, although concerns over the toxic nature of mercury prevented
the widespread use of this new technique. It wasn't until 1895 that experimental work
by G.V. Black showed that amalgam fillings were safe, although 100 years later
scientists were still debating that point.

Mercury found its way into many products and industrial applications after 1900. It
was commonly used in batteries, paints, explosives, light bulbs, light switches,
pharmaceuticals, fungicides, and pesticides. Mercury was also used as part of the
processes to produce paper, felt, glass, and many plastics.

In the 1980s, increasing understanding and awareness of the harmful health and
environmental effects of mercury started to greatly outweigh its benefits, and usage
began to drop sharply. By 1992, its use in batteries had dropped to less than 5% of its
level in 1988, and overall use in electrical devices and light bulbs had dropped 50% in
the same period. The use of mercury in paints, fungicides, and pesticides has been
banned in the United States, and its use in the paper, felt, and glass-manufacturing
processes has been voluntarily discontinued.

Worldwide, production of mercury is limited to only a few countries with relaxed

environmental laws. Mercury mining has ceased altogether in Spain, which until 1989
was the world's largest producer. In the United States, mercury mining has also
stopped, although small quantities of mercury are recovered as part of the gold
refining process to avoid environmental contamination. China, Russia (formerly the
USSR), Mexico, and Algeria were the largest producers of mercury in 1992.

Raw Materials

Mercury is rarely found by itself in nature. Most mercury is chemically bound to other
materials in the form of ores. The most common ore is red mercury sulfide (HgS),
also known as cinnabar. Other mercury ores include corderoite (Hg3S2Cl2),
livingstonite (HgSb4S8), montroydite (HgO), and calomel (HgCl). There are several
others. Mercury ores are formed underground when warm mineral solutions rise
towards the earth's surface under the influence of volcanic action. They are usually
found in faulted and fractured rocks at relatively shallow depths of 3-3000 ft (1-1000
m).

Other sources of mercury include the dumps and tailing piles of earlier, less-efficient
mining and processing operations.

The Manufacturing
Process

The process for extracting mercury from its ores has not changed much since Aristotle
first described it over 2,300 years ago. Cinnabar ore is crushed and heated to release
the mercury as a vapor. The mercury vapor is then cooled, condensed, and collected.
Almost 95% of the mercury content of cinnabar ore can be recovered using this
process.

Here is a typical sequence of operations used for the modern extraction and refining
of mercury.

Mining

Cinnabar ore occurs in concentrated deposits located at or near the surface. About
90% of these deposits are deep enough to require underground mining with tunnels.
The remaining 10% can be excavated from open pits.

• Cinnabar is dislodged from the surrounding rocks by drilling and

blasting with explosives or by the use of power equipment. The ore is brought
out of the mine on conveyor belts or in trucks or trains.

Roasting

Because cinnabar ore is relatively concentrated, it can be processed directly without

any intermediate steps to remove waste material.
 • The ore is first crushed in one or more cone crushers. A cone crusher
consists of an interior grinding cone that rotates on an eccentric vertical axis
inside a fixed outer cone. As the ore is fed into the top of the crusher, it is
squeezed between the two cones and broken into smaller pieces.
• The crushed ore is then ground even smaller by a series of mills. Each
mill consists of a large cylindrical container laying on its side and rotating on
its horizontal axis. The mill may be filled with short lengths of steel rods or
with steel balls to provide the grinding action.
• The finely powdered ore is fed into a furnace or kiln to be heated.
Some operations use a multiple-hearth furnace, in which the ore is
mechanically moved down a vertical shaft from one ledge, or hearth, to the
next by slowly rotating rakes. Other operations use a rotary kiln, in which the
ore is tumbled down the length of a long, rotating cylinder that is inclined a
few degrees off horizontal. In either case, heat is provided by combusting
natural gas or some other fuel in the lower portion of the furnace or kiln. The
heated cinnabar (HgS) reacts with the oxygen (02) in the air to produce sulfur
dioxide (SO2), allowing the mercury to rise as a vapor. This process is called
roasting.

Condensing

• The mercury vapor rises up and out of the furnace or kiln along with
the sulfur dioxide, water vapor, and other products of combustion. A
considerable amount of fine dust from the powdered ore is also carried along
and must be separated and captured.
• The hot furnace exhaust passes through a water-cooled condenser. As
the exhaust cools, the mercury, which has a boiling point of 675° F (357° C),
is the first to condense into a liquid, leaving the other gases and vapors to be
vented or to be processed further to reduce air pollution.
• The liquid mercury is collected. Because mercury has a very high
specific gravity, any impurities tend to rise to the surface and form a dark film
or scum. These impurities are removed by filtration, leaving a liquid mercury
that is about 99.9% pure. The impurities are treated with lime to separate and
capture any mercury, which may have formed compounds.

Refining

Most commercial-grade mercury is 99.9% pure and can be used directly from the
roasting and condensing process. Higher purity mercury is needed for some limited
applications and must be refined further. This ultrapure mercury commands a
premium price.

• Higher purity can be obtained through several refining methods. The

mercury may be mechanically filtered again, and certain impurities may be
removed through oxidation with chemicals or air. In some cases the mercury is
refined through an electrolytic process, in which an electric current is passed
through a tank of liquid mercury to remove the impurities. The most common
refining method is triple distillation, in which the temperature of the liquid
mercury is carefully raised until the impurities either evaporate or the mercury
 itself evaporates, leaving the impurities behind. This distillation process is
performed three times, with the purity increasing each time.

Shipping

• Commercial-grade mercury is poured into wrought-iron or steel flasks

and sealed. Each flask contains 76 lb (34.5 kg) of mercury. Higher purity
mercury is usually sealed in smaller glass or plastic containers for shipment.

Quality Control

Commercial-grade mercury with 99.9% purity is called prime virgin-grade mercury.

Ultrapure mercury is usually produced by the triple-distillation method and is called
triple-distilled mercury.

Quality control inspections of the roasting and condensing process consist of spot
checking the condensed liquid mercury for the presence of foreign metals, since those
are the most common contaminants. The presence of gold, silver, and base metals is
detected using various chemical-testing methods.

Triple-distilled mercury is tested by evaporation or spectrographic analysis. In the

evaporation method, a sample of mercury is evaporated, and the residue is weighed.
In the spectrographic analysis method, a sample of mercury is evaporated, and the
residue is mixed with graphite. Light coming from the resulting mixture is viewed
with a spectrometer, which separates the light into different color bands depending on
the chemical elements present.

Health and Environmental Effects

Mercury is highly toxic to humans. Exposure may come from inhalation, ingestion, or
absorption through the skin. Of the three, inhalation of mercury vapor is the most
dangerous. Short-term exposure to mercury vapor can produce weakness, chills,
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and other symptoms within a few hours. Recovery is
usually complete once the victim is removed from the source. Long-term exposure to
mercury vapor produces shaking, irritability, insomnia, confusion, excessive
salivation, and other debilitating effects.

In normal situations, most exposure to mercury comes from the ingestion of certain
foods, such as fish, in which the mercury has accumulated at high levels. Although
mercury is not absorbed in great quantities when passing through the human digestive
system, ingestion over a long period of time has been shown to have cumulative
effects.

In industrial situations, mercury exposure is a far more serious hazard. Mining and
processing mercury ore can expose workers to mercury vapor as well as to direct
contact with the skin. The production of chlorine and caustic soda can also cause
significant mercury exposure hazards. Dentists and dental assistants can be exposed to
mercury while preparing and placing mercury amalgam fillings.
Because mercury poses a serious health hazard, its use and release to the environment
has come under increasingly tight restrictions. In 1988, it was estimated that 24
million lb/yr (11 million kglyr) of mercury were released into the air, land, and water
worldwide as the result of human activities. This included mercury released by
mercury mining and refining, various manufacturing operations, the combustion of
coal, the discarding of municipal refuse and sewage sludge, and other sources.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has banned the use
of mercury for many applications. The EPA has set a goal of reducing the level of
mercury found in municipal refuse from 1.4 million Ib/yr (0.64 million kg/yr) in 1989
to 0.35 million lb/yr (0.16 million kg/yr) by 2000. This is to be accomplished by
decreasing the use of mercury in products and increasing the diversion of mercury
from municipal refuse through recycling.

The Future

Mercury is still an important component in many products and processes, although its
use is expected to continue to decline. Improved handling and recycling of mercury
are expected to significantly reduce its release to the environment and thereby reduce
its health hazard.

Where to Learn More

Books

Brady, George S., Henry R. Clauser, and John A. Vaccari. Materials Handbook, 14th
Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1997.

Heiserman, David L. Exploring Chemical Elements and Their Compounds. TAB

Books, 1992.

Kroschwitz, Jacqueline I., executive editor, and Mary Howe-Grant, editor.

Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1993.

Stwertka, Albert. A Guide to the Elements. Oxford University Press, 1996.

Periodicals

Raloff, J. "Mercurial Airs: Tallying Who's to Blame." Science News (February 19,
1994): 119.

Spencer, Peter, and G. Murdoch. "Mercury in Paint." Consumers' Research Magazine

(January 1991): 2.

Stone, R. "Mercurial Debate." Science (March 13, 1992): 1356-1357.

Other

http://www.intercorr.com/periodic/80.htm [This website contains a summary of the

history, sources, properties, and uses of mercury.]
[Article by: Chris Cavette]

McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Encyclopedia:

Mercury
Top
Home > Library > Science > Sci-Tech Encyclopedia

A chemical element, Hg, atomic number 80 and atomic weight 200.59. Mercury is a
silver-white liquid at room temperature (melting point −38.89°C or −37.46°F); it boils
at 357.25°C (675.05°F) under atmospheric pressure. It is a noble metal that is soluble
only in oxidizing solutions. Solid mercury is as soft as lead. The metal and its
compounds are very toxic. With some metals (gold, silver, platinum, uranium, copper,
lead, sodium, and potassium, for example) mercury forms solutions called amalgams.
See also Transition elements.

In its compounds, mercury is found in the 2+, 1+, and lower oxidation states, for
example, HgCl2, Hg2Cl2, or Hg3(AsF6)2. Often the mercury atoms are doubly
covalently bonded, for example, ClHgCl or ClHgHgCl. Some mercury(II) salts, for
example, Hg(NO3)2 or Hg(ClO4)2, are quite soluble in water and dissociate normally.
The aqueous solutions of these salts react as strong acids because of hydrolysis. Other
mercury(II) salts, for example, HgCl2 or Hg(CN)2, also dissolve in water, but exist in
solution as only slightly dissociated molecules. There are compounds in which
mercury atoms are bound directly to carbon or nitrogen atoms, for example,
H3CHgCH3 or H3CCONHHgNHCOCH3. In complex compounds, for example,
K2(HgI4), mercury often has three or four bonds.

Metallic mercury is used as a liquid contact material for electrical switches, in

vacuum technology as the working fluid of diffusion pumps, for the manufacture of
mercury-vapor rectifiers, thermometers, barometers, tachometers, and thermostats,
and for the manufacture of mercury-vapor lamps. It finds application for the
manufacture of silver amalgams for tooth fillings in dentistry. Of importance in
electrochemistry are the standard calomel electrode, used as the reference electrode
for the measurement of potentials and for potentiometric titrations, and the Weston
standard cell.

Mercury is commonly found as the sulfide, HgS, frequently as the red cinnabar and
less often as the black metacinnabar. A less common ore is the mercury(I) chloride.
Occasionally the mercury ore contains small drops of metallic mercury.

The surface tension of liquid mercury is 484 dynes/cm, six times greater than that of
water in contact with air. Hence, mercury does not wet surfaces with which it is in
contact. In dry air metallic mercury is not oxidized. After long standing in moist air,
however, the metal becomes coated with a thin layer of oxide. In air-free hydrochloric
acid or in dilute sulfuric acid, the metal does not dissolve. Conversely, it is dissolved
by oxidizing acids (nitric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid, and aqua regia).
Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health:

Mercury
Top
Home > Library > Health > Public Health Encyclopedia

Mercury (Hg) is a naturally occurring silvery metal that has been associated with
adverse health effects throughout history. Elemental mercury is a liquid at room
temperature, and, because of this, Aristotle named mercury "quicksilver." There are
three forms of mercury: elemental mercury (Hg0), organic mercury (e.g.,
methylmercury), and inorganic mercury (e.g., Hg+, Hg2+). Many different organic and
inorganic mercury compounds are found in nature because of mercury's ability to
form covalent or ionic bonds with other chemicals. Mercury has numerous
commercial uses—including its use in the extraction of gold from ores—and is an
ingredient in alkaline batteries (approximately 0.025% of battery content), mercury
vapor lamps, thermostats, and mercury amalgam fillings (in the United States, 50% of
a dental filling is made of mercury). Humans can be exposed to mercury compounds
via the oral, inhalation, and dermal routes. The primary source of exposure to mercury
compounds is attributed to the ingestion of fish and other seafood (marine mammals,
crustaceans) that have bioaccumulated mercury compounds. Dental amalgams, which
leach mercury, are another source.

Adverse health effects from elemental and inorganic mercury compounds have been
observed, particularly in occupational settings. Health consequences commonly
observed from exposure to compounds such as elemental mercury vapor and mercuric
chloride include tremors, bleeding gums, abdominal pain, vomiting, and kidney
damage.

Health effects from organic mercury compounds have also been well-documented,
primarily because of the tragic mass poisonings from organic mercurials in locations
such as Minamata, Japan, and in Iraq. These mass poisonings were primarily
associated with central nervous system toxicity and death. Adverse health effects
observed in poisoned individuals and their offspring included ataxia, dysarthria,
impaired vision and hearing, and death. Methylmercury is particularly toxic because
95 percent of an ingested dose is absorbed into the bloodstream and can cross the
blood-brain and placental barriers, causing adult and fetal neurotoxicity. One of the
reasons that offspring are particularly susceptible is that methylmercury can
accumulate at 30 percent higher levels in fetal red blood cells than in maternal red
blood cells. Besides damaging the brain and peripheral nervous system,
methylmercury may also adversely affect the adult and fetal cardiovascular systems.

Research continues to be performed on the potential neurodevelopment effects of

ingesting low levels of mercury in seafood. Three particularly important, ongoing
studies involve residents of New Zealand and the Seychelles and Faroe Islands who
consume significant portions of seafood as part of their normal diets. Analyses
performed to date on mother-offspring pairs from the Seychelles identified adverse
neurodevelopmental impact in offspring attributable to maternal methylmercury
exposure from seafood. Mild developmental effects were also reported among
offspring of New Zealand and Faroe Island residents who ingested seafood containing
relatively high levels of methylmercury. These studies are particularly pertinent to
assessing potential health effects among Native Arctic populations who consume
marine mammals (beluga whales, ringed seals) as part of their normal diet. An
increased level of mercury has been noted in the Arctic environment since the 1970s,
possibly due to anthropogenic sources such as fossil fuel combustion, or possibly
from increased natural releases of mercury from geologic sources. It is hypothesized
that the cold Arctic climate acts as a sink for mercury; a particularly troublesome
prospect for Native Arctic populations who continue to consume mercury-laden
mammals and seafood.

(SEE ALSO: Environmental Determinants of Health; Foods and Diets; Heavy Metals;
Minamata Disease; Occupational Safety and Health)

Bibliography

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (1999). Toxicological Profile for
Mercury (Update). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (1999). Arctic Pollution Issues: A

State of the Arctic Environment Report. Available at http://www.amap.no.

National Research Council (2000). Toxicological Effects of Methyl Mercury.

Washington, DC: Committee on the Toxicological Effects of Mercury. Board on
Environmental Studies and Toxicology. Commission on Life Sciences.

Tenenbaum, D. J. (1998). "Northern Overexposure." Environmental Health

Perspective 106(2): A64–A69.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1997). Report to Congress on Mercury.

Available at http://www.epa.gov/oar/mercury.html.

World Health Organization (1990). Methyl Mercury, Vol. 101. Geneva: International
Programme on Chemical Safety, WHO.

—— (1990). Inorganic Mercury, Vol. 118. Geneva: International Programme on

Chemical Safety, WHO.

— MARGARET H. WHITAKER; BRUCE A. FOWLER

Columbia Encyclopedia:

mercury
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
mercury or quicksilver [from the Roman god Mercury], metallic chemical element;
symbol Hg [Lat. hydrargyrum=liquid silver]; at. no. 80; at. wt. 200.59; m.p.
−38.842°C; b.p. 356.58°C; sp. gr. 13.55 at 20°C; valence +1 or +2. Mercury was
discovered in antiquity, and was known to the ancient Chinese, Hindus, and
Egyptians, but was not recognized as an element. It was used as a medicine by
Paracelsus. It was first recognized as a chemical element (in the modern sense) by A.
L. Lavoisier about the end of the 18th cent.

Properties

Mercury is the only common metal existing as a liquid at ordinary temperatures. The
pure metal has a silver-white mirrorlike appearance. Mercury is below cadmium in
Group 2 of the periodic table. It is relatively stable in dry air, but in moist air slowly
forms a gray oxide coating. Mercury has high surface tension; when spilled, it breaks
up into tiny beads which often become lodged in cracks.

Compounds

Mercury forms numerous compounds, assuming +1 valence in mercurous compounds

and +2 valence in mercuric compounds. Mercury is not attacked by dilute
hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. It reacts with hot nitric acid to form mercuric nitrate,
Hg(No3)2. An excess of mercury reacts with nitric acid to form mercurous nitrate,
HgNO3. Mercury reacts with hot concentrated sulfuric acid to form mercuric sulfate,
HgSO4; with excess mercury, mercurous sulfate, Hg2SO4, is formed. Mercury reacts
directly with the halogens to form mercuric salts. At elevated temperatures mercury
reacts slowly with oxygen to form mercuric oxide, HgO. A mercurous oxide may be
formed chemically but is unstable, decomposing to a mixture of mercury and
mercuric oxide.

Natural Occurrence and Uses

Mercury occurs uncombined in nature to a limited extent. The metal is obtained

commercially from cinnabar, a mercuric sulfide ore; it is easily separated by roasting
the ore in air. The metal is usually purified by repeated vacuum distillation.

Mercury metal has many uses. Because of its high density, it is used in barometers
and manometers. Because it has a high rate of thermal expansion that is fairly
constant over a wide temperature range, it is used extensively in thermometers.
Mercury is important as a liquid contact material for electric switches. It is used in
mercury-vapor lamps, which emit light rich in ultraviolet radiation; various kinds of
such lamps are used for street lighting, as sun lamps, and in "black lights" (see
lighting). Mercury is used as an electrode in the production of chlorine and sodium
hydroxide. It is also used in certain electric batteries. With some other metals mercury
forms a special type of alloy called an amalgam; a special amalgam (mostly mercury,
silver, and tin) is used in dentistry for filling teeth.

Mercury compounds have many uses. Calomel (mercurous chloride, Hg2Cl2) is used
as a standard in electrochemical measurements and in medicine as a purgative.
Mercuric chloride (corrosive sublimate, HgCl2) is used as an insecticide, in rat poison,
and as a disinfectant. Mercuric oxide is used in skin ointments. Mercuric sulfate is
used as a catalyst in organic chemistry. Vermilion, a red pigment, is mercuric sulfide;
another crystalline form of the sulfide (also used as a pigment) is black. Mercury
fulminate, Hg(CNO)2, is used as a detonator. Mercury forms many organic
compounds. Mercurochrome (in 2% aqueous solution) is used in medicine as a topical
antiseptic. Mercury compounds were formerly used in the treatment of syphilis.

See also mercury poisoning.

Gale Encyclopedia of Food & Culture:

Mercury
Top
Home > Library > Food & Cooking > Food & Culture Encyclopedia

Possible carcinogen. May cause brain, kidney, or fetal damage. Highest concentration
is in fish. Grains and meat account for half of the dietary intake.

Gale Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology:

Mercury
Top
Home > Library > Religion & Spirituality > Occultism & Parapsychology
Encyclopedia

Also popularly known as quicksilver. Known for many centuries, the metal has played
an important part in the history of alchemy. In its refined state it forms a coherent,
very mobile liquid that at ordinary room temparature was a well-known unique
substance. The early alchemists believed that nature formed all metals from mercury,
and that it was a living and feminine principle. It went through many processes, and
the metal that evolved was pure or impure according to the locality of its production.

The mercury of the philosophers' stone needed to be a purified and revivified form of
the ordinary metal; as the Arabian alchemist Geber stated in his Summa perfectionis:
"Mercury, taken as Nature produces it, is not our material or our physic, but it must be
added to."

Mercury seems to have been an entirely different substance than any ordinary metal
or chemical element. Depending upon one's interprepation of alchemy as a system of
spiritual growth, mercury could be one of several substances or states of
consciousness.

mercury
Hg
Hexagonal -- rhombohedral
Environment

Often in or close to volcanic regions, in low-temperature veins.

Crystal description

Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at normal temperatures. It does not become
solid until the temperature falls to -40°F (which equals -40°C). Hence, we find it in
nature only in the form of liquid metallic drops or as thin metallic films on small
cavities and surfaces of rocks.

Physical properties

Silvery white. Luster metallic; specific gravity 13.6. Liquid, whence the name
"quicksilver."

Composition

Mercury, sometimes with a little silver. Poisonous and instantly amalgamates with
gold, so caution is recommended in any utilization or testing. Avoid breathing any
fumes.

Tests

Volatilizes (disappears as fumes) under a blowpipe; dissolves in nitric acid.

Distinguishing characteristics

The liquid droplets cannot be confused with anything else. The silvery films are more
confusing but can easily be burned off with a blowpipe. The usual association with
cinnabar (HgS) helps in identification.

Occurrence

Native mercury is almost invariably associated with the red sulfide of mercury,
cinnabar. It is often found in cavities and cracks in cinnabar-impregnated rocks and
sometimes forms as a result of the weathering of cinnabar, which leaves little holes
lined with drops and films of mercury. Mercury and cinnabar will be found in rocks of
regions where there has been some volcanic or hot-spring activity, though the deposits
may lie some distance from any obvious source.

Remarks

Found in the U.S. in California, Oregon, Texas, and Arkansas. The most notable
occurrences are the Almadén (Spain) and the Idrija, in the former Yugoslavia,
cinnabar mines. It is never an ore alone, but often enriches the mercury sulfide ores.
mercury
A chemical element, atomic number 80, atomic weight 200.59, symbol Hg.
Mercury forms two sets or classes of compounds: mercurous, in which a single atom
of mercury combines with a monovalent radical, and mercuric, in which a single atom
of mercury combines with a bivalent radical. Mercury and its salts have been
employed therapeutically as purgatives; as alternatives in chronic inflammations; and
as intestinal antiseptics, disinfectants and astringents. They are absorbed by the skin
and mucous membranes, causing chronic mercurial poisoning, or hydrargyria. The
mercuric salts are more soluble and irritant than the mercurous. See also mercurous,
mercuric.

• ammoniated m. — used as an antiseptic skin and ophthalmic ointment.

• organic m. — includes the fungistats phenylmercurials, ethyl and
methyl mercurials, e.g. methoxyethylmercury silicate; poisonous to animals
and cause unacceptable residues in animal products.
• m. plant — mercurialis annua.
• m. poisoning — by inorganic compounds causes gastritis and kidney
damage manifested by diarrhea and terminal uremia. Organic mercury
compounds were until recently extensively used as fungistatic agents in stored
grain. They cause poisoning manifested by nervous signs, including
incoordination, blindness and recumbency. With larger doses there are
convulsions.

mercury
In chemistry, a heavy, silvery metallic element, a liquid at normal temperatures.
Mercury expands or contracts rapidly in response to changes in temperature and
therefore was once widely used in thermometers.

 The term mercury is used figuratively in such expressions as “The mercury's

rising” to mean that the temperature is going up.

Mercury (element)

Appearance
General properties
Name, symbol, number mercury, Hg, 80
Physical properties
Phase liquid
Density (near r.t.) (liquid) 13.534 g·cm−3
Melting point 234.32 K-38.83 ° ,C-37.89 ° ,F
Boiling point 629.88 K356.73 ° ,C674.11 ° ,F
 Critical point 1750 K, 172.00 MPa
Heat of fusion 2.29 kJ·mol−1
Heat of vaporization 59.11 kJ·mol−1
Specific heat capacity (25 °C) 27.983 J·mol−1·K−1
Vapor pressure
P (Pa) 1 10 100 1k 10 k 100 k
at T (K) 315 350 393 449 523 629
Atomic properties
4, 2 (mercuric), 1 (mercurous)
Oxidation states
(mildly basic oxide)
Electronegativity 2.00 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies 1st: 1007.1 kJ·mol−1
2nd: 1810 kJ·mol−1
3rd: 3300 kJ·mol−1
Atomic radius 151 pm
Covalent radius 132±5 pm
Van der Waals radius 155 pm

Mercury ( /ˈmɜrkjəri/ or /ˈmɜrkəri/ MER-k(y)ə-ree), also known as quicksilver ( /

ˈkwɪksɪlvər/ ) or hydrargyrum ( /haɪˈdrɑrdʒɪrəm/ hy-DRAR-ji-rəm), is a chemical
element with the symbol Hg (Latinized Greek: hydrargyrum, from "hydr-" meaning
watery or runny and "argyros" meaning silver) and atomic number 80. Mercury is the
only metal that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and pressure; the only
other element that is liquid under these conditions is bromine.[1] With a freezing point
of −38.83 °C and boiling point of 356.73 °C, mercury has one of the broadest ranges
of its liquid state of any metal. A heavy, silvery d-block metal, mercury is also one of
the five metallic chemical elements that are liquid at or near room temperature and
pressure,[2][3] the others being caesium, francium, gallium, and rubidium.

Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar (mercuric

sulfide), which is the source of the red pigment vermilion, and is mostly obtained by
reduction from cinnabar. Cinnabar is highly toxic by ingestion or inhalation of the
dust. Mercury poisoning can also result from exposure to soluble forms of mercury
(such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury), inhalation of mercury vapor, or eating
seafood contaminated with mercury.

Mercury is used in thermometers, barometers, manometers, sphygmomanometers,

float valves, some electrical switches, and other scientific apparatus, though concerns
about the element's toxicity have led to mercury thermometers and
sphygmomanometers being largely phased out in clinical environments in favor of
alcohol-filled, digital, or thermistor-based instruments. It remains in use in a number
of other ways in scientific and scientific research applications, and in amalgam
material for dental restoration. It is used in lighting: electricity passed through
mercury vapor in a phosphor tube produces short-wave ultraviolet light which then
causes the phosphor to fluoresce, making visible light.
 Properties
Physical properties

A pound coin (density ~7.6 g/cm3) floats in mercury due to the combination of the
buoyant force and surface tension.

Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white metal. As compared to other metals, it is a poor

conductor of heat, but a fair conductor of electricity.[4]

Chemical properties

Mercury has an exceptionally low melting temperature for a d-block metal. A

complete explanation of this fact requires a deep excursion into quantum physics, but
it can be summarized as follows: mercury has a unique electronic configuration where
electrons fill up all the available 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f, 5s, 5p, 5d and 6s
subshells. As such configuration strongly resists removal of an electron, mercury
behaves similarly to noble gas elements, which form weak bonds and thus easily
melting solids. The stability of the 6s shell is due to the presence of a filled 4f shell.
An f shell poorly screens the nuclear charge that increases the attractive Coulomb
interaction of the 6s shell and the nucleus (see lanthanide contraction). The absence of
a filled inner f shell is the reason for the much higher melting temperature of
cadmium. Metals such as gold have atoms with one less 6s electron than mercury.
Those electrons are more easily removed and are shared between the gold atoms
forming relatively strong metallic bonds.[3][5]

At its melting point (−38.86 °C), the density of mercury is[6] 13.534 g/cm3.

Reactivity and compounds

Mercury dissolves to form amalgams with gold, zinc and many other metals. Because
iron is an exception, iron flasks have been traditionally used to trade mercury. Other
metals that do not form amalgams with mercury include tantalum, tungsten and
platinum. When heated, mercury also reacts with oxygen in air to form mercury
oxide, which then can be decomposed by further heating to higher temperatures.[7]

Since it is below hydrogen in the reactivity series of metals, mercury does not react
with most acids, such as dilute sulfuric acid, though oxidizing acids such as
concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid or aqua regia dissolve it to give sulfate,
nitrate, and chloride salts. Like silver, mercury reacts with atmospheric hydrogen
sulfide. Mercury even reacts with solid sulfur flakes, which are used in mercury spill
kits to absorb mercury vapors (spill kits also use activated carbon and powdered zinc).
[7]

Some important mercury salts include:

• Mercury(I) chloride (calomel) is sometimes still used in medicine,

acousto-optical filters and as a standard in electrochemistry;[8]
• Mercury(II) chloride is a very corrosive, easily sublimating and
poisonous substance;[4]
• Mercury fulminate, (a detonator widely used in explosives);[4]
• Mercury(II) oxide, the main oxide of mercury;
• Mercury(II) sulfide (found naturally as the ore cinnabar, or vermilion
which is a high-grade paint pigment);[4]
• Mercury(II) selenide, Mercury(II) telluride, Mercury cadmium
telluride and mercury zinc telluride are semiconductors and infrared detector
materials.[9]

In these compounds, mercury displays two oxidation states: +1 and +2. The +1 state
oxidation involves the dimeric cation, Hg2+
2. Solutions of Hg2+
2 are in equilibrium with Hg2+ and metallic mercury:

Hg2+ + Hg Hg2+
2

This equilibrium causes solutions of Hg2+

2 to have a small amount of Hg2+ present. Consuming the Hg2+ by another reaction,
such as complexation with strong ligands or precipitation of an insoluble salt, will
cause all the Hg2+
2 to fully disproportionate to Hg2+ and elemental mercury.[10]

Besides Hg2+
2, mercury also forms other mercury polycations such as Hg2+
3.[11]

Higher oxidation states of mercury were confirmed in September 2007, with the
synthesis of mercury(IV) fluoride (HgF4) using matrix isolation techniques.[12]

Laboratory tests have found that an electrical discharge causes the noble gases to
combine with mercury vapor. These compounds are held together with van der Waals
forces and result in Hg·Ne, Hg·Ar, Hg·Kr, and Hg·Xe (see exciplex). Organic mercury
compounds are also important. Methylmercury is a dangerous compound that is
widely found as a pollutant in water bodies and streams.[13]

Mercury and aluminium

Mercury discharge (spectrum) tube

Mercury readily combines with aluminium to form a mercury-aluminium amalgam

when the two pure metals come into contact. However, when the amalgam is exposed
to air, the aluminium oxidizes, leaving mercury behind. The oxide flakes away,
exposing more mercury amalgam, which repeats the process. This process continues
until the supply of amalgam is exhausted. Because this process releases mercury, a
small amount of mercury can "eat through" a large amount of aluminium over time,
by progressively forming amalgam and relinquishing the aluminium as oxide.[14]

Aluminium in air is ordinarily protected by a molecule-thin layer of its own oxide,

which is not porous to oxygen. Mercury coming into contact with the oxide is not
detrimental, although if any elemental aluminium is exposed, the mercury may
combine with it and potentially damage the aluminium.[14][15] For this reason,
restrictions are placed on the use and handling of mercury in proximity with
aluminium. In particular, mercury is not allowed aboard an aircraft under most
circumstances because of the risk of it forming an amalgam with exposed aluminium
parts in the aircraft.[14]

Isotopes

There are seven stable isotopes of mercury with 202Hg being the most abundant
(29.86%). The longest-lived radioisotopes are 194Hg with a half-life of 444 years, and
203
Hg with a half-life of 46.612 days. Most of the remaining radioisotopes have half-
lives that are less than a day. 199Hg and 201Hg are the most often studied NMR-active
nuclei, having spins of 1⁄2 and 3⁄2 respectively.[4]

History

The symbol for the planet Mercury (☿) has been used since ancient times to represent
the element

Mercury was found in Egyptian tombs that date from 1500 BC[16] It was also known to
the ancient Chinese.[17] In China and Tibet, mercury use was thought to prolong life,
heal fractures, and maintain generally good health. One of China's emperors, Qín Shǐ
Huáng Dì — allegedly buried in a tomb that contained rivers of flowing mercury on a
model of the land he ruled, representative of the rivers of China — was killed by
drinking a mercury and powdered jade mixture (causing liver failure, poisoning, and
brain death) intended to give him eternal life.[18][19] The ancient Greeks used mercury
in ointments; the ancient Egyptians and the Romans used it in cosmetics which
sometimes deformed the face. By 500 BC mercury was used to make amalgams
(Medieval Latin amalgama, "alloy of mercury") with other metals.[20] The Indian word
for alchemy is Rasavātam which means "the way of mercury".[21]
Alchemists thought of mercury as the First Matter from which all metals were formed.
They believed that different metals could be produced by varying the quality and
quantity of sulfur contained within the mercury. The purest of these was gold, and
mercury was called for in attempts at the transmutation of base (or impure) metals
into gold, which was the goal of many alchemists.[22]

Hg is the modern chemical symbol for mercury. It comes from hydrargyrum, a

Latinized form of the Greek word Ύδραργυρος (hydrargyros), which is a compound
word meaning "water-silver" (hydr- = water, argyros = silver) — since it is liquid like
water and shiny like silver. The element was named after the Roman god Mercury,
known for speed and mobility. It is associated with the planet Mercury; the
astrological symbol for the planet is also one of the alchemical symbols for the metal.
Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name became the
common name.[22]

The mines in Almadén (Spain), Monte Amiata (Italy), and Idrija (now Slovenia)
dominated the mercury production from the opening of the mine in Almadén 2500
years ago until new deposits were found at the end of the 19th century.[23]

Occurrence
Mercury output in 2005

Mercury is an extremely rare element in the Earth's crust, having an average crustal
abundance by mass of only 0.08 parts per million (ppm).[24] However, because it does
not blend geochemically with those elements that constitute the majority of the crustal
mass, mercury ores can be extraordinarily concentrated considering the element's
abundance in ordinary rock. The richest mercury ores contain up to 2.5% mercury by
mass, and even the leanest concentrated deposits are at least 0.1% mercury (12,000
times average crustal abundance). It is found either as a native metal (rare) or in
cinnabar, corderoite, livingstonite and other minerals, with cinnabar (HgS) being the
most common ore. Mercury ores usually occur in very young orogenic belts where
rock of high density are forced to the crust of the Earth, often in hot springs or other
volcanic regions.[25]

Beginning in 1558, with the invention of the patio process to extract silver from ore
using mercury, mercury became an essential resource in the economy of Spain and its
American colonies. Mercury was used to extract silver from the lucrative mines in
New Spain and Peru. Initially, the Spanish Crown's mines in Almaden in Southern
Spain supplied all the mercury for the colonies.[26] Mercury deposits were discovered
in the New World, and more than 100,000 tons of mercury were mined from the
region of Huancavelica, Peru, over the course of three centuries following the
discovery of deposits there in 1563. The patio process and later pan amalgamation
process continued to create great demand for mercury to treat silver ores until the late
19th century.[27]
Native mercury with cinnabar, Socrates mine, Sonoma County, California. Cinnabar
sometimes alters to native mercury in the oxidized zone of mercury deposits.

Former mines in Italy, the United States and Mexico which once produced a large
proportion of the world supply have now been completely mined out or, in the case of
Slovenia (Idrija) and Spain (Almadén), shut down due to the fall of the price of
mercury. Nevada's McDermitt Mine, the last mercury mine in the United States,
closed in 1992. The price of mercury has been highly volatile over the years and in
2006 was $650 per 76-pound (34.46 kg) flask.[28]

Mercury is extracted by heating cinnabar in a current of air and condensing the vapor.
The equation for this extraction is

HgS + O2 → Hg + SO2

In 2005, China was the top producer of mercury with almost two-thirds global share
followed by Kyrgyzstan.[29] Several other countries are believed to have unrecorded
production of mercury from copper electrowinning processes and by recovery from
effluents.

Because of the high toxicity of mercury, both the mining of cinnabar and refining for
mercury are hazardous and historic causes of mercury poisoning. In China, prison
labor was used by a private mining company as recently as the 1950s to create new
cinnabar mercury mines. Thousands of prisoners were used by the Luo Xi mining
company to establish new tunnels.[30] In addition, worker health in functioning mines
is at high risk.

The European Union directive calling for compact fluorescent bulbs to be made
mandatory by 2012 has encouraged China to re-open deadly cinnabar mines to obtain
the mercury required for CFL bulb manufacture. As a result, environmental dangers
have been a concern, particularly in the southern cities of Foshan and Guangzhou, and
in the Guizhou province in the south west.[30]

Abandoned mercury mine processing sites often contain very hazardous waste piles of
roasted cinnabar calcines. Water run-off from such sites is a recognized source of
ecological damage. Former mercury mines may be suited for constructive re-use. For
example, in 1976 Santa Clara County, California purchased the historic Almaden
Quicksilver Mine and created a county park on the site, after conducting extensive
safety and environmental analysis of the property.[31]
Releases in the environment
Amount of atmospheric mercury deposited at Wyoming's Upper Fremont Glacier over
the last 270 years

Preindustrial deposition rates of mercury from the atmosphere may be about 4 ng /(1
L of ice deposit). Although that can be considered a natural level of exposure,
regional or global sources have significant effects. Volcanic eruptions can increase the
atmospheric source by 4–6 times.[32]

Natural sources, such as volcanoes, are responsible for approximately half of

atmospheric mercury emissions. The human-generated half can be divided into the
following estimated percentages:[33][34][35]

• 65% from stationary combustion, of which coal-fired power plants are

the largest aggregate source (40% of U.S. mercury emissions in 1999). This
includes power plants fueled with gas where the mercury has not been
removed. Emissions from coal combustion are between one and two orders of
magnitude higher than emissions from oil combustion, depending on the
country.[33]
• 11% from gold production. The three largest point sources for mercury
emissions in the U.S. are the three largest gold mines. Hydrogeochemical
release of mercury from gold-mine tailings has been accounted as a significant
source of atmospheric mercury in eastern Canada.[36]
• 6.8% from non-ferrous metal production, typically smelters.
• 6.4% from cement production.
• 3.0% from waste disposal, including municipal and hazardous waste,
crematoria, and sewage sludge incineration. This is a significant underestimate
due to limited information, and is likely to be off by a factor of two to five.
• 3.0% from caustic soda production.
• 1.4% from pig iron and steel production.
• 1.1% from mercury production, mainly for batteries.
• 2.0% from other sources.

The above percentages are estimates of the global human-caused mercury emissions
in 2000, excluding biomass burning, an important source in some regions.[33]

Current atmospheric mercury contamination in outdoor urban air is (0.01–0.02 µg/m3)

indoor concentrations are significantly elevated over outdoor concentrations, in the
range 0.0065–0.523 µg/m3 (average 0.069 µg/m3).[37]

Mercury also enters into the environment through the improper disposal (e.g., land
filling, incineration) of certain products. Products containing mercury include: auto
parts, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, medical products, thermometers, and thermostats.[38]
Due to health concerns (see below), toxics use reduction efforts are cutting back or
eliminating mercury in such products. For example, most thermometers now use
pigmented alcohol instead of mercury. Mercury thermometers are still occasionally
used in the medical field because they are more accurate than alcohol thermometers,
though both are being replaced by electronic thermometers. Mercury thermometers
are still widely used for certain scientific applications because of their greater
accuracy and working range.

The United States Clean Air Act, passed in 1990, put mercury on a list of toxic
pollutants that need to be controlled to the greatest possible extent. Thus, industries
that release high concentrations of mercury into the environment agreed to install
maximum achievable control technologies (MACT). In March 2005 EPA rule[39]
added power plants to the list of sources that should be controlled and a national cap
and trade rule was issued. States were given until November 2006 to impose stricter
controls, and several States are doing so. The rule was being subjected to legal
challenges from several States in 2005 and decision was made in 2008. The Clean Air
Mercury Rule was struck down by a Federal Appeals Court on February 8, 2008. The
rule was deemed not sufficient to protect the health of persons living near coal-fired
power plants. The court opinion cited the negative impact on human health from coal
fired power plants' mercury emissions documented in the EPA Study Report to
Congress of 1998.[40]

Historically, one of the largest releases was from the Colex plant, a lithium-isotope
separation plant at Oak Ridge. The plant operated in the 1950s and 1960s. Records are
incomplete and unclear, but government commissions have estimated that some two
million pounds of mercury are unaccounted for.[41]

One of the worst industrial disasters in history was caused by the dumping of mercury
compounds into Minamata Bay, Japan. The Chisso Corporation, a fertilizer and later
petrochemical company, was found responsible for polluting the bay from 1932–
1968. It is estimated that over 3,000 people suffered various deformities, severe
mercury poisoning symptoms or death from what became known as Minamata
disease.[42]

Applications

The bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer

Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical
and electronic applications. It is used in some thermometers, especially ones which
are used to measure high temperatures. A still increasing amount is used as gaseous
mercury in fluorescent lamps, while most of the other applications are slowly phased
out due to health and safety regulations and is in some applications replaced with less
toxic but considerably more expensive Galinstan alloy.

Present use
Medicine

Amalgam filling

The deep violet glow of a mercury vapor discharge in a germicidal lamp, whose
spectrum is rich in invisible ultraviolet radiation.
See also: Amalgam (dentistry)

Mercury and its compounds have been used in medicine, although they are much less
common today than they once were, now that the toxic effects of mercury and its
compounds are more widely understood. The element mercury is an ingredient in
dental amalgams. Thiomersal (called Thimerosal in the United States) is an organic
compound used as a preservative in vaccines, though this use is in decline.[43] Another
mercury compound Merbromin (Mercurochrome) is a topical antiseptic used for
minor cuts and scrapes is still in use in some countries.

Mercury(I) chloride (also known as calomel or mercurous chloride) has traditionally

been used as a diuretic, topical disinfectant, and laxative. Mercury(II) chloride (also
known as mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate) was once used to treat syphilis
(along with other mercury compounds), although it is so toxic that sometimes the
symptoms of its toxicity were confused with those of the syphilis it was believed to
treat.[44] It is also used as a disinfectant. Blue mass, a pill or syrup in which mercury is
the main ingredient, was prescribed throughout the 19th century for numerous
conditions including constipation, depression, child-bearing and toothaches.[45] In the
early 20th century, mercury was administered to children yearly as a laxative and
dewormer, and it was used in teething powders for infants. The mercury-containing
organohalide merbromin (sometimes sold as Mercurochrome) is still widely used but
has been banned in some countries such as the U.S.[46]

Since the 1930s some vaccines have contained the preservative thiomersal, which is
metabolized or degraded to ethyl mercury. Although it was widely speculated that this
mercury-based preservative can cause or trigger autism in children, scientific studies
showed no evidence supporting any such link.[47] Nevertheless thiomersal has been
removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all U.S. vaccines recommended for
children 6 years of age and under, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine.
[48]

Mercury in the form of one of its common ores, cinnabar, remains an important
component of Chinese, Tibetan, and Ayurvedic medicine. As problems may arise
when these medicines are exported to countries that prohibit the use of mercury in
medicines, in recent times, less toxic substitutes have been devised.

Today, the use of mercury in medicine has greatly declined in all respects, especially
in developed countries. Thermometers and sphygmomanometers containing mercury
were invented in the early 18th and late 19th centuries, respectively. In the early 21st
century, their use is declining and has been banned in some countries, states and
medical institutions. In 2002, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to phase out the sale
of non-prescription mercury thermometers. In 2003, Washington and Maine became
the first states to ban mercury blood pressure devices.[49] Mercury compounds are
found in some over-the-counter drugs, including topical antiseptics, stimulant
laxatives, diaper-rash ointment, eye drops, and nasal sprays. The FDA has
“inadequate data to establish general recognition of the safety and effectiveness,” of
the mercury ingredients in these products.[50] Mercury is still used in some diuretics,
although substitutes now exist for most therapeutic uses.

Cosmetics

Mercury, as thiomersal, is widely used in the manufacture of mascara. In 2008,

Minnesota became the first state in the US to ban intentionally added mercury in
cosmetics, giving it a tougher standard than the federal government.[51]
A study in geometric mean urine mercury concentration identified a previously
unrecognized source of exposure (skin care products) to inorganic mercury among
New York City residents. Population-based biomonitoring also showed that mercury
concentration levels are higher in consumers of seafood and fish meals.[52]

Production of chlorine and caustic soda

Chlorine is produced from sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) using electrolysis to
separate the metallic sodium from the chlorine gas. Usually the salt is dissolved in
water to produce a brine. By-products of any such chloralkali process are hydrogen
(H2) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is commonly called caustic soda or lye.
By far the largest use of mercury[53][54] in the late 20th century was in the mercury cell
process (also called the Castner-Kellner process) where metallic sodium is formed as
an amalgam at a cathode made from mercury; this sodium is then reacted with water
to produce sodium hydroxide.[55] Many of the industrial mercury releases of the 20th
century came from this process, although modern plants claimed to be safe in this
regard.[54] After about 1985, all new chloralkali production facilities that were built in
the United States used either membrane cell or diaphragm cell technologies to
produce chlorine.

Gold and silver mining

Historically, mercury was used extensively in hydraulic gold mining in order to help
the gold to sink through the flowing water-gravel mixture. Thin mercury particles
may form mercury-gold amalgam and therefore increase the gold recovery rates.[4]
Large scale use of mercury stopped in the 1960s. However, mercury is still used in
small scale, often clandestine, gold prospecting. It is estimated that 45,000 metric tons
of mercury used in California for placer mining have not been recovered.[56] Mercury
was also used in silver mining.[57]

Other present uses

Skin tanner containing a low-pressure mercury vapor lamp and two infrared lamps,
which act both as light source and electrical ballast
Assorted types of fluorescent lamps.

Gaseous mercury is used in mercury-vapor lamps and some "neon sign" type
advertising signs and fluorescent lamps. Those low-pressure lamps emit very
spectrally narrow lines, which are traditionally used in optical spectroscopy for
calibration of spectral position. Commercial calibration lamps are sold for this
purpose; however simply reflecting some of the fluorescent-lamp ceiling light into a
spectrometer is a common calibration practice.[58] Gaseous mercury is also found in
some electron tubes, including ignitrons, thyratrons, and mercury arc rectifiers.[59] It is
also used in specialist medical care lamps for skin tanning and disinfection (see
pictures).[60] Gaseous mercury is added to cold cathode argon-filled lamps to increase
the ionization and electrical conductivity. An argon filled lamp without mercury will
have dull spots and will fail to light correctly. Lighting containing mercury can be
bombarded/oven pumped only once. When added to neon filled tubes the light
produced will be inconsistent red/blue spots until the initial burning-in process is
completed; eventually it will light a consistent dull off-blue color.[61]

Some medical thermometers, especially those for high temperatures, are filled with
mercury; however, they are gradually disappearing. In the United States, non-
prescription sale of mercury fever thermometers has been banned since 2003.[62]
Mercury is also found in liquid-mirror telescopes. The mirror is formed by rotating
liquid mercury on a disk, the parabolic form of the liquid thus formed reflecting and
focusing incident light. Such telescopes are cheaper than conventional large mirror
telescopes by up to a factor of 100, but the mirror cannot be tilted and always points
straight up.[63][64]

Liquid mercury is a part of popular secondary reference electrode (called the calomel
electrode) in electrochemistry as an alternative to the standard hydrogen electrode.
The calomel electrode is used to work out the electrode potential of half cells.[65] Last,
but not least, the triple point of mercury, −38.8344 °C, is a fixed point used as a
temperature standard for the International Temperature Scale (ITS-90).[4]

Proposed uses

Liquid mercury has been proposed as a working fluid for a heat pipe type of cooling
device for spacecraft heat rejection systems or radiation panels.[66]

Historic uses
Old mercury switches

Mercury manometer to measure pressure

Mercury was used for preserving wood, developing daguerreotypes, silvering mirrors,
anti-fouling paints (discontinued in 1990), herbicides (discontinued in 1995),
handheld maze games, cleaning, and road leveling devices in cars. Mercury
compounds have been used in antiseptics, laxatives, antidepressants, and in
antisyphilitics. It was also allegedly used by allied spies to sabotage German planes: a
mercury paste was applied to bare aluminium, causing the metal to rapidly corrode;
this would cause structural failures.[15]

• Chloralkali process: The largest industrial use of mercury during the

20th century was in electrolysis for separating chlorine and sodium from
brine; mercury being the anode of the Castner-Kellner process. The chlorine
was used for bleaching paper (hence the location of many of these plants near
paper mills) while the sodium was used to make sodium hydroxide for soaps
and other cleaning products. This usage has largely been discontinued,
replaced with other technologies that utilize membrane cells.[67]
• Mercury switches (including home mercury light switches installed
prior to 1970), tilt switches used in old fire detectors, tilt switches in many
modern home thermostats,[68] electrodes in some types of electrolysis, batteries
(mercury cells), sodium hydroxide and chlorine production, handheld games,
catalysts, insecticides and liquid mirror telescopes.[69]
 • In Islamic Spain, it was used for filling decorative pools. Later, the
American artist Alexander Calder built a mercury fountain for the Spanish
Pavilion at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. The fountain is now on display
at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona.[70]
• Mercury was used inside wobbler lures. Its heavy, liquid form made it
useful since the lures made an attractive irregular movement when the
mercury moved inside the plug. Such use was stopped due to environmental
concerns, but illegal preparation of modern fishing plugs has occurred.
• The Fresnel lenses of old lighthouses used to float and rotate in a bath
of mercury which acted like a bearing.[71]
• Mercury sphygmomanometers (blood pressure meter), barometers,
diffusion pumps, coulometers, and many other laboratory instruments. As an
opaque liquid with a high density and a nearly linear thermal expansion, it is
ideal for this role.[72]
• Liquid mercury was used as a coolant for some nuclear reactors;
however, sodium is proposed for reactors cooled with liquid metal, because
the high density of mercury requires much more energy to circulate as coolant.
[73]

• The South Meadow power plant in Hartford, CT employed mercury as

its working fluid,in a binary configuration with a secondary water circuit, for a
number of years starting in the late 1920s in a drive to improve plant
efficiency. Several other plants were built, including the Schiller Station in
Portsmouth, NH, which went online in 1950. The idea did not catch on
industry-wide due to the weight and toxicity of mercury, as well as the advent
of supercritical steam plants in later years.[74][75]
• Mercury was a propellant for early ion engines in electric space
propulsion systems. Advantages were mercury's high molecular weight, low
ionization energy, low dual-ionization energy, high liquid density and liquid
storability at room temperature. Disadvantages were concerns regarding
environmental impact associated with ground testing and concerns about
eventual cooling and condensation of some of the propellant on the spacecraft
in long-duration operations. The first spaceflight to use electric propulsion was
a mercury-fueled ion thruster developed by NASA Lewis and flown on the
Space Electric Rocket Test "SERT-1" spacecraft launched by NASA at its
Wallops Flight Facility in 1964. The SERT-1 flight was followed up by the
SERT-2 flight in 1970. Mercury and caesium were preferred propellants for
ion engines until Hughes Research Laboratory performed studies finding
xenon gas to be a suitable replacement. Xenon is now the preferred propellant
for ion engines as it has a high molecular weight, little or no reactivity due its
noble gas nature, and has a high liquid density under mild cryogenic storage.
[76][77]

• Experimental mercury vapor turbines were installed to increase the

efficiency of fossil-fuel electrical power plants.[78]
• Mercury was once used as a gun barrel bore cleaner.[79][80]

Hat making

From the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, a process called "carroting" was used in
the making of felt hats. Animal skins were rinsed in an orange solution (the term
"carroting" arose from this color) of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate,
Hg(NO3)2·2H2O.[81] This process separated the fur from the pelt and matted it together.
This solution and the vapors it produced were highly toxic. The United States Public
Health Service banned the use of mercury in the felt industry in December 1941. The
psychological symptoms associated with mercury poisoning are said by some to have
inspired the phrase "mad as a hatter". Lewis Carroll's "Mad Hatter" in his book Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland was a play on words based on the older phrase, but the
character himself does not exhibit symptoms of mercury poisoning.[82]

Toxicity and safety

Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic and are generally handled
with care; in cases of spills involving mercury (such as from certain thermometers or
fluorescent light bulbs) specific cleaning procedures are used to avoid toxic exposure.
[83]
Essentially, it is recommended to physically merge smaller droplets on hard
surfaces, combining them into a single larger pool for easier removal by using an
eyedropper, or by pushing it into a disposable container. Vacuum cleaners and brooms
should not be used because they cause greater dispersal of the mercury. Afterwards,
sulfur powder, zinc powder, or some other element that readily forms an amalgam
(alloy) with mercury (e.g. finely-divided Cu or Bi) at ordinary temperatures is
sprinkled over the area and subsequently collected and properly disposed of. Cleaning
porous surfaces and clothing is not effective at removing all traces of mercury and it
is therefore advised to discard these kinds of items should they be exposed to a
mercury spill.

Mercury can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes, so
containers of mercury are securely sealed to avoid spills and evaporation. Heating of
mercury, or compounds of mercury that may decompose when heated, is always
carried out with adequate ventilation in order to avoid exposure to mercury vapor. The
most toxic forms of mercury are its organic compounds, such as dimethylmercury and
methylmercury. However, inorganic compounds, such as cinnabar are also highly
toxic by ingestion or inhalation of the dust.[84] Mercury can cause both chronic and
acute poisoning.

Occupational exposure

Due to the health effects of mercury exposure, industrial and commercial uses are
regulated in many countries. The World Health Organization, OSHA, and NIOSH all
treat mercury as an occupational hazard, and have established specific occupational
exposure limits. Environmental releases and disposal of mercury are regulated in the
U.S. primarily by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Case control studies have shown effects such as tremors, impaired cognitive skills,
and sleep disturbance in workers with chronic exposure to mercury vapor even at low
concentrations in the range 0.7–42 μg/m3.[85][86] A study has shown that acute exposure
(4 – 8 hours) to calculated elemental mercury levels of 1.1 to 44 mg/m3 resulted in
chest pain, dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, impairment of pulmonary function, and
evidence of interstitial pneumonitis.[87] Acute exposure to mercury vapor has been
shown to result in profound central nervous system effects, including psychotic
reactions characterized by delirium, hallucinations, and suicidal tendency.
Occupational exposure has resulted in broad-ranging functional disturbance, including
erethism, irritability, excitability, excessive shyness, and insomnia. With continuing
exposure, a fine tremor develops and may escalate to violent muscular spasms.
Tremor initially involves the hands and later spreads to the eyelids, lips, and tongue.
Long-term, low-level exposure has been associated with more subtle symptoms of
erethism, including fatigue, irritability, loss of memory, vivid dreams, and depression.
[88][89]

Treatment

Research on the treatment of mercury poisoning is limited. Currently available drugs

for acute mercurial poisoning include chelators N-acetyl-D, L-penicillamine (NAP),
British Anti-Lewisite (BAL), 2,3-dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS), and
dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). In one small study including 11 construction
workers exposed to elemental mercury, patients were treated with DMSA and NAP.[90]
Chelation therapy with both drugs resulted in the mobilization of a small fraction of
the total estimated body mercury. DMSA was able to increase the excretion of
mercury to a greater extent than NAP.[91]

Fish

Main article: Mercury in fish

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.
Species of fish that are high on the food chain, such as shark, swordfish, king
mackerel, albacore tuna, and tilefish contain higher concentrations of mercury than
others. As mercury and methylmercury are fat soluble, they primarily accumulate in
the viscera, although they are also found throughout the muscle tissue. When this fish
is consumed by a predator, the mercury level is accumulated. Since fish are less
efficient at depurating than accumulating methylmercury, fish-tissue concentrations
increase over time. Thus species that are high on the food chain amass body burdens
of mercury that can be ten times higher than the species they consume. This process is
called biomagnification. Mercury poisoning happened this way in Minamata, Japan,
It would be really neat if there were a metal that was liquid at room temperature,
now called Minamata disease.
didn't stick to skin, and was safe to play with, stick your fingers in, float on, etc.
Up until a couple of decades ago there was: Mercury. Unfortunately it turned
out that the "safe" part wasn't quite accurate. Mercury has gone from being
something kids play with to something considered so toxic that even mercury
thermometers are being banned, because they might break.

Mercury in metallic form is dangerous, but it's organic compounds of mercury

that are really bad. Once mercury gets into the environment it's very hard to get
rid of, and it gets built into the food chain, which causes a cascade of problems
as it works its way up to the food you're eating. Unfortunately, eliminating it
from common use is not an overreaction.

This is a real shame, because it leaves the world without a good liquid metal.
Gallium-indium alloys are liquid at room temperature, but they stick to
everything and are unpleasant, though not dangerous, to handle. Cesium is also
liquid just slightly above room temperature, but it explodes on contact with
moisture, which is inconvenient. It's not clear that there is any possibility for
improvement, because the set of liquid metals to choose from is extremely
limited.