What are 5 common uses of mercury?
Uses Of Mercury
- Mercury is used in thermometers and traditional blood pressure monitors. ...
- In dentistry amalgam fillings are used for repairing cavities. ...
- Thiomersal (Thimerosal), a compound containing mercury, is a preservative used in many vaccines and some other pharmaceutical products (nasal sprays, eye drops, antiseptic and diaper rash ointments). ...
Where is uranium located on there periodic table?
Uranium is the 92nd element on the periodic table. It is located in period 7. It is the fourth element of the actinide series that appears below the main body of the periodic table. Every element in the same row or period as uranium is radioactive. What this means is that none of the actinide elements have any stable isotopes.
Where is carbon group located on the periodic table?
The carbon family is located very nearly in the middle of the periodic table, with nonmetals to its right and metals to its left. The carbon family is also called the carbon group, group 14, or group IV.
Where is gold location on the periodic table?
gold (Au), chemical element, a dense lustrous yellow precious metal of Group 11 (Ib), Period 6, of the periodic table.Gold has several qualities that have made it exceptionally valuable throughout history. It is attractive in colour and brightness, durable to the point of virtual indestructibility, highly malleable, and usually found in nature in a comparatively pure form.
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Is mercury metal or nonmetal?
Mercury is a silvery-white poisonous metallic element. Mercury is liquid at room temperature and used in thermometers, barometers, fluorescent lighting, batteries and in the preparation of chemical pesticides. Mercury is also sometimes called quicksilver or liquid silver. The chemical symbol for Mercury is Hg.
What is mercury used for?
Mercury can be used to make thermometers, barometers and other scientific instruments. Mercury conducts electricity and is used to make silent, position dependent switches. Mercury vapor is used in streetlights, fluorescent lamps and advertising signs.
What is special about mercury on the periodic table?
Mercury is the only metal on earth that is liquid at room temperature. Liquid mercury is so slippery that it will fall your skin if you try to hold it. It is so heavy that 2 tablespoons of mercury weighs about one pound!
Is mercury a metal?
Mercury is both a liquid at room temperature (as it has a very low melting point of -39C) and a metal.
What happens if mercury touches gold?
Freddie Mercury may have had the golden voice, but real mercury, that endlessly entertaining and dangerous liquid metal, has the golden touch. That is, if it touches gold it will immediately break the lattice bonds of the precious metal and form an alloy in a process known as amalgamation.
How much is mercury worth?
1 MER = 0.0006051 USD.
Is mercury toxic?
All Mercury is Toxic Although some forms of mercury are more dangerous than others, all are toxic. Depending on the type and amount, exposures to mercury can damage the nervous system, kidneys, liver and immune system. Breathing mercury vapors can harm the nervous system, lungs and kidneys.
Can mercury rust?
Mercury is a fairly unreactive metal and is highly resistant to corrosion. When heated to near its boiling point (346.72 deg C/675 deg F), mercury oxidizes in air, and mercuric oxide is formed.
What are 5 interesting facts about mercury?
Cool Mercury FactsMercury is the closest planet to the Sun. ... Mercury is also the smallest planet in the Solar System. ... Not only is Mercury the smallest planet, it is also shrinking! ... Mercury has the most craters in the Solar System. ... The biggest crater in Mercury could fit Western Europe.More items...•
Is mercury wet?
It's pure Terminator, and not “wet” in the sense that water is wet. One reason is because the surface tension within mercury is so strong that drops of it adhere to each other more than they'd break ranks to adhere to another surface.
Why is mercury toxic?
The inorganic salts of mercury are corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested. Neurological and behavioural disorders may be observed after inhalation, ingestion or dermal exposure of different mercury compounds.
Does mercury have a taste?
taste qualities …of heavy metals such as mercury have a metallic taste, although some of the salts of lead (especially lead acetate) and beryllium are sweet.
What are 5 uses of mercury?
Mercury metal have many applications. Because of its high-density, mercury is used in thermometers, barometers, manometers, sphygmomanometers, float valves, mercury switches, mercury relays, fluorescent lamps and other devices.
Why is mercury illegal?
By federal law, it is now illegal to export elemental mercury from the United States. For more information, see Questions and Answers about the Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that negatively impacts human health and the environment around the world.
What is the use of mercury at home?
Elemental mercury has been used in a wide variety of equipment and consumer products, such as thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and certain types of light bulbs. Mercury compounds have been used in products such as fungicides, antiseptics, and disinfectants.
What are 3 unique things about mercury?
Cool Mercury FactsMercury is the closest planet to the Sun. ... Mercury is also the smallest planet in the Solar System. ... Not only is Mercury the smallest planet, it is also shrinking! ... Mercury has the most craters in the Solar System. ... The biggest crater in Mercury could fit Western Europe.More items...•
What is the crystal structure of mercury?
A possible crystal structure of Mercury is rhombohedral structure.
What is the mass number of mercury?
Mass numbers of typical isotopes of Mercury are 198-202.
How many protons does mercury have?
Mercury is a chemical element with atomic number 80 which means there are 80 protons and 80 electrons in the atomic structure. The chemical symbol for Mercury is Hg.
How are atomic nuclei determined?
Properties of atomic nuclei (atomic mass, nuclear cross-sections) are determined by the number of protons and number of neutrons (neutron number). It must be noted, especially nuclear cross-sections may vary by many orders from nuclide with the neutron number N to nuclide with the neutron number N+1. For example, actinides with odd neutron number are usually fissile (fissionable with slow neutrons) while actinides with even neutron number are usually not fissile (but are fissionable with fast neutrons). Heavy nuclei with an even number of protons and an even number of neutrons are (due to Pauli exclusion principle) very stable thanks to the occurrence of ‘paired spin’. On the other hand, nuclei with an odd number of protons and neutrons are mostly unstable.
How to determine the stability of an isotope?
To determine the stability of an isotope you can use the ratio neutron/proton (N/Z). Also to help understand this concept there is a chart of the nuclides, known as a Segre chart. This chart shows a plot of the known nuclides as a function of their atomic and neutron numbers. It can be observed from the chart that there are more neutrons than protons in nuclides with Z greater than about 20 (Calcium). These extra neutrons are necessary for stability of the heavier nuclei. The excess neutrons act somewhat like nuclear glue. Only two stable nuclides have fewer neutrons than protons: hydrogen-1 and helium-3.
How are atoms determined?
The chemical properties of the atom are determined by the number of protons, in fact, by number and arrangement of electrons. The configuration of these electrons follows from the principles of quantum mechanics. The number of electrons in each element’s electron shells, particularly the outermost valence shell, is the primary factor in determining its chemical bonding behavior. In the periodic table, the elements are listed in order of increasing atomic number Z.
What is the atomic radius of a mercury atom?
The atomic radius of Mercury atom is 132pm (covalent radius).
Mercury in Periodic table
Mercury element is in group 12 and period 6 of the Periodic table. Mercury is the d-block element and it belongs to Post transition elements group.
Is Mercury a Transition Metal? Why?
No, Mercury is not a transition metal because it has completely filled d-orbital in its ground state.
Properties of Mercury
The physical and chemical properties of mercury element are mentioned below.
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Where is mercury found in the Earth?
The occurrence of mercury is not very common. It is present in crust of the Earth on an average of 0.08 gram, making 0.003 ounce per ton of the rock. Mercury is rarely present in free, pure form and its principally present in the form of the red sulfide, termed as cinnabar (HgS). Naturally, mercury is present near hot springs and volcanoes in isolated drops or in larger fluid masses. Eruption of volcanoes can lead to 4-6 times increase in the atmospheric presence of volcanoes [3]. Around 2/3 rd of supply of mercury in the world comes from China, and Chile and Kyrgyzstan make up the rest [4]. Mercury is often obtained as a by-product during the process of gold mining. Some other natural alloys of mercury have also been found, including potarite (with palladium) gold amalgam and moschellandsbergite (with silver), but these are extremely rare.
What is the atomic number of mercury?
Mercury is a chemical element with symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is commonly known as quicksilver and was formerly named hydrargyrum.
Why is mercury used in lamps?
Due to higher boiling point as compared to water, vapors of mercury are being used instead of steam in electrical generating plants. Mercury is used in mercury-vapor lamps (which emit light with UV radiation), and are used in street lights, UV lights and sun lamps.
How does mercury become toxic?
Toxicity of mercury is primarily caused by inhalation of the vapors, followed by ingestion of soluble compounds, or dermal absorption of mercury. Once released into the air, mercury gets widely dispersed and remain accumulated in the environment.
Why is mercury called Hg?
In the 6 th century, alchemists changed its name after the fast-moving Roman god, Mercury, with the symbol Hg (from its initial name Hydro-argyros). Mercury was greatly popular, especially in Chinese traditional medicine, due to its unique solid-liquid nature [2].
What are the salts of mercury?
Various salts of mercury are present that have distinct characteristics and significances. These include mercury (I) chloride (used in medicine), Mercury (II) chloride (a very corrosive and poisonous substance);); Mercury (II) oxide (main oxide of mercury); Mercury fulminate (a detonator used in explosives widely; Mercury (II) selenide; Mercury (II) sulfide (found naturally as the ore cinnabar which is widely used paint pigment); Mercury (II) telluride, and Mercury zinc telluride (used in semiconductors) [2].
What is the melting point of mercury?
And have the unique characteristic of being liquid at room temperature. Mercury have boiling and melting points of 356.9 C and -38.87, respectively.
What is Mercury?
Mercury is a naturally-occurring chemical element found in rock in the earth's crust, including in deposits of coal. On the periodic table, it has the symbol "Hg" and its atomic number is 80. It exists in several forms:
Where does mercury come from?
In its inorganic form, mercury occurs abundantly in the environment, primarily as the minerals cinnabar and metacinnabar, and as impurities in other minerals. Mercury can readily combine with chlorine, sulfur, and other elements, and subsequently weather to form inorganic salts. Inorganic mercury salts can be transported in water and occur in soil.
What happens to mercury after it is deposited on land?
When inorganic mercury salts can become attached to airborne particles. Rain and snow deposit these particles on land. Even after mercury gets deposited on land, it often returns to the atmosphere, as a gas or associated with particles, and then redeposits elsewhere.
How does mercury change from inorganic to organic?
As it cycles between the atmosphere, land, and water, mercury undergoes a series of complex chemical and physical transformations, many of which are not completely understood. Microscopic organisms can combine mercury with carbon, thus converting it from an inorganic to organic form.
What is an element that has not reacted with another substance?
Elemental mercury is an element that has not reacted with another substance. When mercury reacts with another substance, it forms a compound, such as inorganic mercury salts or methylmercury.
How does mercury get into the atmosphere?
Since mercury occurs naturally in coal and other fossil fuels, when people burn these fuels for energy, the mercury becomes airborne and goes into the atmosphere. In the United States, power plants that burn coal to create electricity are the largest source of emissions; they account for about 44 percent of all manmade mercury emissions ( Source: 2014 National Emissions Inventory, version 2, Technical Support Document (July 2018) (414 pp, 10 MB, About PDF; discussion starts on page 2-23 of the PDF document).
What is elemental mercury?
Elemental or metallic mercury is a shiny, silver-white metal, historically referred to as quicksilver, and is liquid at room temperature. It is used in older thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs and some electrical switches. When dropped, elemental mercury breaks into smaller droplets which can go through small cracks or become strongly attached to certain materials. At room temperature, exposed elemental mercury can evaporate to become an invisible, odorless toxic vapor. If heated, it is a colorless, odorless gas. Learn about how people are most often exposed to elemental mercury and about the adverse health effects that exposures to elemental mercury can produce.
What is the electron configuration of mercury?
A complete explanation of mercury's extreme volatility delves deep into the realm of quantum physics, but it can be summarized as follows: mercury has a unique electron configuration where electrons fill up all the available 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f, 5s, 5p, 5d, and 6s subshells.
What metals dissolve in mercury?
Mercury dissolves many metals such as gold and silver to form amalgams. Iron is an exception, and iron flasks have traditionally been used to trade mercury. Several other first row transition metals with the exception of manganese, copper and zinc are also resistant in forming amalgams. Other elements that do not readily form amalgams with mercury include platinum. Sodium amalgam is a common reducing agent in organic synthesis, and is also used in high-pressure sodium lamps.
Why is mercury not allowed on airplanes?
For this reason, 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. Mercury embrittlement is the most common type of liquid metal embrittlement.
Why does a pound of mercury float?
A pound coin (density ~7.6 g/cm 3) floats in mercury due to the combination of the buoyant force and surface tension. Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white liquid metal. Compared to other metals, it is a poor conductor of heat, but a fair conductor of electricity.
Which states have banned mercury?
In 2003, Washington and Maine became the first states to ban mercury blood pressure devices. Mercury compounds are found in some over-the-counter drugs, including topical antiseptics, stimulant laxatives, diaper-rash ointment, eye drops, and nasal sprays.
When was mercury first used in mining?
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.
Which element is liquid at room temperature?
A heavy, silvery d-block element, mercury is the only metallic element that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and pressure; the only other element that is liquid under these conditions is the halogen bromine, though metals such as caesium, gallium, and rubidium melt just above room temperature .
Where are metals located on the periodic table?
The metals are located on the left side of the Periodic Table.
What are metals in Periodic table?
Metals are the elements which have the tendency to donate or lose electrons to form positive ions.
How many electrons do metals lose in a chemical reaction?
The atoms or metals have generally 1, 2 or 3 electrons in the outermost orbit, and they lose these electrons during a chemical reaction.
How many rare earth metals are there?
There are total 17 Rare Earth metals on the Periodic table. Rare Earth Metals includes all the 15 Lanthanides as well as scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y). So total 15 + 2 = 17 Rare Earth metals.
Which group of metals is the most reactive?
They are the Alkali metals of group 1. In 1st group, as we move down from top to bottom, the reactive of metals increases. Thus the bottom most element of group 1 (i.e francium) is the most reactive metal on the Periodic table. ( Note: Francium is a laboratory made element.
What are the elements in group 3 to group 12?
The elements lying in group 3 to group 12 are known as Transition metals (or transition elements). Transition metals form a bridge between the chemically active metals of s-block elements and the less active elements of Groups 13 and 14. Thus these metals are known as “Transition metals”.
What are the two bottom rows of the periodic table called?
The two bottom rows in the Periodic table are called inner transition metals.
Occurrence
Physical Characteristics
- Mercury is a silver-white dense metal with a mirror like appearance. And have the unique characteristic of being liquid at room temperature. Mercury have boiling and melting points of 356.9 C and -38.87, respectively. It has atomic number of 80 and a molecular weight of 200.59 and belong to the Group 12 (Zinc group, II b) of the periodic table .
Chemical Characteristics
- Mercury is highly poisonous. It is generally stable in dry environment but exposure to water lead to the production of gray oxide coating on its surface. It has a low solubility for gases as compared to water. Mercury can vaporize and can stay in the atmosphere for many months.
Salts of Mercury
- Various salts of mercury are present that have distinct characteristics and significances. These include mercury (I) chloride (used in medicine), Mercury (II) chloride (a very corrosive and poisonous substance);); Mercury (II) oxide (main oxide of mercury); Mercury fulminate (a detonator used in explosives widely; Mercury (II) selenide; Mercury (II) sulfide (found naturally a…
Significance and Uses
- Despites its toxicity, mercury have found wide usage in variety of industries. Some of the main uses of mercury are described below: 1. Good electrical conductivity Used in making electrical switches 1. Low thermal conductivity with high thermal neutron capture Used as shield and coolant in nuclear reactors 1. Health care and dentistry Main use in production of dental amalga…
Health Hazards
- Toxicity of mercury is primarily caused by inhalation of the vapors, followed by ingestion of soluble compounds, or dermal absorption of mercury. Once released into the air, mercury gets widely dispersed and remain accumulated in the environment. Ultimately, it finds it way to the bottom of water bodies, and is transformed into methyl mercury, which is the more toxic organi…
Isotopes of Mercury
- There are 34 isotopes of mercury (mass number from 175-208). In natural form, mercury is a mixture of seven stable isotopes: 196Hg (0.15 percent), 198Hg (9.97 percent), 199Hg (16.87 percent), 200Hg (23.10 percent), 201Hg (13.18 percent), 202Hg (29.86 percent), and 204Hg (6.87 percent).