Mercury By Jan Roediger
The Naming of Mercury• Named Mercury after the roman deity
because it has a very high viscosity and therefore travels fast like the god Mercury.
• The Symbol for mercury is Hg because it is named after the Latin word hydrargyrum which in essence means water silver
Early Uses
• No one knows who discovered mercury
• It was known to the Egyptians and the early Chinese
• Thought to give everlasting life
• Used in alchemy
• Used in cosmetics
Characteristics• Metal
• Liquid at room temperature
• Very Shiny
• High surface tension
• Density - 13.534g per cubic centimeter
• Highly Toxic
Obtaining Mercury
• Mercury is never found in its pure state
• Only makes up 0.08% of the earths crust
• Found in combination with the stone cinnabar
• After mining the Cinnabar is heated and the evaporated mercury is condensed
0.08
Uses• Used in thermometers
• Used to cool nuclear Reactors
• Used in blood pressure measuring devices 0.08
Mercury in Hatting
• Used by hatters to make the fur separate from the pelt and also to make it stick together into felt.
• The evaporating mercury gave of a toxic vapors which poisoned the hatters
• The mercury poisoning made hatters crazy
• Out of the traditional Quirkiness of Hatters inspired the saying “Mad as a hatter”
Works Cited
• “Mercury”, Jefferson Lab http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele080.html
• “Mercury”, Periodic table of elements las Alamos labs, 12/15/2003, http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/80.html
• “Mercury”, Radio chemistry.org, http://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/elements/80.html