What is mercury?

Mercury, also called mercury, is a chemical element with the element symbol Hg and the 80th position in the periodic table of elements. Mercury is a silver-white shiny heavy liquid with stable chemical properties and is insoluble in acids and alkalis. . Mercury can evaporate at room temperature, and mercury vapor and mercury compounds are highly toxic.

1. Preparation method

In nature, mercury mostly exists in the form of compounds. Mercury is close to copper and sulfur, so most of the mercury is distributed in the form of mercury sulfide (cinnabar). In ancient times, people have mastered the method of extracting mercury from cinnabar, that is, calcining it in the air, collecting the evaporated mercury vapor and condensing the obtained metallic mercury. Cinnabar is heated in a stream of air and the resulting vapor is condensed to produce mercury.

2. Application fields

The most common applications of mercury are in the manufacture of industrial chemicals and in electronic or electrical products. Mercury is also used in thermometers, especially those that measure high temperatures. Increasingly, gaseous mercury is still used in the manufacture of fluorescent lamps. In addition, mercury can break down gold from its minerals and is therefore often used in gold mines. Used to make instruments such as barometers and diffusion pumps.