Talk:Mercury (element): Difference between revisions

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	Mercury (element) has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
	Mercury (element) is part of the Group 12 elements series, a good topic. This is identified as among the best series of articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.
Article milestones Date Process Result April 8, 2006 Good article nominee Listed July 28, 2009 Good article reassessment Kept May 28, 2012 Good topic candidate Promoted
Current status: Good article

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization: Deborah Knight (February 2007). "Get the Mercury Out". New York State Conservationist.

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ADD NEW USES FOR MERCURY: Recently, mercury is used to make atomic clocks. Atomic clocks are usually bulky and require lots of electric power. The novel use of mercury allows very compact atomic clocks, with low energy requirements, ideal for space probes and Mars missions. 188.30.134.143 (talk) 13:19, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done Content on wikipedia requires a reference to a reliable source which is missing in your request. If you can provide a reference to a reliable source then we can consider your request. Polyamorph (talk) 13:24, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

doi:10.1109/TUFFC.2016.2543738 might be a reference. --20:36, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

 Done I've added this with the reference provided (many thanks) in the "Applications" section under "Niche uses". Best wishes Polyamorph (talk) 20:59, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

in the introduction of the article it says mercury poisoning can result from water soluble forms such as mercury chloride and methylmerury. This is incorrect as methyl mercury is lipophylic and not water soluble.

185.208.241.1 (talk) 20:56, 18 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

• I agree with this. This should be changed. Marcos [Tupungato] (talk) 12:51, 2 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Hygrargyrum. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Steel1943 (talk) 19:48, 20 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hg ethanolate is not the only compound to expect. how about HG INTERCEPTED ETHANOL? what's its properties? dimethyl Hg exists. that's its hiddeous alcohol. Wikistallion (talk) 11:30, 15 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Feel free to do some literature searches and add content based on cited WP:RS. DMacks (talk) 12:47, 15 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Is mercury "commonly known as quicksilver"? By whom? I am a native speaker of English currently doing a humanities PhD and it is certainly not a commonly known synonym with any group under the age of 40 I have ever been associated with. Is "commonly known as quicksilver by older people" more accurate? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.214.114.51 (talk) 22:44, 21 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

As mentioned in the previous comment, the word quicksilver is not a common name for mercury. It may have been known by that name prior to the 18th century through to the very early 19th century, but the use of that expression has seen a gradual decline through-out that period, to the point of being unheard of by the mid 19th century. I am a University educated English-speaking Canadian in my mid-70s and have been fascinated with this element since my childhood. As of early 2021, having just read this Wikipedia article, I was surprised by the inclusion of the word Quicksilver, as a commonly used alternative word for Mercury. Up until this time, I'd have never of it before. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michaelfleischer1 (talk • contribs) 03:36, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Mercury spectrum visible.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:07, 6 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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Change "apperance: silvery" to "apperance: shiny, silvery liquid" on properties table Anthony's Lab (talk) 11:22, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Template:Infobox mercury changed. Thank you, Anthony's Lab. ComplexRational (talk) 11:48, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Biogeochemical cycling of mercury (Hg) is lacking from research in the open ocean ^[1]. Little studies have shown the link between the enrichment of sediments from organic matter and how mercury and methylmercury (MeHg) is driven by the organic matter in submarine canyons. Inorganic mercury converts into methylmercury in the marine environment that is readily assimilated into phytoplankton and transferred up the food web to higher trophic levels ^[2].

Methylmercury in found in wildlife and seafood consumers such as fish, birds and many marine mammals such as Odontocetes (toothed whales) ^[3]. Bottlenose dolphins inhabiting the Indian River Lagoon in Florida (IRL) have been reported to have the highest concentrations of total mercury, in the blood and skin, in the world ^[4]. IRL dolphins’ prey upon fish species that are known to have higher concentrations of mercury, 3-12 times higher than the same species located in Charleston, South Carolina. These species include spotted seatrout, Atlantic croaker, red drum, striped mullet, and pinfish, many of which humans consume.

Mercury moves throughout the environment easily moving to the ocean from atmospheric deposition and with particle-reactive forms traveling to soils and rivers ultimately leading to the ocean ^[5]. As mercury is emitted into the atmosphere from anthropogenic and natural sources, it circulates the globe by atmospheric general circulation (GEM) and is deposited into the oceans ^[6]. Elemental mercury is deposited into ocean sediments by transitioning from gaseous mercury (Hgo) to reactive mercury (Hg2+) in the process of photochemically oxidizing ^[7]. Dry and wet deposition deposits Hg2+ onto the surface of the ocean, where it is either re-emitted back into the atmosphere or absorbed into particulate matter producing Hg (HgP), eventually depositing into ocean sediment.

01:58, 24 November 2020‎ User:Hayyylyn

Hello, I was pondering something and went to check the density of mercury. After getting the number 14.184 g/cm3 from a google search and soon realizing this is supposed to be for solid mercury, I went to double-check with my chemistry tables. Turns out my tables state the density of solid Mercury at melting point as 14.193 g/cm3. I don't have anything else to check this against and can't seem to find any other reference online for this temperature, could anyone else check their resources?

2A02:830A:B205:9300:1C91:B67D:775C:37D0 (talk) 18:12, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In Densities of the elements (data page)#Hg, it has room temperature only for Hg, saying 13.534 g/cm3 from sources LNG and CRC. So, for liquid state this looks OK. -DePiep (talk) 09:12, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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Add a disambig thingy, to the planet 86.24.168.231 (talk) 04:21, 27 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Done. This edit has been made. MBihun (talk) 11:30, 27 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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Current paragraph: Artificial lakes may be contaminated with mercury due to the absorption by the water of mercury from submerged trees and soil. For example, Williston Lake in northern British Columbia, created by the damming of the Peace River in 1968, is still sufficiently contaminated with mercury that it is inadvisable to consume fish from the lake.[100][101]

Change paragraph text: Artificial lakes or reservoirs may be contaminated with mercury due to the release of mercury into the water from submerged trees and soil. For example, Williston Lake in northern British Columbia, created by the damming of the Peace River in 1968, is still sufficiently contaminated with mercury that it is inadvisable to consume fish from the lake.[100][101] Permafrost soils have accumulated mercury through atmospheric deposition^[1], and permafrost thaw in cryospheric regions is mechanism of mercury release into lakes, rivers, and wetlands^[2][3][4]

--Biogeochemer (talk) 15:23, 14 May 2021 (UTC) Biogeochemer (talk) 15:23, 14 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Done. I've done some very minor copy editing, and fixed the references (you might want to have a look at the examples at {{Cite journal}} to get this working properly next time). ‑‑Volteer1 (talk) 20:29, 14 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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Change: the root of ὕδωρ, "water," to: the root of ὕδρω, "water,"

The Greek letters ρ (rho, r) and ω (omega, o) are the wrong way round. Aparsonsfr (talk) 05:40, 1 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: I looked into this and you appear to be incorrect. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 10:54, 1 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Mercury is a element to be scared of because it’s dangerous other uses for it is in early 1900’s it was used to make hats and the mad hatter in the movie Alice in wonderlandwas insane because of exposure to that dangerous element.It was also used by ancient Chinese and Hindu as medicine (bad idea) and eyeshadow in ancient Egypt.Now it is used in scientific instruments but now people are taking safety methods — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.77.104.24 (talk) 21:37, 5 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In most of the applications, it is written about the US States banning Mercury used. They are all about the USA only and should be removed or balanced. Mercury thermometers may be banned in the USA but are widely used everywhere else. Those should be removed. Or they should be balanced between the USA and the other countries in the world TheRealPJPlayZ (talk) 03:50, 28 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Please look into the above about the overuse of USA States in the applications of Mercury. Thanks. In most of the applications, it is written about the US States banning Mercury used. They are all about the USA only and should be removed or balanced. Mercury thermometers may be banned in the USA but are widely used everywhere else. Those should be removed. Or they should be balanced between the USA and the other countries in the world TheRealPJPlayZ (talk) 03:50, 28 July 2021 (UTC)TheRealPJPlayZ (talk) 03:54, 28 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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. Because this configuration strongly resists removal of an electron, mercury behaves similarly to noble gases, which form weak bonds and hence melt at low temperatures.

-- "extreme volatility" seems to contradict with later statement that mercury behaves similarly to noble gases, doesn't it?