Table of Contents
Is mercury liquid hot or cold?
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.
Does mercury have a freezing point?
-38.83 °C
Mercury/Melting point
How cold is liquid mercury?
Some metals melt at lower temps than others. Tin becomes liquid at 231.8˚C (447.8˚F); at the other end of the spectrum, tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal: 3,422˚C (6,192˚F). Somewhere in the middle is mercury, which stays in a liquid state until its temperature drops to -40°.
How hot can liquid mercury get?
The only stable liquid elemental metal at room temperature is mercury (Hg), which is molten above −38.8 °C (234.3 K, −37.9 °F).
What is freezing temperature of mercury?
Does mercury Harden?
Solidifying Mercury The element mercury is a liquid at room temperature due to its weak atomic bonds. The melting point of mercury is -38.83 degrees Celsius, or -37.89 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercury can be solidified by cooling it to below its melting point.
Is it legal to own liquid mercury?
Entirely legal. Liquid mercury is present in some older devices, like thermometers, blood pressure meters, and thermostats, all of which are obviously legal to own.
At what temperature does mercury vaporize?
356.73 °C
Properties of Mercury The only other element that is liquid under these conditions is bromine, though metals such as caesium, gallium, and rubidium melt just above room temperature. With a freezing point of −38.83 °C and boiling point of 356.73 °C, mercury has one of the narrowest liquid state ranges of any metal.
Why is mercury called quicksilver?
Mercury’s chemical symbol, Hg, comes from the Greek “hydrargyrum” meaning liquid silver. Mercury is also known as “quicksilver,” a reference to its mobility. This reddish mineral containing mercury and sulfur has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times.
What happens to mercury when frozen?
In 1911, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity by freezing mercury to only a few degrees above absolute zero. At that temperature, mercury loses all of its natural resistance to the flow of electricity and becomes superconductive.