Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: neilep on 19/01/2009 21:17:54
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Dearest Lufflies,
Mercury is my all time favourite liquid silvery metal that also comes in Planet form !
Look here's some seeping from a plank !!
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Being a liquid , how do they mine the stuff?..do they stick a big straw down a mine shaft and suck it up ?...cos I dont know !
Make me appear klevur to my kids by telling me will ewe ?
Thanking ewe.
hugging ewe
mwahing ewe
Neil
Freddie Was The Best
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Although mercury may be found a the native metal, this is extremely rare. The main resources are three ores :
- cinnabar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar)
- corderoite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corderoite)
- livingstonite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livingstonite)
Cinnabar is by far the most common, and was already known in Roman times as a source for mercury. Marco Polo also describes how mercury is won by roasting cinnabar.
Controlled oxidation of cinnabar by roasting in air will give mercury. Mercury can also be recovered from its compounds by roasting with soda.
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=9775.0
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It's difficult to find it at the native state, it's more common to find it as compound in some minerals, for example Cinnabar, which is mercury sulphide.
http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/elements/mercury/mercury.htm
<<This silvery liquid metal is very dense, yet has a high surface tension that causes is to form tiny little perfect spheres in the pores of the rocks it is found in
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The primary mercury ore is cinnabar, which when heated readily decomposes leaving behind pure, metallic mercury which sinks to the bottom of the vessel>>.
Native mercury on Cinnabar:
http://www.mindat.org/photo-48706.html
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Just on a serious note Neil, did that mercury really seep out of the plank? If so, it's a bit worrying.