Mercury (element)

Applications

Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical and electronic applications. It is used in some thermometers, especially ones which are used to measure high temperatures (Non-prescription sale of mercury fever thermometers was banned by a number of different states and localities). Other uses:

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• Mercury sphygmomanometers (banned in some states and hospitals).
• Thimerosal, an organic compound used as a preservative in vaccines and tattoo inks (Thimerosal in vaccines).
• Mercury barometers, diffusion pumps, coulometers, and many other laboratory instruments. As an opaque liquid with a very high density, it is ideal for this role
• The triple point of mercury, -38.8344 °C, is a fixed point used as a temperature standard for the International Temperature Scale (ITS-90).
• In some gaseous electron tubes, mercury arc rectifier
• Gaseous mercury is used in mercury-vapor lamps and some "neon sign" type advertising signs and fluorescent lamps.
• Mercury was once used in the amalgamation process of refining gold and silver ores. The practice is continued by the garimpeiros (gold miners) of the Amazon basin in Brazil.
• Mercury is still used in some cultures for folk medicine and ceremonial purposes which may involve ingestion, injection, or the sprinkling of elemental mercury around the home.

Miscellaneous uses: mercury switches, mercury cells for sodium hydroxide and chlorine production, electrodes in some types of electrolysis, batteries (mercury cells), and catalysts, herbicides (discontinued in 1995), insecticides, dental amalgams/preparations and liquid mirror telescopes.

Related Topics:
Sodium hydroxide - Chlorine - Electrode - Electrolysis - Batteries - Catalyst - Dental amalgam

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Historical uses: preserving wood, developing daguerreotypes, silvering mirrors, anti-fouling paints (discontinued in 1990), cleaning, and in road leveling devices in cars. Mercury compounds have been used in antiseptics, laxatives, antidepressants, and antisyphilitics. It was also allegedly used by allied spies to sabotage German planes. A mercury paste was applied on bare aluminum, causing the metal to rapidly corrode. This would cause the planes to mysteriously fall apart.

Related Topics:
Daguerreotype - Silvering - Mirror

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