Quicksilver (Mercury)

**Symbol:** Hg

**Atomic number:** 80

**International title:** hydrargyrum

**Relative Atomic Weight:** 200,59

**Information:** Mercury is a heavy, very poisonous metal. The most dangerous are organometallic mercury compounds and elemental mercury vapours. Under normal conditions, it is a silver liquid.

**Use:** Mercury is used for the production of mercury thermometers, electrodes and amalgams (mercury alloys with other metals), which are used, for example, in dentistry (tooth filling after removal of tooth decay).

**Occurrence:** Mercury is very rare in earth's crust. Among the most important minerals, we find it in Cinnabar HgS.

**Structure:** Mercury crystallizes into a trigonal system (primitive core cell).