NATIVE MERCURY
- Chemistry: Hg, Elemental Mercury
- Class: Elements
- Group:
Gold - Uses: Minor ore of mercury, electrical switches, thermometers
- Specimens
Mercury is unique, as it is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, having a melting point of -40 C, and a boiling point of 357 C. 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. Many mineralogical characteristics simply do not apply to a liquid: there is no "hardness", since it cannot be scratched (nor can it scratch); there is no crystal structure, no fracture, no cleavage, no streak; all of course, at room temperatures. When frozen, mercury forms crystals in the rhombohedral system at low pressure, and in the tetragonal system at high pressure.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
- Color is bright silvery metalic.
- Luster is metallic.
- Transparency is opaque.
- Crystal System does not apply
- Crystal Habits spherical droplets, or pools of mercury liquid.
- Cleavage does not apply
- Fracture does not apply
- Streak does not apply
- Hardness does not apply
- Specific Gravity is 13.5+ (very dense)
- Associated Minerals are cinnabar, calomel, and other secondary mercury minerals.
- Other Characteristics: Mercury is a liquid! It also expans at a constant rate with a rise in temperature.
- Notable Occurrences include Almaden, Spain; Idrija, former Yugoslavia; Italy; California, Oregon, Texas, and Arkansas, USA.
- Best Field Indicators its a liquid!
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