Can you name the most fusible metal? Hint: in normal condition, it is liquid, silver and very poisonous. Guessed? In any case, let's find out more about him.
What is the most fusible metal?
Even before our era, the Egyptians, Sumerians, and Chinese used this substance to prepare “pills of immortality” and other drugs that were supposed to give a long life. It was used in paints and cosmetics. The Romans refined gold for them, and the alchemists tried to get gold directly from it.
The ancient Greeks decided to call the most fusible metal "silver" and "water", which in Latin sounded like hydrargyrum. In the Proto-Slavic language, its name sounded like “mercury”, but where this name came from is not known. Perhaps from the word "ore".
It was obtained from cinnabar by roasting or extracted in liquid form directly from the rocks. In the alchemy of mercury, the astronomical symbol of Mercury corresponded. She was considered the mother of metals and, together with sulfur and salt, was part of the theory of three principles. Mercury was considered the main element of the philosopher's stone. And although the world knew about it for a long time, a description of its properties and evidence that it was really metal were presented only in 1759. They did it Mikhail Lomonosov and Joseph Brown.
Mercury properties
So, the most fusible metal is mercury. For its melting, a temperature of 234.32 K or -38.83 ° C is needed. Besides it, lead, thallium, gallium, bismuth, tin, and cadmium melt at low temperatures. Mercury boils at 629.88 K or 356.73 degrees Celsius, and at 4.155 K it behaves like a superconductor.
It has a silver-white color with a pronounced shine. In the periodic table, she is assigned the number 80. This is the only metal that is in a liquid state at room temperature. In the solid state, it has a rhombohedral lattice.
The most low-melting metal is inactive at low temperatures. Under such conditions, it weakly reacts to oxidizing solutions and many gases. It does not react with oxygen in the air, although it dissolves perfectly in aqua regia.
With other metals, mercury forms various alloys, amalgams. It forms very strong bonds with organic compounds. It combines with chlorine or iodine after heating, forming toxic and practically non-dissociating substances.
Effects on the body
The most fusible metal has a first degree of toxicity. It evaporates even at room temperature, and the hotter the air, the higher the rate of evaporation. Mercury has a toxic effect on the human body, affecting the nervous, digestive, respiratory and other systems. This can be fatal. Symptoms appear after 8-24 hours.
Long-term exposure to small doses of mercury is manifested in the form of chronic ailments. A person becomes irritable and quick-tempered, suffers from lack of sleep and headaches, loses working capacity, quickly gets tired.
Acute poisoning may have similar symptoms at first. They are also accompanied by fever, weakness, vomiting and nausea, pain in the stomach, trembling throughout the body or in its individual parts. The substance affects the kidneys, which is manifested by frequent urge to urinate.
The widespread use of mercury was often the cause of occupational poisoning. So, in the Middle Ages it was used to make felt for hats. Symptoms that appeared in the masters, called the "disease of the old hatter."
Food mercury poisoning is possible for those who love seafood. Metal is perfectly absorbed by the body of marine life, gradually accumulating in it. In regions where people regularly consume fish and other seafood, symptoms of chronic poisoning can occur. Especially often they are found in residents of the coastal areas of Canada, Colombia, Brazil and China.
Application and nature
The most fusible metal in the world is very scattered in nature. Its total concentration in the earth's crust is approximately 83 mg / t, which makes it a rather rare element. In large quantities, it is found in shales and sulfide minerals, especially in sphalerites and antimonites. It is found in livingstoneites and metacinnabarites.
Despite its toxicity, mercury is used in many fields, for example, in metallurgy, medicine, the chemical industry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and even agriculture. The most low-melting metal is suitable for filling energy-saving lamps, thermometers and barometers.
In heavy industry, the substance is used for mercury-steam turbines, vacuum plants and diffusion pumps. They are filled with measuring instruments, batteries, dry batteries. Mercury is involved in the production of air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines. In agriculture, it is used as part of pesticides.