Mercury and Amalgams
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Wikipedia-Article "Mercury"
Mercury may mean:
Science
- Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun in the solar system.
- Mercury (element), the chemical element Hg also called quicksilver: Hg stands for Hydragyrum, watery silver.
- Mercury (plant), members of the genus Mercurialis.
- Mercury (magazine), a popular astronomy magazine published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific [1]
- Mercury (computer), developed in the early 1950s by Ferranti and University of Manchester computing department.
- Project Mercury, an early American program for launching humans into space.
- Good King Henry, a species of goosefoot also called mercury or English mercury.
- Inches of mercury and associated Torr (millimetre of mercury), measures of atmospheric pressure.
Culture
- Mercury (mythology), messenger god from Roman mythology.
- Mercury (album), the debut album of UK indie band Long-View.
- Mercury (comics), aka Cessily Kincaid, a character who can turn herself into a mercurial substance.
- Mercury (TV show)
- Mercury Music Prize, a British award.
- Freddie Mercury, the singer from the rock group Queen.
- Mercury Drug, the Philippine drug store chain.
- Mercury Records, a commercial record label.
- The Mercury, the newspaper published in Hobart, Australia.
- Mercury dime, a coin preceding the current dime in the United States.
- Mercury, the Winged Messenger is a movement in Gustav Holst's The Planets suite.
- Sailor Mercury, the codename of Ami Mizuno in the Sailor Moon franchise.
- Joey Mercury, the stage name of professional wrestler Adam Birch.
- Mercury Cider is an alcoholic beverage produced by Cascade Brewery.
Technology
- Mercury (automobile), a marque of automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company.
- Mercury Computer Systems, an embedded digital signal and image processing solutions provider.
- Mercury Interactive, a software and consulting company.
- Mercury (computer), a computer developed between Ferranti and the University of Manchester.
- Mercury Autocode, a high-level language run by the above computer.
- Mercury arc valve, a rectifier device intended for high electrical voltages/currents.
- Mercury OS, an operating system almost totally written in binary.
- Mercury Messenger, a cross-platform Instant Messaging programme.
- Bristol Mercury, a 9-cylinder aircraft engine.
- Mercury programming language, a functional/logical programming language based on Prolog.
- Mercury - SMS Sending Program, a program that sends Short Message Service messages.
- Mercury Communications, a now-defunct British telco.
- Mercury outboard motors, a manufacturer of outboard motors for boats.
- Mercury memory, kind of delay line memory, in use in the 1950s.
- Archer Maclean's Mercury, a video game for the PlayStation Portable.
Places
- Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun in the solar system.
- Mercury, Savoie, a commune in the Savoie département of France.
- Mercury, Nevada
Business
- Mercury Energy is an energy company in New Zealand.
Wikipedia-Article "Amalgams"
- This article is about alloys. For the comic book series, see Amalgam Comics.
An amalgam is any alloy of mercury. Most metals are soluble in mercury, but some (such as iron) are not. Amalgams are commonly used in dental fillings.
An amalgam is also any combination of two or more different things.
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Dentistry
For centuries dentists have been cleaning out decay and creating dental fillings, using filling material such as stone chips, resin, cork, turpentine, gum, lead and gold leaf. The renowned physician Ambroise Paré (1510 – 1590) used lead or cork to fill teeth. Amalgams were the first true standard filling material.
Mercury amalgams were used in dentistry because they were cheap, easy to use, durable, and are regarded as safe. They were made by mixing approximately equal measures of mercury and an alloy of silver, copper, tin and other metals.
The first people to use amalgams to fill cavities appear to be the French. In 1816 Auguste Taveau developed first dental amalgam from silver coins and mercury. This early amalgam was low in mercury and had to be heated in order for the silver to dissolve at any appreciable rate. More modern dental amalgams are mixed cold. Current dental amalgams contain copper to eliminate the gamma-2 phase of the silver-mercury-tin alloy. The gamma 2 phase is weaker than the other phases so a high copper, low gamma-2 dental amalgam has superior strength!
Chemical Analysis
Mercury is the preferred electrode material for the analysis of metals by anodic stripping volatmmetry. The formation of amalgams facilitates the reduction of most metal ions in aqueous solutions that is normally not possible because their reduction potentials are more nagative than the potential for the reduction of the solution.
Mining
Mercury amalgams have been used in the gold and silver mining process due to the ease with which mercury will amalgamate with them.
After all the usable metal had been extracted from the ore, mercury was poured down a long copper trough which formed a thin coating of mercury on the surface. The waste ore was then poured down the trough, and any gold in the waste amalgamated with the mercury. This coating was occasionally scraped off and distilled to remove the mercury, leaving behind fairly high purity gold.
The Spanish Empire transported mercury from Almaden across the Atlantic to supply the silver mines of Zacatecas and Potosí.
Other uses
Thalium amalgam is used as liquid for thermometers, because it freezes at -58 degree Celsius (poor mercury freezes at -38 degree celsius)
See also