MERCURY         Mercury is a metallic element that is a liquid at room temperature, it is one of the transition elements. Mercury's atomic number is 80. It is superconductive when cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero. Mercury was once known as liquid silver or quicksilver which was studied by the alchemists. Mercury was first distinguished as an element by the French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier in his experiment on the composition of air. At …showed first 75 words of 389 total…

…showed last 75 words of 389 total…process, in which gold or silver is dissolved in solutions of sodium or potassium cyanide. Mercury is a poisonous element. Mercury is semi hazardous as a vapor and Among the many good things mercury does for people there is a flip side. in the form of its water-soluble salts. Chronic mercury poisoning, which occurs when small amounts of the metal are repeatedly ingested over long periods of time, causes irreversible brain, liver, and kidney damage.