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Mercury: more toxic and dense than your ex.

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The complete electron configuration for mercury is: 1s²2s²2p⁶3s²3p⁶3d¹⁰4s²4p⁶4d¹⁰5s²5p⁶4f¹⁴5d¹⁰6s2

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There are 6 energy levels with 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, and 2 electrons respectively.

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Mercury has 7 natural isotopes (Britannica, 2021). They are: mercury-196, mercury-198, mercury-199, mercury-200, mercury-201, mercury-202, and mercury-204. Mercury-202 is the most abundant isotope. The number of  isotopes of mercury whose half-lives have been recorded is 34, and they go from mass numbers of 175 to 208 (Stewart, 2012).

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Family: Transition Metals
Group Number: 12
Atomic Number: 80
Atomic Mass: 200.59
Chemical Symbol: Hg
Phase at Room Temperature: Liquid
Atomic Radius: 151 pm
Valence Number: 1, 2
Electron Block: D-block
(Britannica, 2021), (Stewart, 2012), and (Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of Science Education, 2022).

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The abundance in Earth's crust is "85 parts per billion by weight" and the abundance in the solar system is "20 parts per billion by weight" (Stewart, 2012).

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One of the earliest mentions of Mercury in history is when Aristotle (see above) called it water-silver in 4th century BC. While it is not known who specifically discovered mercury, it is known that ancient Egypt and ancient civilizations in the East had discovered Mercury as early as 1500 BC. The main application was for medicinal purposes in these civilizations, but it was known to be toxic (Britannica, 2021).

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1. Mercury is toxic, and can be deadly if inhaled or ingested, which is why it is a major concern when the presence of mercury is found accumulating in fish and seafood (Britannica, 2021) and (Stewart, 2012).
2. Hydrargyrum was the Latin name for mercury, which is why its chemical symbol is Hg. (Britannica, 2021).
3. The vast majority of the world's supply of mercury comes from gold mining in China, and mercury is a by-product of that process (Britannica, 2021).
4. Early alchemists named the element mercury because the planet Mercury is the fastest moving planet, and mercury's liquid state gives it a fast flow (Stewart, 2012).

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Mercury is very conductive, which makes it useful in sealed electric systems, such as light switches. Mercury is also used in UV lamps and lights because of the nature of the light that is emitted when it is exposed to electricity, but only one isotope is generally used for this purpose (Britannica, 2021). Other metals easily form alloys with mercury, and these alloys are used in dental fillings and extracting gold from ores. Mercury forms compounds that are used in medicine, mostly as antiseptics (Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of Science Education, 2022). Lastly, mercury is used in barometers and thermometers because it has a very high density and doesn't cling to glass (Stewart, 2012).

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Density: 13.546 Grams per Cubic Centimeter at 20oC
Color: Silvery-White
Freezing/Melting Point: 234.32 K (-38.83°C or -37.89°F)
Boiling Point: 629.88 K (356.73°C or 674.11°F)
(Stewart, 2012).
Magnetism: Diamagnetic

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A common neutral atom of mercury has 80 protons and 80 electrons. The number of neutrons vary by isotope, but the most common amount of neutrons in an atom of mercury would be 121.

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Mercury is a metal. It is unique in that it is a liquid at room temperature, and is the only elemental metal to do so (Britannica, 2021).

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1. Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, August 31). Mercury. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/mercury-chemical-element
2. Stewart, D. (2012, October 17). Mercury Element Facts. Chemicool. https://www.chemicool.com/elements/mercury.html
3. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of Science Education (2022, March 5). The Element Mercury. JLab Science Education. https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele080.html