All about Mercury, the Liquid Metal | Element Series 

Gold: I am a Precious solid metal, I can make you rich Gold + 1 proton : I am liquid and I can poison you

NileRed: touches mercury Science teachers: You know the rules, its time to die

2:11 I have an old landline phone that has a mercury switch as a mute function. If the handset is placed horizontally, like on a table, it mutes the microphone. When held on the ear, it is unmuted. Cool to see here how it actually works (together with a lot of other interesting info about mercury of course)👍🏻

I'm allergic to mercury, can't even touch it without getting really really sick. This allergy is so rare and weird to find out that when I told my science teacher back in high school he didn't believe me and mocked me saying "Everyone is "allergic" to poison". I found this allergy when a thermometer broke on my leg and I touched a drop of mercury smaller than a drop of water, I don't want to imagine how sick I would get by putting a finger like in the video.

All my science teachers: mercury is toxic never touch it NileRed: hehe touchy touchy

"it can be turned into Mercury by roasting it" me: you look like a weak metal

They are also used in super-high-current electrical switches (usually in marine applications) that controls hundreds of amps of current because the ability for mercury to "heal" contact spots.

Thanks for the informative video. Mercury-filled gauges are an essential tool for maintenance of multi-carburetor engines. (read: most motorcycles before EFI.) And it’s getting harder to get mercury refills for them because everyone is so freaked out about how dangerous it is.

"In terms of toxicity, Mercury Metal is not that dangerous" School teachers: "You would be more likely to survive the Chernobyl blast than survive mercury touchy"

Him: **dips fingers in Mercury** Me: *wait, that's illegal*

“It’s elemental symbol is HG, because it’s based off its older and much harder to pronounce name” The pause after this made me think he wasn’t gonna tell us the old name.

If only my science teacher could be this interesting

*Another fact about mercury is that it can sing very well*

Me: thats toxic Brain: how does it feel in our mouth

Hi Nigel, I know it's already been done (notably by periodic videos), I'd like to see you gradually traverse though the ENTIRE periodic table of elements. (Your video 'style' is somewhat different to that of Martin / Brady et al so it's worth having you do the whole lot)

Hey thank’s for telling necessary information’s about this I hope you make more!

"I'm very careful when I use it" _shakes container violently_

Imagine renaming something as epic as "Hydrargyrum" to just "Mercury"

I had no idea how interesting mercury could be. 😃 That reaction on aluminium and gold is amazing.

I've seen videos of electricity added to mercury and it flows clockwise or counterclockwise (depending on pos or neg direction.) (The Tinfoil hat part) Supposedly mercury electrified is part of mechanical workings that makes "flying saucers" fly

*Why are you lying, Mercury is the closest planet to sun in Solar System*

yo my teacher played this on a lesson so well done you've earned science teacher approval

Excellent video, excellent ! It was very educational Bill Nye the Science Guy can not put a candle flame to you. Kudos to you dude! This is coming to you from Mobile Alabama the Gulf of Mexico the deepest of the South. Thank you, they should put your videos in science classes in, grammar schools and jr. colleges and so on. You have a way of making a person want to watch, listen and learn. I love science. Your video was Made Simple and easy-to-understand it helps to have someone who can get something across that is so hard but made simple enough that the Layman can understand. Thank you dude 😊

Informative!! Thanks for making these videos.

7:08 "Generally less scary" I'm starting to doubt if anything can be scarier than that image

NileRed: woah, look at all these cool aluminium oxide fibres Everyone else on the plane:

Thanks for helping me make mercury, I got cinabbar and called it stupid and ugly and got the metal. Keep up with the amazing content!

Who would have thought that mercury looks so amazing! And how it interacts with aluminum and mercury thiocyanate can be viewed endlessly. A very relaxing sight. It's a pity teacher didn't show me this in chemistry lessons.

I was dead when he said "For some reason if you decided to swallow it" in a completely flat voice.

When I was a child, I was told that mercury would eat the flesh off my hand if I ever touched it. So seeing this hand and finger plunging at 36 years of age has blown my mind.

Ty so much for all this information. Now I know more about mercury so when I come across it I know everything about it. Have a great day.😀

Here is a more detailed explanation, from what I understand, since "6s valance, electons don't tend to bond" isn't a very satisfying answer by itself (please note that I am not a chemist, so correct me if i'm wrong). Mercury has all of its electron subshells fully fulled (1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f, 5s, 5p, 5d, and 6s), sort of resembling a noble gas, which reduces the strengths of intermolecular bonds since full orbitals are most stable. Furthermore, the 4f (lanthanide) orbital is comparatively ineffective at electron shielding, which is when inner electron orbitals shield the outer electrons from the positive charge of the nucleus. In this case, the valance 6s shell is poorly sheilded, resulting in a stronger bond between the valance electrons and nucleus, further weakening intermolecular bonds since the 6s electrons are less likely to contribute to the sea of electrons in metallic bonding. This 4f shell is what sets mercury apart from zinc and cadmium, which have full subshells and low melting points, but not as low as mercury's. The 4f shell's shielding does not counteract the effects of the greater total atomic charges to the same degree for the 6s electrons, compared to, say, the 4d electrons shielding the 5s valance in cadmium. This is also why mercury atoms are abnormally small; less electron shielding results in the orbitals being pulled in more, also relating to its high density. Do note that copernicium, due to the comparitively even weaker shielding of the 5f shell, may have an even lower melting point than mercury, though it is extremely unstable. There are also relativistic quantem effects involved, as the kinetic energy of inner electons increase in large atoms. However, the actual mechanics of how this affects things is beyond my understanding.

Nile red: so anyways I made a small atomic bomb and it’s pretty dangerous. I sleep with it at night.

07:42 "I'm very careful when I use it" *shakes the shit out of it*

"I'm very careful when I use it" *shakes the bottle nonstop*.

Wow. Great video. Everything I've always wanted to know about Mercury without taking a science course. Thanks!

Boiling mercury? You sir are a brave fella

"I'm very careful with it" *Aggressively Shakes bottle*

Was really interesting. Second video fo yours that I've watched. it would be nice to see some quiz questions to see if I've learned anything from this video

amazng video. You always do quality stuff.

I know that mercury sticks to itself but i bet it wants to break free

my teacher: so, don't touch mercury because it's dangerous others: *puts their hands on a glass of mercury*

Nice video, thanks for sharing 👍

Really informative video with a lot of details. I am interested because I see people using it (on videos) when refining gold from ore. And I heard about that woman who died. Your video explained the differences quite well. I still have no plans to touch or use or get near the stuff voluntarily.

As a chemist, I developed an irrational fear of mercury. When this guy touched it withouth any protection, my heart missed a beat

You know, the first Chinese emperor was obsessed with immortality and to prolong his life he used to ingest mercury sulfide which caused his death at the age of 39... (insert “How ironically” meme here) Edit: Qin Shi Huang, who died aged 49 in 210 BC, was the first emperor to unite the warring states of China into a single nation (Credit: Wikipedia) he died at the age of 49 not 39 sorry.

Interesting AND Scary. Good video.

Thank you forever for your expertise

This really says something, I thought I didn’t like chemistry and didn’t enjoy the class. Now I’m sitting here willing to binge these videos.

"Here's some mercuric chloride that I made, which is quite toxic. I'm very careful when I use it." *shakes the bottle vigorously*

Old video I know but wonderful, thanks. I'm 72 and when I was a kid, we had plastic maze toys that had a blob of mercury in them that you tilted the toy to get it from one end/start to the other. LOTS of fun. Of course, eventually we broke one, not sure if intentionally or not, and then played with the mercury on something flat (no idea what, perhaps plastic?). Also, my dad had a small bottle (very small, maybe 4 ounces?) of mercury. NO idea why he had it and never thought to ask how/why he got it. I think I actually took it when they moved out of the house so it's somewhere in my garage... :)

Fascinating, thank you

Mercury is the reason the saying "mad as a hatter" exists. Hatters historically treated leather with mercury to give it the soft quality required to sew into hats. Hence, they regularly breathed in mercury vapors, which in turn caused permanent nervous damage.

I’m so thankful I don’t live next to you.

I love the idea of an element series

There’s nothing like a good shot of mercury in the morning 😀I love this stuff.

I think its important to add that Karen Wetterhahn didn't die immediately from the mercury exposure, which in itself happened within seconds. She had the accident in August 1996 and only died in June 1997. First Symptoms of her Mercury poisoning became apparent in January 1997. Reports say the mercury concentration in her blood was more than 80 times the toxic dosage. This was from 1-2 drops of Dimethylmercury that she accidentally spilled from a pipette on her latex gloves and it only hit her ~5 months after it had happened. Scary stuff.

Fun fact: My chemistry teacher actually had a bottle of mercury! Apparently back in the day there was some kind of accident or controversy or something with mercury, and some of the teachers (including her) took some of it. They kept it very secret, otherwise the school would automatically take it away. My class actually got to hold the bottle. It was so mesmerizing.

Thanks a lot! This is highly interesting

Very interesting and thorough video

Gallium: *"I used to rule the world..."*

Teachers: don’t touch the Mercury it will kill you. Me who is drinking the funny silver milk: don’t worry I won’t

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR VIDEO, REALY INTERESTING

Bro your videos are cool and really help me learn my chemistry, for example, I thought mercury couldn't be so dangerous but now that I watched this video I get it

I was recently watching Queen music videos and thats What yt reccomended me...

I’m REALLY surprised you didn’t mention how hatters used mercury to stiffen and shine hats and the ensuing mental issues caused by a constant intake of mercury gas caused many to go mad, and thus “mad hatters” were common during this time, and the phrase “mad as a hatter” was born, and the Alice in Wonderland character was based on such a concept of a “mad” or insane hatter. This is from the 18th to 20th century btw,

Awesome video . Thanks for the educational video . 🙏🙏🙏 . I think a video about plutonium would be awesome.

Thanks for your information 🙏🙏🙏

If my chemistry lessons looked this interesting...I would... ...nah, I would have still failed the exams. Never mind.

Him: the way to change the red powder into mercury is by roasting it. Me: STUPID LOOKING TOMATO-

All the elements! Pls. We got time to wait.

Thanks 4 the info!!

“If you decide to swallow it your stomach acid can react and make something dangerous” well damn there goes my weekend plans.

‘Both the mercuries can be brought back to metal, this is usually done by roasting it.’ Mercury, you’re named after a planet because you aren’t original enough to be given an original name. *instant liquid*

Fascinating! I'm learning about the uses of yyttrium in the making of alloys and strengthening or softening metals and how it relates to the human body and the fluorite that contains it. They say the body doesn't have a use for yyttrium but it does fight cancer, and thinking of the alchemy, what might we learn from studying it's effect on mercury, lead, sulphur and ether connected? Food for thought.

Very interesting. If you could tell in more detail about the reactions in which mercury compounds can serve as catalysts, it would be especially good

My brain: that's toxic Also my brain: °~☆ I wanna play with the pretty shiny liquid silver ☆~°

Him: You have to roast the powder to make the liquid mercury Me: *starts to scream insults at the powder*

Very good. Thank you.

Teachers: "Mercury is very toxic." NileRed: "I'm about to end all you teachers' career!" Mercury: "I'm about to end this man's life!"

The other thing that's neat about Mercury is that when you touch it, it feels "wet". But because it's self-attracting, none of it stays on your skin, so your skin stays "dry". It's a very unique sensation.

Thanks! Used this as a reference for my homework.

“I’m very careful when I use it” he says as he shakes the bottle violently

I once tried to roast HgS, but instead of turning to Mercury metal, it just started crying.

7:44 Nile: "I'm very careful when I use it" Also Nile: *SHAKES BOTTLE VIGOROUSLY*

đón chờ những ca khúc tiếp theo của Phúc, càng nghe càng thích giọng ca của Phúc ❤️

One of the best videos I have ever seen, as a chemical engineer

So the previous name meant liquid silver. Pretty accurate as far as appearence goes i guess. Those greek & latin names always make sense.

My grandma: *Careful dont break the Thermometer!* Me as soon as she leaves:

Thanks for this I already knew all of this but it's still cool

Very cool, very nice

I first saw it was 12 minutes and thought "oh what the hell could he go on about for that long" Turns out it was very informative and a great video! Well done!

How the hell did someone melt a planet?

mercury is so precious, definitely one of my favourites🤩

Nigel really stacked all 100 alchemy character points

It’d be really cool if you went through all the elements in the periodic table and talk about them all on this much detail. Different compounds, uses, etc.

7:46 Him:" I Am very careful when i use it..." Him: Shakes bottle extremely...

amazing just amazing!

So beautiful and yet so dangerous.

7:50 I am very carefull whilr using it: *Shakes it around like a toy*