We see less and less mercury these days.

Actually, there is a good reason for that.

In this article, we will talk about mercury, its properties and how it was once used in society.

Mercury was widespread in ordinary households despite its high toxicity.

Let’s learn together for future safety.

Properties and characteristics of Mercury

Mercury is an element that readily forms alloys with other metals.

Despite being a metal, it has liquid properties at room temperature and its vapors are highly toxic.

Methylated mercury is also a highly dangerous element, as excessive ingestion can cause Minamata disease.

Let’s look at mercury, which was originally used a lot in Japan, and in what situations it was actually used.

How Mercury is used on society

Mercury has become a less commonly used element in Japan today.

However, until just a decade ago, it was used as an ingredient in ‘fluorescent lamps’, ‘mercury batteries’ and ‘medical equipment’.

Let’s look each of them.

Mercury is useful “Fluorescent lamps” (now discontinued)

Fluorescent lamps are filled with mercury and argon gas, which collide with electrons and mercury atoms to emit ultraviolet radiation, which in turn illuminates the phosphor coated inside the fluorescent lamp, illuminating the room.

It should be noted that many companies have now discontinued the production of fluorescent lamps, and replacement with LED light fixtures is recommended. (LED lights do not contain mercury).

Mercury is useful “mercury cell”(now discontinued)

Mercury was used in dry cell batteries before 1990 and mercury button cells were used until the end of 1995.

Modern batteries do not use mercury and are changing to new battery forms, such as lithium-ion and hydrogen batteries.

Mercury is useful “medical instruments”(now discontinued)

In the past, ‘mercury sphygmomanometers’ and ‘mercury thermometers’ were the most common and are still used in some hospitals.

However, many hospitals have shifted to employ ‘electronic blood pressure monitors’ and ‘electronic thermometers’.

Sometimes you see people shaking their thermometers, which is a legacy of the mercury thermometers, which always had to be shaken before measuring body temperature.

History of mercury

Chemical symbol; Hg

The etymology of the word mercury (Hg) is derived from the Latin word hydrargyrum.

Combination of ‘hydro’ (water) + ‘argyrum’ (silver), meaning ‘watery silver’.

The name Mercury originates from the god of commerce, Merkurios.

The discoverer is not known.

In fact, there are records of the use of mercury in China around 2000 BC.

Summary

In this article, we have explained ‘ mercury ‘.

The key points of this article are as follows.

Mercury is a liquid metal at room temperature and its vapors are highly toxic.

Used in fluorescent lamps, mercury batteries and medical equipment (now discontinued).

The other elements studied in high school are summarized in the following articles.

Please see also the following pages for a further understanding!