mercury: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	quicksilver • Hg

Photos

A periodic table element box for mercury shows its symbol Hg, atomic number 80, atomic weight 200.592, electron configuration, and name. Icons indicate mercury is a transition metal, liquid at room temperature, has a rhombohedral crystal structure, and is weakly basic.

Mercury thermometer

Line graph showing the first ionization energies of the elements as a function of atomic number, with peaks at noble gases like helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, and labeled elements at key points.

A vertical temperature scale shows the cryogenic region, highlighted from absolute zero up to about 90 kelvin, with key points where gases like oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium liquefy, alongside temperature conversions between kelvin, Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Rankine.

See All Images and Interactives →

Topics

mercury processing endocrine disruptor Mercury barometer neurotoxin mercury poisoning thimerosal Minamata disease chemical element zinc group element hydrogen carbon sodium nitrogen sulfur phosphorus boron iodine fluorine zinc

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

zinc group element: Introduction

Key People

default image

Georg Brandt

Swedish chemist

Periodic Table of the elements concept image (chemistry)

Facts You Should Know: The Periodic Table Quiz

Concept artwork on the periodic table of elements.

118 Names and Symbols of the Periodic Table Quiz