Symbol

Hg

Atomic Number

80

Atomic Mass

200.59

Family

Group 12 (Iib) Transition Metal Pronunciation

MER-kyuh-ree

Overview

Mercury is a transition metal. A transition metal is one of the elements found between Groups 2 (IIA) and 13 (IIIA) on the periodic table. The periodic table is a chart that shows how chemical elements are related to one another. Mercury has long been known as quicksilver, because it is a silver liquid. The chemical symbol also reflects this property. The symbol, Hg, comes from the Latin term hydrargyrum, meaning "watery silver."

Mercury has been known for thousands of years. In many cultures, people learned to make mercury metal from its most important ore, cinnabar. When heated cinnabar releases mercury as a vapor (gas). The vapor is cooled and captured as liquid mercury.

Some mercury compounds are known to be poisonous. For example, mercuric chloride (corrosive sublimate) was often used to kill pests and, sometimes...