Compounds of Mercury
Thanks
to its toxicity, Mercury never gets a break.
But, people still find uses for this peppy little element. Mercuric oxide
is used extensively in dry cell batteries. And, once again, versatility comes in
when considering Mercuric
sulfide, which is used as that stingy stuff your mom puts on your cuts
(antiseptic) and the pigment for the deep red vermilion. ("Mercury"
Microsoft Encarta) It is also
used to color rubber and some plastics.
When
it comes to explosive personality, some of Mercury’s compounds take first
place, Mercury itself doesn’t usually catch fire, but some of it’s
compounds are highly flammable making them somewhat dangerous. Mercury
fulminate, Mercury nitride, Mercurous chromate, Mercurous chloride, Mercurous
oxide are some examples of the explosive properties of Mercury compounds.
Mercurous
Chloride, not Mercury chloride the violent poison (http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/80.html).
which is used in ointments, fungicides (seeing a trend here?), and
insecticide can cause rash, fever, or larger spleens or lymph nodes (Encyclopedia
Britannica ). Methyl mercury, once used in fungicides, is now banned from the US thanks to
it’s role in fish and cattle meat poisoning which proved very harmful to
humans.
Mercury Oxide is elemental mercury used for the preparation of various organic mercury compounds and inorganic mercury salts. It is also used in Zinc Mercuric oxide for mercury batteries. (Principal compounds, Encyclopedia Britannica)
Mercury also enjoys bonding with a methyl group. The result? Methyl mercury, the stuff which is usually the cause of many environmental pollution problems.