Posted by Larry Hoover on October 4, 2009, at 9:26:59
In reply to Re: Elemental mercury vs. mercury salts, posted by Phillipa on October 3, 2009, at 20:10:38
> Okay guys as a kid at the dentists he'd give me a bead of mercury to play with in my hand. Not liquid not totally solid. Was used for filling teeth. So what was that? Phillipa
That sounds like it was amalgam, what the dental profession calls a silver filling, which is a misnomer. It's a mercury filling, if you want to be pedantic, as it is 50% mercury by weight. It contains silver and tin (and traces of other metals), which are dissolved in the mercury. It gradually hardens as crystals of solid metal form in the solution. Some mercury remains a liquid, however.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:918589
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091001/msgs/919654.html