How Does Mercury Cause Damage To The Nervous System

Mercury is a deadly liquid that causes damage to the nervous system. If that doesn’t interest you, i'm not really sure what will. Mercury has been the interest of people for over a millennia, as a heavy liquid metal. Due to the toxicity of the element it is slowly being used less and less. Now it is mostly used in the industry as a stimulus, also used in electrical switches, thermometers, barometers and the other scientific instruments. On a biological role mercury has no role but is present in the environment. During our daily lives we intake less than 0.01 milligrams, and his we can cope with easily. However, in much higher doses it is toxic and one form of mercury – methylmercury – is particularly dangerous. It can accumulate in the flesh …show more content…
Mercury Sulfide (Cinnabar) was used as a bright red pigment to Palaeolithic painters, this was to decorate caves in spain and France the metal fascinated people because it was a liquid that would dissolve gold. The ancients used in on a large scale to extract alluvial gold from the sediment of rivers. The mercury dissolved the gold which could be reclaimed by distilling off the mercury. In 1848 he miners of the Californian Gold Rush used mercury from the New Almaden Mines of …show more content…
Spain and Italy produce about half of the world's supply of Mercury. Physical properties of Mercury are the following: average atomic mass-200.59, boiling point- 357C/675 F/630K, electrical conductivity- 0.0104x10/6 cm, density-13.546g/cm3,melting point- -38,72C/ -37.7F/ 234.28k, and molar volume-14.81cm3/mole. The chemical properties of Mercury of the following: valence states: elementar Hg0, mercurous Hg+1, mercuric Hg+2, thermally unstable both forms Hg+1, Hg+2, decompose to elemental mercury,ionic forms: Hg22+, Hg2+,and inorganic mercury mainly in a form of salts, mostly week soluble in