Why is mercury liquid at room temperature?
September 29, 20243 Mins Read
Three-fourths of all elements found in nature are metals. One of the characteristics of these elements is that they conduct heat and electricity. will reflect light. It will be painful. Any shape can be bent as desired. A high frequency sound will be produced on impact, meaning it will be hard. These properties match almost all metals like iron, copper, nickel or tin. Mercury is the source of noise.

mercury

This shiny looking metal also conducts heat and electricity well. But does not retain its hardness at room temperature. There is usually no metallic sound when struck. How can you get it, it is in a liquid state. That is why it is not possible to give it any specific shape at normal temperature. That is, all the properties of liquids are seen in mercury. But why this behavior of mercury? Why is mercury liquid at room temperature and not solid like other metals?

This behavior of mercury cannot be called strange. All metals can be turned into liquids. Need only heat. Although the properties of metals are the same, the melting point of all is not the same. That is, each metal element loses its hardness at a different temperature. turns into a liquid. Let's talk about tin.

If you heat this solid metal to 231.8 degrees Celsius, it will turn into a liquid. On the other hand, tungsten must be liquefied at 3,422 degrees Celsius. The temperature during mercury is around minus 40 degrees Celsius. Mercury has the lowest melting point among metals.

This is because mercury has a unique electron configuration. The electrons in the last orbit of the mercury atom are very strongly bound by the attraction of its nucleus. Mercury does not readily bond with the electrons of other atoms. As a result, the material has very low metallic bonding strength.

The energy required to separate the atoms of a substance from each other is the binding energy of that substance. In other words, the amount of force that holds atoms together is the binding force of the substance. The melting point depends on how strong the bond is. The lower the bond strength of a substance, the lower the temperature at which its atoms separate. The kinetic energy of a single atom will increase. At some point the substance will change from solid to liquid.

Atoms behave this way in all metals. As the temperature increases, their kinetic energy increases. Direction started running at a fast speed. In mercury the phenomenon occurs at much lower temperatures. I have already said the reason. At low temperatures, the volume of mercury increases due to the separation of mercury atoms. This is basically what we see in mercury thermometers. As soon as the temperature rises slightly, the mercury rises through the empty tube. That is, the density of the liquid decreases and the volume increases due to the increase in temperature.

Conversely, lowering the temperature of mercury below minus 40 degrees Celsius slows down the motion of the molecules. At some point (below about minus 38.83 Celsius) the kinetic energy decreases and the molecules stick together. As a result, it takes the form of a solid.

Interestingly, if you can bring the temperature down to near absolute zero, mercury will become a superconducting material. That is, current will flow through it without any kind of resistance or hindrance. Dutch physicist Heike Kamerling Onnes discovered this in 1912.