Mercury

What exactly is Mercury? And what does Mercury have to do with Alice in Wonderland? Mercury is a liquid metal and the only liquid metal. For the next question you’re going to have to wait until I teach you more about mercury.

Although Mercury is a very interesting element it is very toxic and only a tiny little drip can kill you. Karen Wetterhahn, a scientist, died of Mercury poisoning. It all happened when she was studying the affect that heavy metals have on living things. In August 1996 Wetterhahn was putting some Mercury into a tube, She was wearing latex gloves but that was not enough because some how just a tiny drip went into the gloves. She did not know until 6 months later. Then she started to lose her balance and she was having trouble hearing and seeing. Doctors said that she had eighty times the lethal dose of Mercury. She died on June 8,1997.

There are many symptoms of Mercury. Some are inflammation of the mouth, gum problems or loosening of the teeth, damaged kidneys, shaking of the muscles in the arms and legs, depression and nervousness. A large dose of mercury does even more damage to your health. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain are common, and even death in only a few weeks. Kids cannot play with Mercury anymore because it is so dangerous.

Mercury was used before Christ so nobody really knows who discovered it. The earliest information was from the Chinese, Hindu, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. They were first to mention Mercury Cinnabar was rubbed together with vinegar into a clay dish. This released Mercury gas, which was then turned into liquid Mercury. People who worked in mines Found Mercury and thought it was near or close to gold, but later they realized that it was very different from gold. Mine workers died from exposure to mercury but the trees and plants around them were still living and unharmed.

Mercury is a silver colored metal. This element is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature. Mercury can be frozen (solid) at a temperature -38.85 Celsius, and it can be boiled at 365.6 Celsius. Mercury is a good conductor of electricity. It is only a little active. It doesn’t react with oxygen and it doesn’t react with air very easily. This element reacts with some hot acids but not with most cold acids.

There are several uses of Mercury. It is used as a disinfectant, for tanning leather, insect spray for

Potato seedlings, in preservation of wood, embalming fluid, textile printing, and engraving. In florescent lamps there are Mercury vapors. There are also Mercury batteries although they aren’t good for the environment

Because Mercury may escape.

Long ago in the 1800s, when Mercury wasn’t known to be dangerous, hat makers used Mercury in their hats. They used it to treat the felt and beaver fur that lined the hats. Later on the Mercury started to affect the hat maker. The personalities of the hat makers became wild. When people noticed the hat makers’ behavior they used the expression “ Mad as a hatter”. The author Lewis Carroll made a character in Alice’s adventure in

Wonderland. The Hat makers have some symptoms of Mercury poisoning.

So the next time you see that book or movie just remember that the hat maker is “weird” for a reason.