the.com/mercury
the only metal that flows like water and poisons like a grudge
means A heavy, silvery liquid metal (chemical symbol Hg) that stays fluid at room temperature and is highly toxic — also the name of the smallest planet and the swift messenger god of Roman myth.
from Named for the Roman god Mercury, the fleet-footed messenger of the gods, because the metal's quivering, restless droplets seemed as quick and slippery as the god himself. This is why it earned the nickname 'quicksilver' — literally 'living silver,' from the Old English 'cwicseolfor.' The chemical symbol Hg comes from a different lineage entirely: the Latin 'hydrargyrum,' built from Greek 'hydōr' (water) and 'argyros' (silver) — 'water-silver,' a perfect description of a metal that pools and runs like liquid.
- liquid metal
- Only metal that's liquid at room temperature
- mad hatters
- Poisoned hat-makers into the phrase 'mad as a hatter'
- named twice
- Shares its name with a planet and a god
- heavy weight
- A bucket of it weighs over a hundred pounds
- thermometer exile
- Banned from most modern thermometers for toxicity
mercury planet — smallest planet in solar system, 58 million km from sun, 88 earth days to orbit
mercury element — liquid metal at room temperature, atomic number 80, used in thermometers and barometers
freddie mercury — queen frontman, born farrokh bulsara in zanzibar 1946, died 1991