Dissolving Gold in Mercury

Okay, so we are not truly dissolving the gold, we are actually forming an alloy between the gold and the mercury (called an amalgam).
This process is not only cool to look at, but it also is really useful to extract gold from ore. The gold-mercury amalgam can then be isolated and the mercury is boiled off or removed chemically. This leaves behind relatively pure gold.
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Nile talks about lab safety: • Chemistry is dangerous.
Music in credits (Walker by SORRYSINES): / walker

[@genericalias5756]

"I was so amused with it, I did it another 23 more times"

[@Rubiksboi64]

I loved that part, hilarious 50 bucks well spent

[@Oliepolie]

Shane K xd

[@TheOGDominic]

Ike Zhang ii

[@willhendrix86]

So said Ramsay to Theon

[@jondunlap1892]

science!

[@theCodyReeder]

A little warning for if you ever try to melt this gold is that the tiny crystals formed will trap mercury.

[@TheRedKnight101]

Do you have a PhD in mercury?

[@TheKnaeckebrot]

codys Body is half mercury half beeswax ;D

[@NileRed]

hmm interesting. Thanks for the warning!

[@kleetus92]

But wouldn't the melting process evaporate the mercury away, or is that the point of the warning?

[@theCodyReeder]

yes the gold will emit mercury vapor as it is melted which can be a problem if you are not expecting it.

[@TopherAbe]

"Anyway, I was so amused with it, I did it 23 more times, with every other gold leaf I had" - Probably the greatest nonchalant sentence I've ever heard involving gold and mercury.

[@Variecs]

that's very specific

[@dylana6244]

yeha we fucking heard that part you don't have to quote it again do you think we don't have ears or some shit.

[@turretop5675]

He didn't need to tell it, but you didn't need to reply either tbh.

[@VisorView]

I didn't need to watch the video, but I did, I didn't need to read the comments, but I did, I didn't need to type this comment, but I did. No one needs to reply, but they will. The joy of being a free human being.

[@turretop5675]

Amen

[@thepokemonintheroom1702]

"To get rid of the liquid mercury, i cut a piece of my sock, put the blob in, and squeezed it." Ah yes, science.

[@nishanth8a522]

Ur using muscular force to type a comment.thats science too

[@balokrumput9074]

Kemistri

[@samuelluria4744]

I'm analyzing all of your comments....more science......

[@quaxx]

Kemistre

[@michaellange6598]

Chamois

[@sherra-sama]

"How to destroy $50 in a really entertaining way"

[@keirstin2010]

Actually this is how you create the philosophers stone.

[@Ramkumar-nc1he]

5:16 not 50$..

[@ShainAndrews]

Law of Conservation of Mass

[@NG_BQ]

It didn't destroyed, you can take the gold back out

[@shadowcrimson6232]

He got back 0.25 mg of gold... barely anything was "destroyed"

[@RadicalCaveman]

"But I was a little bit impatient, so I kind of just pushed everything together." = me when cleaning my room

[@gaminggrooves9512]

no when i clean my room i stuff it under my bed. first reply

[@AuChoco]

"Mercury can combine with any element" *uses gold of all things*

[@amerikanskispy7842]

Well historically mercury was used to extract pure gold from the ore that miners found during various gold rushes throughout the centuries. So it's not a random selection but a very appropriate one given the history of these elements together

[@justinz3186]

Whats ur name

[@unknownyuserishy8335]

Give this person 1000 likes!

[@tulinhcaongoc1929]

@@lahirusankalpa wat

[@alexn5743]

@@amerikanskispy7842 its still used for that at artisan mines in South America and in Africa. Not saying legally but it is

[@DailyDoseOfInternet]

Thanks!

[@RalphLo-mt8gg]

FOUND YOU

[@gavveymate2317]

Shut up johan you stuborn shitsicle

[@Mukeshmiktecrep]

The video I saw in both channels.

[@samplayz7831]

R u a robot?

[@ytho5863]

Ha

[@thatkidavid]

"I was a little impatient" story of Nilered's life.

[@lovekookie4ever661]

Mercury is my school and the Gold leaf is my life

[@fathimaanjala6796]

Hey army

[@yenvan3155]

so school destroy your life?

[@lovekookie4ever661]

@@yenvan3155 is that even a question?

[@indridcold8433]

Organic Mercury is highly poisonous. But elemental Mercury can be handled. The problem is you can not tell them apart by looks.

[@luisp.3788]

@@indridcold8433 "..you can't tell them apart by looks." I'd say a metallic fluid and a clear liquid are easy to tell apart by looks.

[@FernandoTakeshiSato]

The effect was really cool, those leaves must have been suuuuuper thin though.

[@NileRed]

Yeah, they are insanely thin.

[@ricardasist]

Just how actually thin are they?

[@ender_scythe2879]

Micrometers thick.

[@minecaftpenguin]

ender_scythe I've heard they're in the realm of a couple hundred atoms thick

[@MuzikBike]

If you were to lay one on your fingertip, it would conform to the shape of your fingerprint.

[@eleanorfreebern8945]

"To get rid of the rest of the liquid mercury, I cut out a square from one of my socks" Of course you did. Chemists are awesome, you guys.

[@PhoenixPlaneswalker]

3:32 The amalgum is sometimes called 'goldbutter'. It was used to golplate items by smearing it on a metal object and the heating the object to get rid of the mercur.y

[@TruthSurge]

:06 whoa.... so THAT'S why dentists kept using mercury in fillings, right?

[@chooqi7]

Used to. Now they changed to other material since Mercury was proven to be toxic and in fact blamed for so many humam maladies.

[@cartersharpnack]

@@chooqi7 silver amalgams are still used

[@j_respect5948]

I ain't going to dentist just to suck a mercury my whole life

[@SanaSamaha]

@@j_respect5948 Dentists don't use mercury anymore. They use gold, silver, or most commonly, tooth-coloured composites (resin).

[@stank8460]

Shout out from a Med student from Oregon Health Studies University. Your video's along with Cody's Lab really helped me like chemistry which helped and is helping me in med school.

[@sandrashane677]

I hope ur not one of the brainwashed today handing out poison for convid.

[@Sukrit_sood]

Yeah he also inspires me and I want a become a scientist just like nile

[@Neutryno]

this was so cool to watch, makes me think how many disciplines that in school were boring AF are actually fascinating

[@keyboardwarrior2145]

I am a big fan of your longer and more complex videos also, but i think these short, well produced videos would be fun to watch, especially for people who are just starting to get into chemistry, or don't have the time and motivation to get into complicated topics at the moment

[@NileRed]

It also lets me cover smaller topics that dont require more in depth explanations.

[@alix6xgorg839]

So this is where the shorts idea started.

[@natebait]

"I was so amused with it, I did it 23 more times..."

[@MrFujinko]

"i cut out a square from one of my socks" top kek

[@JustinKoenigSilica]

MrFujinko so many great comments today from Nile -sock - using a toaster - doing it 23 more times 10/10

[@colxplosion]

This gold-mercury-amalgam was used to gold plate stuff like statues or ornaments on furniture (the expensive ones for the king, of course). This way of gilding produces slightly different results from the methods we use today and there are experts who can tell the difference and find out in which century an artwork was made.

[@PinkAgaricus]

...and even gold fillings if I recall correctly. Gold amalgam fillings, I think dentists had to cut back on it because it was a risk to the patient due to the fact that gold is valuable. P.S. I know this is a 5 year old comment...and this is a 5 year old video.

[@Snoozegoose]

Hey NileRed, you make awesome videos whether they're long or short. I would love to see more extraction of compounds from plants in the future.

[@joede_bro3584]

I’m glad you decided to do a whole series on this!!!!

[@kalashnikov98]

Hi NileRed, great video as per usual, I think seeing experiments like this really gives you an understanding of different dynamics within chemistry that is difficult to learn from a textbook. I just wanted to tell you that you have inspired me to become a chemist myself. in august I will be starting on my B.Sc in Chemistry! I am very excited :)

[@leylevv7647]

I’m here because of chapter 91. And wow i hope phos would be okay

[@harukatou2591]

Let’s just hope for the best. I hope both of them will get a happy ending:(

[@seaweed5269]

They will amalgamate trust me. And then Cinna will walk around collecting others and amalgamate with them too

[@leylevv7647]

seaweed oh my sensei

[@Apieceofcakeshere]

​@@seaweed5269 Yeah but what about the platinum? what will happen to it? since phos arms are made of both of them and i think mercury doesnt react with platinum so im really confused on what will happen

[@gapetheapegod7976]

What

[@Oridux]

"The iPhone is so strong!" The iPhone: 0:21

[@vayonaise]

this is the job only cinnabar can do

[@ShroomF0x]

It’s Phosover..

[@uhmarcel7417]

Man, I've been watching you for years, your content is always great and entertaining, I dont get why your channel isn't in the million subs yet, you deserve way more recognition

[@totallynot572]

you are og

[@uhmarcel7417]

still watching. Cool to see he's on 3.5M now

[@Flesh_Wizard]

4,630,000 ish subs

[@anubhavforall]

I want confidence like this guy. No one would understand but still so much invested in his work, and well sure about all the results !🙂🤝

[@CrimFerret]

Nice video. You showed a process start to finish in a way that looked cool. I think industrial scale gold extraction is usually done using a cyanide solution these days which is a lot safer and easier on the environment since the cyanide is recoverd and reused.

[@deltalima6703]

Cyanide is harmless. Just carbon and nitrogen, which are everywhere anyways.

[@michaellange6598]

Really interesting misconception

[@chooqi7]

The Mercury amalgams were the only popular option for dental fillings until recently when alarms were raised about their safety and level of toxicity so other Mercury free options were introduced which are considered safer and better looking. These include porcelain, glass or resin ionomers, and composites that contain either quartz or glass. Noteworthy the FDA never banned the use of the Amalgams and still declare them safe keeping it up to the dentists to use.

[@bard4uu]

im 21, i have silver colored fillings from when i was a kid. is it likely they are mercury amalgams?

[@sarowie]

I like this format. The smaller scope makes it easier to follow for engineers like me, as everything remains basic and straight forward. In your main videos, I am happy when I can pick up the big idea and some specific details - also great, but heaving a more digestible format is awesome.

[@NileRed]

I think I will keep doing it! I am going to try to do 1 short and 1 long one per week. We shall see if i am able to do that though.

[@mortlet5180]

sarowie; Dude!... I'm also an engineer (Electrical), so I know very well just how *stupid* we are, but you don't have to tell the whole world! On a serious note, I got REALLY scared when you said you were going to keep doing shorter videos (with the way youtube works now, high quality, long but infrequent videos are going the way of the dodo), but doing both would be *SO* great, if you could actually keep up with such a hectic schedule. Either way, I'll always keep watching. A shorter time allowance does restrict what content you can put out, but it doesn't intrinsicly change the quality of that content (as this video so nicely shows). Your content is good content, and I'm convinced that will never change! Also, I just want to say that, even as an EE, I still find all of your longer videos very well narrated and logically laid out, which makes them quite easy to understand. Sure, at the start I had ZERO knoweldge of organic chemistry, so it was really confusing to understand the 'jargon' (like washing, drying, salting out, etc) and why the reaction mechanisms proceeded the way that they do. But, literally, it just takes a couple of hours of googling (at most) to learn the terminology, the basic funtional groups, types of reactions, the most common electrophiles and nucleophiles, as well as how to draw and read the structures and the mechanisms. After that, simply watching your videos (and reading the source literature for the reaction, if available) taught me enough to be able to follow everything that you do. Obviously, if it's the first time that I've seen a specific reaction, then I won't know anything about it; but I think that just makes the video even more interesting! It really doesn't impair my understanding of the content, since the narration is always good enough to explain what the reaction does, why he is using it and (if he has enough time in the video) how it works as well. Keep up the great work Nile, Your videos are Chemical Perfection incarnate!

[@XxMaKrxX1]

sarowie i

[@gorakhayurveda4387]

@@NileRed sir I have some thing give to you pls co tact me.my English so week I can not express our emotion. But I send to you a powder you examine on lab and get result then call me but how I send to you .

[@SaitoruUchiha]

The World THE WHOLE LITTERAL WORLD: uses gold to look cool Nile:WE NEED GOLD FOR SCIENCE!!

[@NZC_Meow]

Thank you so much NileRed for mentioning that thing about dental amalgams. My mother doesn't want to do it and wants to live with pain in her teeth. I told her about it after seeing your video and she said she will finally get it done. I said "see my favourite KZbinr recommends it".

[@neilolif]

Amalgam is very rarely used in dentistry any more. The effects of long term exposure to mercury were too worrisome.., Epoxies are most often used for fillings.

[@NZC_Meow]

@@neilolif thanks We didn't use amalgam. We used Composite filling

[@bluepacificsurf]

Thanks for making this video. I have often wondered what it looked like when the miners from the old American west used mercury to extract trace amounts of metallic gold from ore as you mentioned. It would be interesting to know what process they used to then separate the gold from the mercury.

[@robertkarp2070]

They heated it up because mercury melts at a much lower temperature than gold, the gold would melt and the mercury would evaporate away. The problem was a lot of miners suffered from mercury poisoning.

[@DenKonZenith]

Have a thumbs up for the "Anyway, I was so amused with it, I did it 23 more times"

[@stigmartin3072]

I’m a simple mechanic, I see this and I’m like, “oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound” 😂 I wind up in the strangest of places sometimes 😂

[@toastedfish1105]

Is this a Land of the Lustrous reference?

[@musya_ar]

Ah, i see you're man of culture as well

[@tejasdixit4417]

Na, bruh it's a jojo reference

[@anastasia_852]

@@tejasdixit4417 Jojo sucks. I rest my case.

[@tejasdixit4417]

@@anastasia_852 lol, this was so incomprehensible to me, for a sec, i thought it wasnt english. Tho its better to add a 'for me' at the end

[@MasterCommandCEO]

Haha I get it

[@gangganggang2219]

Land of the Lustrous fans stopping in after the latest chapter

[@rickytorres4017]

"I was a little impatient" story of Nilered's life.

[@justsomeweebwithamustache2674]

We're all a little impatient

[@shrekfrog]

am i late to the party?

[@Harshulnarang1]

Mercury dissolves metals and is a neurotoxin... scariest metal ever!

[@indridcold8433]

I play with it all the time. It is much funner than eating paint chips. Though the paint chips were sweet and stayed crispy in milk. I am just fine. My mum says she feels safe with me living in the basement.

[@indridcold8433]

@I'llFuckingCircumciseYour MicroPenis Yes, I touched it with my bare hands. One must make certain to wash your hands very thoroughly before touching anything else or any other part of yourself.

[@nettyabbott5412]

Elemental liquid mercury is Not absorbed by the skin & it is used in over 300,000 medicines in India. It's not Poisonous. But is swallowed over there & they tend to live long long lives. Mercury oxide is poisonous. Sadly western medicine is bit behind the times with this type of Mercury.

[@nettyabbott5412]

Watch " Sadhguru about mercury metal " no doubt there are many other videos that show you how to, amounts to & recipes & as elemental Mercury devours pure gold, you've just seen Alchemy. In India it is called Quick Silver. Prehaps you have heard of that.

[@indridcold8433]

@@nettyabbott5412 Western medicine has been behind in a few aspects for a long time. But the medical scientists are slowly waking up. I remember when acupuncture was considered witchcraft.

[@3psilon_]

I can't stop imagining Gold screaming bloody murder as it gets pulled in

[@mortlet5180]

Am I the only one that *really* wants to bite into that metallic blob. I think the texture of it looks super satifying...

[@85kbrooks]

I saw this video posted on Facebook by Viral Trend and got fed an ad about twenty seconds in. So I decided to come find your video here so I could drop you the like you deserve and enjoy the video with that sweet, ad free KZbin Red goodness. Awesome video!

[@robert36902]

It's always interesting to watch your videos, even though I'm not a chemist myself. Keep up the good work!

[@lorallo2887]

"I was so amused with it, I did it 23 more times". "I'm not really sure how to describe how it felt"

[@askhowiknow5527]

"to remove the excess mercury, I cut out a square from one of my socks" I thought you were going to end there lol I didn't think there were any more steps beyond that

[@NoriMori1992]

4:59 - "I put the entire vial in a toaster to dry out the gold." Of course. You're not a real scientist unless you use a toaster to dry your metal.

[@kevincolwell2115]

You should play it in reverse... that would look cool!

[@haileydebruin5000]

Kevin Colwel YASSS

[@teod5433]

yass means you are so sexy you know that right?

[@joew.3354]

She said YASSS, not YASS

[@joew.3354]

gotcha

[@OptimusPhillip]

Blooming gold flowers!

[@ArchangelExile]

3:33 He's rolling it up like a robot's booger.

[@boldandbrash259]

🤢

[@user-rd7jv4du1w]

Wow, I didn't know Houseki no Kuni S2 was leaked

[@bonelessmice6828]

💀

[@n.m.2624]

The amalgamate is like the mucus of my nose and when I pull it out I feel that its same like what this guy did in 3:01

[@justinwilson6106]

that was so cool. I am a chem major but they don't really let us play with Hg to much. SO thank you so much!!!!!

[@channelVlogger]

ikr? I'm an undergraduate in chemistry and while we handle all sorts of weird (and way more toxic) compounds, we only ever came in contact with Hg-salts and never got a chance to experiment with it's weirdness. Many d-block metals are actually really weird and interesting, even if it doesn't seem like it on the first glance.

[@keithammleter3824]

At one time, gold amalgam fillings were popular. My wife had a few gold fillings in her teeth. It looks most odd, and I told her several times to get them replaced with modern white fillings, but she wouldn't do it.

[@PinkAgaricus]

Yep, which was kind of why I was wondering why he only mentioned silver. I remember that "back in the day we had gold fillings", but then there's a chance your mouth could get robbed for those gold fillings by unscrupulous people who would steal it to sell it for ill gotten monetary gain. I think even the dead would get their mouth robbed of their gold fillings if the family didn't ask for them back before they got buried or cremated. Speaking of the silver one, I had to get one in "that one tooth" since that tooth couldn't stay dry enough during the filling process for the composite to properly set.

[@kikol.5002]

Hi Nile, I love ur videos so much :)

[@NileRed]

Thanks!

[@gorakhayurveda4387]

Nilered contact me I have a lots of things give to you . Give me your WhatsApp number.my English so week I can not express my view and thought on murcery. Trust me .

[@Beos_Valrah]

@@gorakhayurveda4387 wtf

[@sebastianprzybya5966]

Gold amalgam actually has one quite old use. It has been used for gilding metal objects, it doesen't have to contain alot of gold so the amalgam is quite runny and can be aplied with just a brush. It sticks nicely to metal surfaces, then the object is heated to evaporate the mercury and that's pretty much it. Of course now we can apply metals with electro chemical techniques so there's no use for mercury-gold amalgams

[@sosak4mi]

Roman senators after stabbing Caesar once: 1:45

[@CoDRuinedMyLife]

the quality of your videos and how you speak made me think you had millions of subs but only almost 600K? you deserve more recognition! great videos always enjoy

[@MrRishik123]

Who else thought this was a Cody's lab video? The thumbnail style looked similar.

[@MuzikBike]

yupp

[@zanpekosak2383]

Yep!

[@DanielQRT]

me

[@pierreuntel1970]

Mr Rishi The Cookie thought is was Cody's at first.. With those arrows

[@MrRishik123]

SandPox dem arrows. Cody'sLab should copyright it :P Jk

[@Sarp1sthebest]

Bro roasted all rich people in 197291719161817171961871618 languages💀lol

[@mpk6664]

You should do more stuff with gold, perhaps electro-plating?

[@anselledmont9614]

This works under water and is a far safer way to handle the element Hg. No splash, no fumes.

[@ginestracroce5254]

This is definitely hypnotizing me.

[@Stop4MotionMakr]

If there's an olympic just for rich people, amalgamating gold into mercury would be one of the sports they compete in.

[@jangisgand6140]

Hey Nile, can you please make a video of different reactions using aluminum oxide as a catalyst. For example: making ethylene from ethanol.

[@jakobs.family.computer]

I just happened to learn about this process in a video I was watching about how they're destroying the South American rain forests, and I was curious about it so I typed in exactly what I was looking for and your video poped up, knowing your reputation, it was the first one I clicked on and I was not disappointed. It had everything I wanted to know and more in a very short and concise, beautifully narrated and visually pleasing video. Thank you very much sir, you are a wealth of knowledge and precious gift to this world on the same level as Bill Nye to children in the early 90s, but in my opinion far greater, thank you again

[@Jacksirrom]

Wow, I'm no hard sciences guy, but I thought this was a pretty impressive demonstration of mercury amalgamations. Or at least very visually interesting. I'm always shocked at how much chemistry, in application, resembles what lay-people would consider alchemy. Really great, and I would love some less heady, shorter videos on top of the detailed vids you already release.

[@DrV1le]

He should make some 4-AcO-DMT

[@indridcold8433]

This is an age old method to change gold dust into a small nugget. It has been around as long as humans have placed a value on gold.

[@rickytorres4017]

I’m here because of chapter 91. And wow i hope phos would be okay

[@bonelessmice6828]

it’s no longer phos just phorso

[@junialstudios]

Your explanations are so wonderfully clear

[@rabbit-kan]

mercury is like an alien metal.

[@neilisbored2177]

I wish there was a planet that you could say it's from. I just can't imagine what it could be.

[@Chidderationss]

Wast watching this on Facebook on a “cool science” group, but the audio was swapped out with royalty free music and an advertisement both at 30 seconds and 3 minutes into the video so I instead decided to watch this version and actually support the creator

[@jasonpatterson8091]

2:57 "So it was kind of a mix between a solid and a liquid." It's a lolsquid!

[@witherornot388]

Jason Patterson Actually, it should be called a non-Newtonian fluid.

[@TristanBomber]

Actually actually, it's called a colloid.

[@soba2186]

actually actually actually actually, how the hell do you even get "lolsquid" out of solid and liquid?

[@fakestory1753]

Actually actually actually actually actually we need more actually

[@redrar00]

l(From Liquid) ol(From sOLid) s(Solid) quid(liQUID)

[@iangrant9675]

Here in Bolivia miners use this to extract gold from panning operations on river banks. One miner told me that there is a way you can recover much of the mercury by baking the gold amalgam in a potato. Apparently the starch absorbs the mercury. I didn't really understand how it was supposed to work though. Thanks for making these awesome videos!

[@r3nmgod]

1:20 Looks like something out of Terminator 2

[@Vikki_0209]

"No socks were hurt making this video"

[@MuzikBike]

You should try this with more metals.

[@NileRed]

I will! I will do it with aluminum, sodium/potassium, silver, etc.

[@Gameboygenius]

NileRed, Aluminium + mercury has been done many time before, though maybe see if aluminium foil (the thinnest type you can find) will do anything similar to the gold effect. Also, might be interesting to see if NaK will dissolve gold, silver or other "unexpected" metals.

[@MuzikBike]

I especially would like to see it done with copper. Also, what would happen if you amalgamated it with cobalt or nickel (apparently iron is resistant to it) and held a magnet to it?

[@TheRedKnight101]

i'm waiting for platinum and osmium

[@theCodyReeder]

cobalt and nickel are also resistant to it though it does give me an idea for an even heavier ferrofluid.

[@74KU]

This process used to be used in gold mining :) The Mercury was generally put on a copper plate and a slurry of gold ore and water was passed over it to grab the gold.

[@neilolif]

The problem here was how much mercury was lost to the streams, heavily polluting the streams.

[@ClaudiaSketches]

Both a solid and liquid at the same time? Shoulda called this video "metal slime"!

[@JP2837]

You wont see this on Nickelodeon!

[@anotherelementcollector5799]

Metal nonnewtonian fluid!

[@vishprasad06]

Or a semisolid 😂

[@voyatoran6872]

Get out

[@kingoftheswamp4960]

No metal water

[@fittzwmz2641]

When mom finds the mercury sock

[@lohphat]

At what saturation point does it take (with wither Au or Ag) to stabilize the Hg so it's no longer biotoxic?

[@martinofgliwice1486]

lohphat It will never be truly non-toxic. Mercury metal isn't the worst, only vapours are seriously toxic, you can drink it and be fine apart from what gets into your lungs. But an amalgam will always emit some vapourand be potentially hazardous. Edit: As some people correctly stated below, none amount of mercury is truly non-problematic, yet one must remember that very small amounts of mercury will not cause too much problems and may be considered safe like the minute amounts released by an amalgam. Probably.

[@KowboyUSA]

Martin of Gliwice whether they're right, or they're wrong, for many years dentists have been sticking mercury amalgam fillings into people's mouths.

[@JayMark2049]

John Ratko Yep. I have one. No prohhhhhblahh... çcv&v'' I'm fine.

[@mortlet5180]

It depends on what you mean by 'toxic'. If you're like most people and are only interested in life-threatening effects or very large, sudden and easily observed decreases in mental capacity, then mercury really isn't all that toxic in its elemental form. You could get mercury fillings in all of your teeth, dunk you entire hand in mercury every single day and break a fluorescent light bulb about once every week (without doing anything other than opening a door or window so the vapours can slowly escape) and you will very likely never see any of the effects that you're worried about. If, however, you are like me (luckily, very unlikely) and are concerned by even low levels of cognitive disfunction, then... you're prettt much screwed. There is NO recognised minimum exposure level that is 'safe', since mercury is an accumulative biotoxin and also *VERY* difficult, if not impossible, to safely remove from the brain. Basically, your brain will actively absorb any mercury that happens to be in your bloodstream and effectively 'cement' it into neurons distributed throughout your brain.

[@zvpunry1971]

problematic are mercury compounds like methylmercury and mercury salts like the mercury nitrate he produced. methylmercury accumulates in the food chain, the top predators get the most of it... like humans who like to eat predatory fish like tuna. If somebody fears dental amalgam, he should never ever eat wild fish from the ocean. ;) and mercury nitrate is the stuff which was used to make felt from fur and caused the mad hatter disease. The real cause was non-existent workplace safety. Toxic chemicals? no problem, the workers will breathe them away. then there is dimethylmercury, that stuff is so toxic that it will kill you if you touch it with or without rubber gloves... this is the scary stuff that makes everybody nervous. And because "dimethyl" is such a complicated word, everybody reads it as "mercury" and that is why everybody is scared of elementary mercury. mercury(II)oxide was used as kathode in mercury-zinc batteries, these were a problem because they ended in the trash, getting burned or dumped into the landfills. elementary mercury is such a nice toy, you can play with the droplets and there is no need to fear its toxicity. You can have a big blob of it in your hand and feel its weight. Just like you can do it with a piece of lead. Lead is also toxic... And now some people think "oh no, the mercury vapors"... yes, mercury vapors are also toxic, but they are heavy too! If you have a open glass of mercury, the vapors will sit on top of the surface and keep the rest from vaporizing... if the vapors escape, they fall down on the floor and if the floor is porous, it falls into or though it. It could be harmful for ants in your basement. Some may think that there was a chinese king who died of mercury poisoning and he had a lot of elementary mercury as artificial rivers and ponds. Thats right, but there were these quacks who made an elixir of life out of cinnabar (HgS), they promised immortality and made him drink the kool-aid. The fear of mercury can be so big, that some people have tried to remove it with chelating agents and got in big trouble caused by the side-effects. A chelation therapy removes not only that scary mercury, but it also removes other elements/minerals like calcium which then can cause life-threatening heart problems or spasms of the vocal cords (you suffocate and die)... And don't believe anything what i said, do your own research because i am just a random person on the internet. But everything i said can be used to search with google for some trustworthy sources.

[@meridiary5046]

My mom is a chemist, when she was still a student she was playing with a drop of mercury in her hand while wearing a gold ring ( she forgot to remove it) so the ring was completly gone

[@vvcc9565]

id love to see the chemical reaction process thats happening here

[@physicschemistryandquantum810]

Imagine putting your precious jewellery into a bucket of mercury

[@mfbfreak]

i wanna eat a gold leaf...

[@sarowie]

no problem. Gold leafs are not that expensive and Gold is safe to eat. I mean: Except the part where you belive a random online retailer that he his delivering pure "safe to eat" gold. (on the other side: it is easier to get 24 karat Gold so thin then to find anything like it. An you only want to eat a few leafs - so you could give it try)

[@mortlet5180]

LimaVictor; Also, clean the surface of the gold REALLY well before hand and preferrably drink an antiacid as well. Yes, I know gold doesn't react with the HCl in your stomach, but gold *IS* still a pretty toxic heavy metal (when absorbed as a soluble compound) and the idea of eating even the microscopic quantities of water soluble gold chlorides, that will form on the surfaces, still freaks me the fuck out!

[@timo7077]

In the Netherlands there's actually a booze (Goldstrike) that contains small gold flakes.

[@mortlet5180]

Timo; I've actually seen that as well! I can't remember exactly what brand it was (Probably not the Dutch one), but it looked really cool and I remember my dad telling me that it was real, solid gold pieces floating in the bottle, which blew my mind at the time.

[@timo7077]

Yes, it's actually real gold but really thin flakes, so it amounts to almost nothing. It's cool because the gold is pretty inert to the conditions in your organs, and as such harmless. You basically shit pure gold flakes afterwards. :-P

[@cailer28000]

Mercury: can absorb other metals to form an amalgamation Toby fox: mhmm, amalgamation, sounds cool, write that down!

[@phosonthemoon2380]

Phos and cinnabar’s fight be like :

[@francescolomuscio05]

JAIL

[@Raiom.]

instead of mercury, you should have put a teleporter under the gold, and it should take that gold to my house.

[@camilaGMW]

So... This is the future of Phosphotylite.

[@catisioo]

I just read ch 93 and came here. Nice.

[@GamingVayo]

Now this mercury is more costly then orginal gold 😂😂

[@TottoB]

So ... if phos vs cinnabar ever happens then phos is f*cked.

[@lpawowp]

Totto Bennington no I'd they touch they'll fuse like in su

[@LostSwiftpaw]

Gabriel Reid So they'll glow and form a giant woman

[@lpawowp]

@@LostSwiftpaw i didnt know i needed this

[@Apieceofcakeshere]

not at all tho, since phos arms are made of both gold and platinum and i think mercury doesnt react with platinum

[@Anonymous-qx5ot]

did.....did you just sum up the whole last chapter?

[@justrosie]

“Squeezing out” the liquid Mercury was so incredibly entertaining

[@Faustus960]

tfw cinnabar x phos can never happen

[@quentin3848]

tyler rip

[@sapinta]

dunno, amalgamating into each other sounds sexy

[@Schadrach42]

Of all things this made me think of the Testament of Flamel, which claimed to be directions for creating the philosopher's stone. The directions sound like creating a combined gold/silver amalgam, and doing some kind of cleaning process between stages to give Mercury more "vigor."

[@yohanetsushima3831]

Is this a HnK spoiler?

[@sowich5988]

Meanwhile the gold: "Dear notebook I can't express the humiliation..."

[@muyou6589]

Cinnaphos soup...

[@WhisperingPersona]

We are both here for the same reason. Hahaha

[@Metalhammer1993]

well i kinda expected you to talk about gold mining given you seem environmentally interested and this is exactly what is done in many gold mines (the mercury is poured over the ore and drains most metals. gold amalgam is the densest and sits on the bottom means you can get it out by carefully pouring and evaporating the mercury. (often done in mines in illegal gold mines in central/south Africa. very often child labour) sometimes it is cleaned up with nitric acid and just poured away intoxicating drinking water. which is a huge problem especially in the amazonas region. (amazonas has lots of illegal goldmines too. in Africa the mercury mostly gets boiled away)

[@xmagistrtyx6064]

0:26 *ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED*

[@juenopea]

now i learned that i have traits of mercury in my teeth (around 2:28 or few seconds later)

[@springtrap6735]

1:31 we are venom

[@mindblitz6496]

In case you were wondering I found some gold leaf pages for $10 and they are edible