Mercury metallurgy

Nonferrous metallurgy is as varied as the ores and finished products. Almost every thermal, chemical, and physical process known to engineers is in use. The general classification scheme that follows gives an understanding of the emissions and control systems aluminum (primary and secondary), beryllium, copper (primary and secondary), lead (primary and secondary), mercury, zinc, alloys of nonferrous metals (primary and secondary), and other nonferrous metals. 

Father Jose de Acosta describes the metallurgy of silver and mercury in the New World. 

It may seem strange from today s perspective that several of the substances recognized today as elements - the metals gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, tin, and mercury - were not classed as such in antiquity, even though they could be prepared in an impressively pure state. Metallurgy is one of the most ancient of technical arts, and yet it impinged relatively little on the theories of the elements until after the Renaissance. Metals, with the exception of fluid mercury, were considered simply forms of Aristotelian earth . 

The next step away from the traditions of antiquity involved the addition of a third principle to Jabir s sulphur and mercury salt. Whereas the first two were components of metals, salt was considered an essential ingredient of living bodies. In this way alchemical theory became more than a theory of metallurgy and embraced all the material world. The three-principle theory is generally attributed to the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541), although it is probably older. Paracelsus asserted that sulphur, salt, and mercury form everything that lies in the four elements . 

Method pursued at Lansberg,—One other metallurgy apparatus for the reduction of mercurial ores,... 

H. M. Rootare, Advanced E experimental Techniques in Powder Metallurgy, Plenum Press, New York, 1970, pp. 225—252. A comprehensive review of the use of mercury penetration to measure porosity. 

Metallurgy. The extraction and separation of metals and plating baths have involved quinoline and certain derivatives see also Electroplating. The extraction of metal ions depends on the chelating ability of 8-hydroxyquinoline. Dilute solutions of heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc can be purified using quinoline-8-carboxylic acid adsorbed on various substrates. 

Metallurgy of black, colored, and rare metals Dust, S02, mercury vapors, metals... 

Metallurgy. Owing to the instability of mercuric sulfide and mercuric oxide, the metallurgy of mercury is relatively simple. Low-grade ores that have been concentrated by flotation or high-grade ores may be treated in one of two ways. The simplest procedure involves roasting the sulfide to produce mercury vapor and sulfur dioxide ... 

Amalgams. Liquid mercury is a fairly good solvent for all metals except iron and platinum. The alloys that are formed by dissolving metals in mercury are called amalgams, many of which involve inter-metallic compounds of the type MHg, where x is quite variable. Aside from their many applications in scientific work, amalgams are used in dentistry and in connection with the metallurgy of silver and gold. 

Metallurgy. As is true for any metal, the procedure employed in the metallurgy of silver must be adapted to the particular form in which the metal exists in its ores. Native silver may be separated by the process of amalgamation. The crude ore containing metallic silver is treated with mercury to form an amalgam, which is then separated from the undesired earthy components of the ore. The amalgam is heated in a retort, and the silver remains behind as a residue, while the mercury is distilled from the retort, condensed, and used again. This... 

Egleston T. (1887) The Metallurgy of Silver, Gold, and Mercury in the United States. Wiley, NY. 

Use Amalgams, catalyst, electrical apparatus, cathodes for production of chlorine and caustic soda, instruments (thermometers, barometers, etc.), mercury vapor lamps, extractive metallurgy, mirror coating, arc lamps, boilers, coolant and neutron absorber in nuclear power plants. 

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