What is mercury made out of?

Question

i was watching this show the colbert report when they started talking about mercury in light bulbs and i just wanted to know what exactly mercury is and how a fluorescent light bulb works

Answer 1

for your second question, a flourescant light works by sending a very high voltage through an atmosphere with a gas that will ionize and give off a glow of light. Neon lights work this way and they give off light in specific colours.

Using Hg makes the light a close match to sunlight. That why there in Hg in the CFL's

Answer 2

Mercury is not made out of anything. Mercury exists and it can't be made out of anything.

If you think Mercury is made out of any of its compounds, you are mistaken. Mercury already exists in that compound, you only extract it form that compound.

Answer 3

what do you mean?!!!

mercury is a friggin element....HG!!!  or to be precise Hg.

Mercury isn't made up of anything...it is made naturally that way or even more specifically from reduction of mineral cinnabar.

It is a liquid type metal..."d-block metal"  

Look at the dang periodic table once in a while in your chem class man!

Answer 4

well to answer your question, mercury is made out of...mercury. It's an element so it's as pure as it can get. Mercury cannot be broken down any further into other substances.

Answer 5

tappage69 - You have taken chemistry class but maybe not the person who is asking the question ! Learn to be respectful towards people who don't have the same knowledge as you in different topics !

To the questioner: these Wikipedia links will probably help you answer your questions better than if I explain you in my own words:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(el...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_flu...