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Metallic chemical element , chemical symbol Hg, atomic number 80.
Mercury is the only elemental metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures, with a freezing point of -38 kF (-39 kC) and a boiling point of 674 kF (356.9 kC). Silvery white, dense, toxic (see mercury poisoning ), and a good conductor of electricity, mercury is occasionally found free in nature but usually occurs as the red sulfide ore, cinnabar (HgS). It has many uses
in dental and industrial amalgam s, as a catalyst , in electrical and measuring apparatus and instruments (e.g., thermometers), as the cathode in electrolytic cells, in mercury-vapour lamps, and as a coolant and neutron absorber in nuclear power plants. Many of mercury's compounds, in which it has valence 1 or 2, are pigments, pesticides, and medicinals. It is a dangerous pollutant because it concentrates in animal tissues in increasing amounts up the food chain.