Mercury is a heavy, silvery d-block element, the only metallic element that is liquid at standard conditions.
Core Principles & Analysis
Mercury was known to ancient civilizations and has been found in Egyptian tombs dating to around 1500 BCE; its symbol Hg comes from hydrargyrum, 'water-silver'.
It is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, freezing at minus 38.8 degrees Celsius, and it dissolves many metals into amalgams.
Mercury long filled thermometers and barometers and still vaporizes inside fluorescent lamps, though the Minamata Convention now phases out most uses.