mercury

1 a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures [syn: quicksilver, hydrargyrum, Hg, atomic number 80]

2 (Roman mythology) messenger of Jupiter and god of commerce; counterpart of Greek Hermes

3 the smallest planet and the nearest to the sun

4 temperature measured by a mercury thermometer; "the mercury was falling rapidly"

see Mercury

English

Pronunciation

Noun

1. A silvery-colored metallic chemical element, liquid at room temperature, with atomic number 80 and symbol Hg.
2. (weather) The ambient temperature.(Due to mercury's use in thermometers)

   The mercury there has averaged 37.6C, 2.3C above the February norm.

Synonyms

• azoth (in alchemy)
• hydrargyrum (in medical and sometimes chemical use)
• quicksilver (not in technical use)

Derived terms

• argental mercury
• cadmium mercury cell
• dichloromercury
• dimercury
• dimethylmercury
• eka-mercury
• ethylmercury
• fulminate of mercury
• mecuricals
• mercurate
• mercurial
• mercuriate
• mercuric
• mercurify
• mercurio-syphilis
• mercurochrome
• mercurous
• mercury arc, mercury arc rectifier, mercury arc valve
• mercury bichloride, mercury dichloride
• mercury cadmium telluride
• mercury dichloride
• mercury fulminate
• mercury gilding
• mercury goosefoot
• mercury lamp
• mercury perchloride
• mercury poisoning
• mercury pool
• mercury protochloride
• mercury rust
• mercury selenide
• mercury sulfide, mercury sulphide
• mercury switch
• mercury thermometer
• mercury vapor lamp, mercury vapour lamp
• mercury vapor pump, mercury vapour pump
• mercury vapor rectifier, mercury vapour rectifier
• methylmercury

Related terms

• mercaptan
• Mercury

Translations

• Afrikaans: kwik
• Albanian: mërkur
• Arabic: (zí’baq)
• Armenian: սնդիկ (sndik)
• Basque: merkurioa
• Belarusian: ртуць (rtuts’)
• Bosnian: živa
• Breton: merkur, bevargant, arc'hant-bev
• Bulgarian: живак (živak), меркурий (merkúrij)
• Catalan: mercuri
• Chinese: 水銀 / 水银 (shǔiyín), 汞 (gǒng)
• Cornish: arhans
• Croatian: živa
• Czech: rtuť
• Danish: kviksølv
• Dutch: kwik , kwikzilver
• Esperanto: hidrargo
• Estonian: elavhõbe
• Faroese: kviksilvur
• Finnish: elohopea
• French: mercure
• West Frisian: kwik
• Friulian: mercuri
• Gallegan: mercurio
• Georgian: ვერცხლის წყალი (verts‘χlis tsqali)
• German: Quecksilber
• Greek, Modern: υδράργυρος (ydrárgyros)
• Hebrew: כספית (kaspit)
• Hungarian: higany
• Icelandic: kvikasilfur
• Indonesian: merkurius
• Interlingua: mercurio
• Irish: mearcair
• Italian: mercurio
• Japanese: 水銀 (すいぎん, suigín)
• Kashmiri: tãź
• Kazakh: сынап (synap)
• Korean: 수은 (sueun)
• Latin: hydrargyrum
• Latvian: dzīvsudrabs
• Lithuanian: gyvsidabris
• Luxembourgish: quecksëlwer
• Macedonian: жива (živa)
• Malay: merkuri
• Maltese: merkurju
• Manx: mercur
• Mongolian: улаан (ulaan)
• Norwegian: kvikksølv
• Polish: rtęć
• Portuguese: mercúrio
• Romanian: mercur , hidrargir] † , argint viu †
• Russian: ртуть (rtut’) , хидраргирум (χidrárgirum)
• Scottish Gaelic: mearcair
• Serbian: жива (živa)
• Slovak: ortuť
• Slovenian: živo srebro
• Spanish: mercurio
• Swedish: kvicksilver
• Tajik: simob
• Tamil: பாதரசம் (pātaracam), தனிமம் (tanimam)
• Telugu: పాదరసం (paadarasaM)
• Thai: (bpròt)
• Turkish: cıva
• Ukrainian: ртуть (rtut’)
• Uzbek: симоб (simob)
• Vietnamese: thuỷ
• Welsh: mercwri
• Urdu: پارہ

External links

For etymology and more information about the chemical element, refer to: http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/elem/hg.html (Many of the translations were taken from that site with permission from the author.)

See also

• blue mass
• calomel
• cinnabar
• cinnabarite
• corderoite
• corrosive sublimate
• Good King Henry
• livingstonite
• sublimate
• thimerosal, thiomersal

Mercury commonly refers to:

• Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun in the solar system
• Mercury (element), the chemical element (also called quicksilver)
• Mercury (mythology), a Roman god

Mercury may also refer to:

Architecture

• Mercury City Tower, a Moscow, Russian skyscraper
• Mercury Court, a large office building in Liverpool, England

The Arts

Art

• Brig "Mercury" Attacked by Two Turkish Ships, an 1892 oil on canvas painting
• Mercury fountain, a 1930s sculpture designed by the American artist Alexander Calder
• Mercury House (London building), an office building in London, England

Books

• Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury, the fourth novel in the Lucky Starr series
• Marooned on Mercury, a Dan Dare comic story from 1952
• Mercury (novel), a novel by Ben Bova
• Mercury in fiction, a list of the uses of the planet Mercury in science fiction stories
• Mercury in the fiction of Leigh Brackett, a list of the uses of the planet Mercury in stories by Leigh Brackett
• Mission to Mercury, a science fiction novel published in the United Kingdom in 1965
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Mutant Mosquitos from Mercury, a children's book

Music

• "Mercury" (Kathleen Edwards song), the sixth track off Kathleen Edwards' debut album Failer
• "Mercury, the Winged Messenger", a movement in Gustav Holst's The Planets suite
• Daniela Mercury (album), 1991 album by Brazilian singer Daniela Mercury
• Daniela Mercury discography, discography of Brazilian singer Daniela Mercury
• Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years, compilation album by the German band Scorpions
• Freddie Mercury discography, discography of British singer Freddie Mercury
• Mercury (album), an album by Long-View
• Mercury (American Music Club album)
• Mercury (Madder Mortem album)
• "Mercury" (Counting Crows song), a song by Counting Crows from Recovering the Satellites
• Mercury Falling, the fifth studio album released by Sting
• Mercury4 (album), the 2004 debut album by Melbourne, Australia band Mercury4
• My Mercury Mouth EP, an album from The Chemical Brothers released in 1994
• Project Mercury (album), a split album from two American bands
• See You on the Other Side (Mercury Rev album), the third album by[Mercury Rev, released in 1995
• The Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006, a double disc compilation album by Mercury Rev
• The Freddie Mercury Album, a posthumous solo project with material from deceased vocalist Freddie Mercury
• Thin Mercury Sound, a 2004 album released by Caviar

Media

• 102.7 Mercury FM, a radio station in Surrey, United Kingdom
• Anna Mercury, a comic mini-series
• Clevedon Mercury, a weekly free newspaper in England
• Guelph Mercury, a Canadian newspaper
• Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6, an independent local radio station in England
• Illawarra Mercury, a daily newspaper in Australia
• Leicester Mercury, a United Kingdom regional newspaper
• London Mercury, a list of periodicals named London Mercury published in London
• Maitland Mercury, Australia's oldest regional newspaper
• Matlock Mercury, a United Kingdom newspaper
• Medford Daily Mercury, an independent five-day newspaper in Massachusetts, United States
• Mercury (Israel magazine), a Hebrew language science fiction magazine in Israel
• Mercury (magazine), an astronomy magazine
• Mercury (Newport), a newspaper in Rhode Island
• Mercury (Pennsylvania), a newspaper in Pennsylvania, United States
• Mercury 96.6, a radio station in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
• Mercury News, a newspaper in San Jose, CA
• Quebec Mercury, a defunct 19th Century weekly newspaper published in Quebec City, Canada
• San Jose Mercury News, a daily newspaper in California, United States
• Sherborne Mercury, a defunct newspaper from Dorset United Kingdom
• St. Arnaud Mercury, a newspaper in Victoria, Australia
• Staffordshire Mercury, a newspaper that was published in Staffordshire, England
• Sunday Mercury, a newspaper in Birmingham, United Kingdom
• The American Mercury, a defunct American literary magazine
• The Mercury (Hobart), a newspaper in Hobart, Australia
• The Mercury (South Africa), a English language newspaper published in Durban, South Africa
• The Portland Mercury, an alternative weekly newspaper published in Oregon, United States
• The Somerset Mercury, a regional newspaper in Somerset, England
• The Weston & Somerset Mercury, a weekly paid for newspaper in Somerset, England

Sports

• 2008 Phoenix Mercury season, 12th WNBA season for the Phoenix Mercury

Theater

• Mercury Fur, a 2005 London, England premiered adult stage play by Philip Ridley
• Mercury Theatre, a theatre company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman
• Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists, a 17th century English renaissance play

Video

• Archer Maclean's Mercury, a video game for the PlayStation Portable
• Mercury Man (film), a 2006 superhero martial arts action film from Thailand
• Mercury Meltdown Revolution, a computer puzzle video game]
• Mercury Meltdown, a PlayStation Portable video game
• Mercury Pookkal, a Tamil language film
• Mercury Rising, a United States 1998 action thriller feature film
• Red Mercury (film), a 2005 United Kingdom film
• Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, a video game
• The Boy from Mercury, a 1996 Irish Film

Food & drink

• Mercury Cider, an alcoholic beverage produced by Cascade Brewery

History

• Operation Mercury, codename for the German invasion of Crete during World War II
• The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, a 1992 open-air concert held in London, England

People

surname Mercury

• Adam Birch, a professional wrestler with the stage name Joey Mercury
• Daniela Mercury, Brazilian singer
• Freddie Mercury, singer of the rock group Queen
• Mercury Hayes, a former professional American football wide receiver born in 1973
• Mercury Morris, a former American football running back born in 1947

Groups

• Edmonton Mercurys, a 1940s and 50s intermediate ice hockey team from Canada
• Greetings From Mercury, a Belgian jazz fusion band
• List of Mercury Records artists, a list of acts that have recorded for recording company Mercury Records
• Mercury 13, a name for the 13 American women who underwent screening tests in the 1950s for Project Mercury
• [[Mercury Rev, an American rock music band formed in the late 1980s
• Mercury Seven, a group of seven Project Mercury NASA astronauts formed in 1959
• Mercury Tide, a German power metal band
• Mercury Tilt Switch, a rock band from Dundee, Scotland
• Mercury4, a Melbourne, Australia band
• Our Mercury, a Canadian indie rock band
• Owen Sound Mercurys, a defunct Canadian ice hockey team
• Phoenix Mercury, a Women's National Basketball Association team from Arizona, United States
• The Mercury Program, a United States musical group from Florida, United States
• Toledo Mercurys, a defunct International Hockey League franchise from Ohio, United States

Fictional

• Max Mercury, a DC Comics fictional superhero
• Mercury (Amalgam Comics), an Amalgam Comics character
• Mercury (comics), a list comic fictional characters named Mercury
• Mercury (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics character
• Mercury Man, a fictional superhero from Charlton Comics
• Mercurymon, a fictional character from the Digimon media franchise
• Mike Mercury, the chief test pilot of the Supercar team
• Sailor Mercury or Ami Mizuno, one of the Sailor Senshi from the anime/manga, Sailor Moon
• Mercury Ranger, one of the other Power Rangers
• Mercury, a member of the Metal Men, a DC comics team

Places

• Mercury Bay, a large V-shaped bay in New Zealand
• Mercury Boulevard, a road in Virginia, United States
• Mercury Islands, an island off the northeast coast of New Zealand
• Mercury, Nevada, United States
• Mercury, Savoie, a village in France

Science

• Inch of mercury, a measuring unit for pressure utilizing the element mercury

Astronomy

• Atmosphere of Mercury, atmosphere of the planet Mercury
• Boethius (crater on Mercury), a geological formation on the planet Mercury
• Geology of Mercury, rocks, soil, and other solid matter of the planet Mercury
• Kuiper (crater on Mercury), a geological formation on the planet Mercury
• List of albedo features on Mercury, a list large areas on the surface of the planet Mercury
• List of craters on Mercury, a list of landform openings in the planet Mercury
• List of geological features on Mercury, a list of mountains, valleys, and other landforms of the planet Mercury
• List of Mercury-crossing asteroids, a list of asteroids whose orbit crosses that of the planet Mercury
• List of quadrangles on Mercury, list of geographical quadrangles of the surface of the planet Mercury
• Mercury's moon, a moon orbiting the planet Mercury
• Schubert (crater on Mercury), a geological formation on the planet Mercury
• Sullivan (crater on Mercury), a geological formation on the planet Mercury
• Transit of Mercury from Jupiter, movement of the planet Mercury across the Sun as seen from the planet Jupiter
• Transit of Mercury from Mars, movement of the planet Mercury across the Sun as seen from the planet Mars
• Transit of Mercury from Saturn, movement of the planet Mercury across the Sun as seen from the planet Saturn
• Transit of Mercury from Uranus, movement of the planet Mercury across the Sun as seen from the planet Uranus
• Transit of Mercury from Venus, movement of the planet Mercury across the Sun as seen from the planet Venus
• Transit of Mercury, movement of the planet Mercury across the Sun as seen from Earth

Botany

• Dog's Mercury, a spring flower found in Europe
• Mercury (plant), members of the plant genus Mercurialis

Chemistry

Specific compounds of Mercury are listed in :Category:Mercury compounds.

• Isotopes of mercury, different forms of the element mercury
• Mercury beating heart, an electro chemical reaction of the element mercury to iron and an electrolyte
• Mercury poisoning, a disease caused by exposure to the element mercury or its toxic compounds
• Mercury(II) reductase, or mercuric reductase, an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of mercury
• Red mercury, a substance of debatable existence purportedly used in weapons systems

Technology

Computer hardware, software and systems

• Ferranti Mercury, an early 1950s commercial computer
• Mercury (computer), developed in the early 1950s by Ferranti and the University of Manchester computing department
• Mercury (programming language), a functional/logical programming language based on Prolog
• Mercury Autocode, a high-level language run by the Ferranti/Manchester computer
• Mercury Mail Transport System, email server
• Mercury memory, kind of delay line memory, in use in the 1950s
• Mercury Messenger (formerly called dMSN) is an MSN based Instant Messaging client developed under Java
• Mercury OS, a real-time operating system for embedded systems
• MercuryBoard, a bulletin board software system

Devices

• Mercury (cipher machine), a British cipher machine used from the 1950s
• Mercury vacuum, a vacuum cleaner specifically designed to collect spills and vapors of the element mercury
• Mercury vapour turbine, a rotary engine to produce electricity from mercury vapor
• Mercury-in-glass thermometer, a thermometer having the element of mercury in a glass tube

Electrical

• Mercury arc valve, a rectifier device intended for high electrical voltages/currents
• Mercury battery, an electrochemical battery
• Mercury coulometer, an electro analytical chemistry device that determines the amount of matter transformed during a mercury reaction
• Mercury probe, an electrical probing device to sample for electrical characterization
• Mercury switch, a electrical circuit, on-off switch using the element mercury
• Mercury swivel commutator, a electrical circuit, current-reversing switch using the element mercury
• Mercury-vapor lamp, a gas discharge lamp that uses the element mercury in an excited state to produce light

Optical

• Mercury glass, a variety of reflective products having the element mercury sandwiched between two glass panes
• Mercury laser, a high-average-power laser system using the element mercury
• Mercury mirror, a parabolic shape telescope dish having a layer of reflective mercury
• Mercury silvering, a technique to apply a thin layer of a precious metal to a base metal object

Space

• Colonization of Mercury, efforts to colonize the planet Mercury
• Exploration of Mercury, efforts to explore the planet Mercury
• Mercury (satellite), the name of a series of three United States satellites launched in the 1990s
• Project Mercury, an early American program for launching humans into space. Specific subprojects included:
  • Mercury-Atlas
  • Mercury-Jupiter
  • Mercury-Redstone
  • Mercury-Scout

Transportation

Air vehicles

• Bristol Mercury, a 9-cylinder aircraft engine
• Blackburn Mercury, British aircraft from 1911
• E-6 Mercury, a United States military aircraft
• Miles Mercury, a British aircraft designed during the Second World War
• Short S.20 Mercury, a piggyback long-range seaplane/flying boat combination

Land vehicles

• Mercury (automobile), a marque of automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company
• Mercury (cyclecar), a United States cyclecar from 1914

Water vehicles

• HMS Mercury or HMS Mercure, the name of several ships of the Royal Navy
• MV Celebrity Mercury, a cruise ship built in 1997
• USS Mercury, the name of several ships of the United States Navy

Society

• Got Mercury?, a United States public awareness campaign about levels of the element mercury in seafood
• HMS Mercury (shore establishment), a Royal Navy military school
• Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, a United Kingdom comedian award
• Mercury dime, a coin preceding the current dime in the United States
• Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom
• Mercury-containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act, a 1996 United States law to phase out the use of mercury in batteries
• Red Mercury, an Austrian postage stamp for the mailing of newspapers
• The Mercury Award, an international airline award for in-flight catering

Business

• Conrail Mercury, an intermodal service formerly operated by Conrail
• Debmar-Mercury, a Canadian television syndication company
• Lincoln-Mercury, an automobile division the Ford Motor Company
• Mercury Brewing Company, a Massachusetts, United States beverage production company
• Mercury Communications, a now-defunct British telecommunications company
• Mercury Computer Systems, an embedded digital signal and image processing solutions provider
• Mercury Drug, a Philippine drug store chain
• Mercury Energy, an energy company in New Zealand
• Mercury Games, a London-based computer and video games publisher
• Mercury House (publishers), a trade book publishing company based in San Francisco, California, United States
• Mercury Insurance Group, an American automobile and property insurance company
• Mercury Interactive, a software and consulting company (subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard)
• Mercury Lounge, a music venue in New York City
• Mercury Marine, a manufacturer of marine engines and propulsion systems
• Mercury Policy Project, an organization that works to promote policies to control the distribution of the element mercury
• Mercury Records Australia, a record label launched in Australia in 2007
• Mercury Records, a record label
• MercurySteam, a game software development company based in Madrid, Spain
• Red Mercury LLC, a video game company founded in 1999 in Chicago, Illinois
• The Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity organization that fights AIDS worldwide
• Mercury, the callsign for Shuttle America Airlines

See also

• Mercurius (disambiguation)
• Mercury 1 (disambiguation)
• Mercury 2 (disambiguation)
• Mercury 3 (disambiguation)
• Mercury 4 (disambiguation)
• Mercury chloride (disambiguation)
• Mercury House (disambiguation)
• Mercury program (disambiguation)
• Red mercury (disambiguation)
• The Mercury (disambiguation)

Agdistis, Amor, Aphrodite, Apollo, Apollon, Ares, Artemis, Ate, Athena, Bacchus, Ceres, Cora, Cronus, Cupid, Cybele, Demeter, Despoina, Diana, Dionysus, Dis, Earth, Eros, Gaea, Gaia, Ge, Great Mother, Hades, Helios, Hephaestus, Hera, Here, Hermes, Hestia, Hymen, Hyperion, Iris, Jove, Juno, Jupiter, Jupiter Fidius, Jupiter Fulgur, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Jupiter Pluvius, Jupiter Tonans, Kore, Kronos, Magna Mater, Mars, Minerva, Mithras, Momus, Neptune, Nike, Olympians, Olympic gods, Ops, Orcus, Paul Revere, Persephassa, Persephone, Pheidippides, Phoebus, Phoebus Apollo, Pluto, Poseidon, Proserpina, Proserpine, Rhea, Saturn, Tellus, Uranus, Venus, Vesta, Vulcan, Zeus, asteroid, carrier, commercialism, commissionaire, courier, diplomatic courier, emissary, estafette, express, go-between, industrialism, inferior planet, major planet, mercantilism, message-bearer, messenger, minor planet, nuncio, planet, planetoid, post, postboy, postrider, runner, secondary planet, solar system, superior planet, terrestrial planet, wandererApril showers, Gyropilot, Proteus, antelope, arrow, automatic pilot, blue darter, blue streak, boatheader, boatsteerer, cannonball, chameleon, cicerone, cloud shapes, courier, courser, cowherd, coxswain, dart, dragoman, drover, eagle, electricity, express train, flash, gazelle, glass, goatherd, greased lightning, greyhound, guide, guidepost, guider, hare, helmsman, herd, herdsman, jet plane, kaleidoscope, light, lightning, moon, navigator, pilot, pointer, quicksilver, river pilot, rocket, rolling stone, scared rabbit, shepherd, shifting sands, shot, steerer, steersman, streak, streak of lightning, striped snake, swallow, the weather, thermal detector, thermometer, thermostat, thought, thunderbolt, torrent, tour director, tour guide, water, weather vane, weathercock, wheel of fortune, whirligig, wind