Amalgam (chemistry)
alloy of mercury with another metal
An amalgam is an alloy of mercury with another metal. It may be a liquid, a soft paste or a solid, depending upon the proportion of mercury. These alloys are formed through metallic bonding, with the electrostatic attractive force of the conduction electrons working to bind all the positively charged metal ions together into a crystal lattice structure. Many metals can form amalgams with mercury, with some notable exceptions including iron, platinum, tungsten, and tantalum. Gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore, and dental amalgams are made with metals such as silver, copper, indium, tin and zinc.
Formation
Mercury is a relatively abundant, naturally occurring element in the Earth. It forms a strong chemical bond with sulfur and is most often found in the form of cinnabar, or mercury sulfide. There are an estimated 600,000 tonnes of cinnabar deposits world-wide, and annual global production is around 6,000 tonnes, as of 2024. Amalgams of silver are found in naturally-occurring minerals, including schachnerite, paraschachnerite, moschellandsbergite, arquerite, and eugenite. Gold amalgams include aurihydrargyrumite and weishanite.
“Amalgam (chemistry)” enters the record as alloy of mercury with another metal. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Amalgam, chemistry and alloy can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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