# Does Mercury burn or boil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679 "2006-02-02T16:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/1 "2006-02-02T16:29:33Z")
If you get it hot enough? I know from a quick Google search that it boils at 357 degrees, but since it’s a metal, does it also burn when it get’s hot enough? ---
**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/2 "2006-02-03T02:29:04Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/3 "2006-02-03T02:33:37Z")
And what about the planet Mercury? ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/4 "2006-02-03T02:36:01Z")
Well, Mercury both burns and freezes, depending on what time of day it is, but don’t know about boiling… Oh you mean the element. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/5 "2006-02-03T02:52:28Z")
I think mercury burns although maybe not with a flame like coal does. Mercury forms an oxide and that’s “burning” to me. Mercury also boils. In our first experiment in freshman chemistry we duplicated Priestly’s experiment of getting oxygen by heating mercuric oxide. Some of the people in the class heated their sample so hot that the mercury boiled. And, of course, it freezes. It also vaporizes. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/6 "2006-02-03T04:17:29Z")
**Dave Simmons** got there before I did. “Burning” requires combining with oxygen, while “boiling” would mean it keeps its elemental composition but just changes from a liquid to a gas. Which one it does would depend on pressure, temperature and environment. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/7 "2006-02-03T08:29:12Z")
Generally, metals that will burn end in “ium.” [Magnesium, Calcium, Beryllium, Strontium, Barium](http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group2/reacto2.html). ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/8 "2006-02-03T08:36:01Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Generally, metals that will burn end in “ium.” [Magnesium, Calcium, Beryllium, Strontium, Barium](http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group2/reacto2.html). Ironium. Tinium. Leadium. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/9 "2006-02-03T15:16:05Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > **Dave Simmons** got there before I did. “Burning” requires combining with oxygen, while “boiling” would mean it keeps its elemental composition but just changes from a liquid to a gas. Which one it does would depend on pressure, temperature and environment. I think your answer is the best one overall. The amount of mercury that oxidizes before boiling will depend on such things as the partial pressure of oxygen, initial state of the mercury (pure or compounded), the ambient pressure, temperature, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/10 "2006-02-03T16:05:19Z")
Wooo! Gold star for the liberal arts major! ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/11 "2006-02-03T16:08:01Z")
So I’d be better off to say that mercury oxidizes, rather than say it burns? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/12 "2006-02-03T17:41:33Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > So I’d be better off to say that mercury oxidizes, rather than say it burns? That depends on what you want to say. Stuff that oxidizes _fast_ burns. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/13 "2006-02-03T17:43:08Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > So I’d be better off to say that mercury oxidizes, rather than say it burns? Some people will really debate you to the nth degree over the proper term, and depending upon your definition they may have a point. Oxidizes _may_ be more what one would hear in common discussions. Even for such things as the fate of mercury in coal during the combustion of coal, people generally talk about it “oxidizing” in the 3000+ F flame, rather than “burning”. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/14 "2006-02-03T19:09:32Z")
Generally, we call it “burning” when the oxidation reaction produces enough heat to sustain the process – once you touch off a piece of paper, a lump of coal, or a splint of wood, it keeps going without additional heat. When heated to near its boiling point, mercury will oxidize slowly in air – that ain’t burning. In pure oxygen? I can’t find any info on that, and I’ve never tried it, and I dare say I never will. At high pressures? Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mercury-burn-or-boil/342679/15 "2006-02-03T19:41:04Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Generally, we call it “burning” when the oxidation reaction produces enough heat to sustain the process – once you touch off a piece of paper, a lump of coal, or a splint of wood, it keeps going without additional heat. When heated to near its boiling point, mercury will oxidize slowly in air – that ain’t burning. In pure oxygen? I can’t find any info on that, and I’ve never tried it, and I dare say I never will. At high pressures? Ditto. Here goes some of that “nth degree” debating that **Una Persson** spoke of. Generally yes. However burning is combustion and combustion is oxidation. We also speak of the body burning food. However there is no question that mercury doesn’t oxidize with the **rapid** evolution of heat.