# Mercury as a Building Material **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-as-a-building-material/691801 "2014-06-27T18:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-as-a-building-material/691801/1 "2014-06-27T18:17:47Z")
As I understand it, mercury freezes at -39C, at which point it becomes a metal which has similar properties as tin. As I further understand it, the South Pole is generally colder than this. Would there be any advantage to using mercury as a building material, if one wanted to build a structure on the South Pole? E.g. would it be far less brittle than other materials? Do we have a way to extract enough mercury to feasibly build anything of any size, at a reasonable cost? ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-as-a-building-material/691801/2 "2014-06-27T19:08:56Z")
It’s toxic and even somewhere like the Vostok research station, which was the coldest ever reliably recorded natural temperature occurred is generally several degrees above -39C in the Antarctic Summer. It doesn’t seem like a good idea ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-as-a-building-material/691801/3 "2014-06-27T19:41:18Z")
Steel is pretty ductile (although I’m not sure how well that holds at -40 degrees), it’s very strong, cheap, lighter than mercury, non-toxic, doesn’t melt very easily and we’ve got many years experience building things out of it. I can’t think of any reason to use frozen mercury. If you want a building material that is readily available and transitions from liquid to solid at the kinds of temperatures the arctic/Antarctic experiences, how about ice? It’s free, non-toxic and easy to work with. I’m not sure about ice but I can tell you that snow is a great insulator. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-as-a-building-material/691801/4 "2014-06-27T20:08:12Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > If you want a building material that is readily available and transitions from liquid to solid at the kinds of temperatures the arctic/Antarctic experiences, how about ice? It’s free, non-toxic and easy to work with. and it can be welded. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-as-a-building-material/691801/5 "2014-06-27T20:33:46Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > and it can be welded. You can weld mercury, too. Same basic process: apply localized heat at the boundary between two solid mercury parts until they start to melt. Add filler metal if necessary (from a rod of solid mercury). The good news is that you probably wouldn’t need a multi-kilowatt welder to weld on mercury in Antartica, since it’s already very close to its melting point. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-as-a-building-material/691801/6 "2014-06-27T20:49:39Z")
maybe even applying some of the substance in liquid form would provide enough heat.