# Where/How is Mercury Found in Nature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2008, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382 "2008-04-22T10:43:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/1 "2008-04-22T10:43:29Z")
Well, the title says it all, pretty much. How is the metal, mercury, found in nature? Being a liquid at room temp, I WAG it is not found as an ore. So what’s the SD on quick silver? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/2 "2008-04-22T10:50:40Z")
The most common form of mercury found in nature is mercury sulfide, also known as [cinnabar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar). ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/3 "2008-04-22T10:55:34Z")
Thanks for the info! …I think I ate one of those cinnabars once! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/4 "2008-04-22T12:43:38Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] I think I ate one of those cinnabars once! 😉 [/QUOTE] I can never resist them whenever i go to the mall… ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/5 "2008-04-22T12:55:19Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] I think I ate one of those cinnabars once! 😉 [/QUOTE] Ah, [Cinnabon](http://www.cinnabon.com/experience/index.html). Delicious - and about as good for you as consuming the same quantity of cinnabar. (I think each one includes something like half a pound of butter and 6000 calories.) ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/6 "2008-04-22T13:10:28Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] Well, the title says it all, pretty much. How is the metal, mercury, found in nature? Being a liquid at room temp, I WAG it is not found as an ore. So what’s the SD on quick silver? - Jinx [/QUOTE] Just to be nitpicky, an ore is generally defined as being a mineral (chemical compound) from which a resource can be extracted. Mercury is found as an ore. The term for finding the metal in its base state (eg gold) would be native metal. ---
**Author:** ![Gbro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Gbro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gbro)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/7 "2008-04-22T14:16:24Z")
With all the mercury warnings on fish consumption, one would think a lake bottom would have a fare amount. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/8 "2008-04-22T14:34:11Z")
The mercury deposits of [Almadén,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almad%C3%A9n) Spain account for the largest quantity of liquid mercury metal produced in the world. Approximately 250,000 metric tons of mercury have been produced there in the past 2,000 years. The [New Almaden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Almaden) mine, near San Jose, California is the oldest and most productive mercury mine in the United States. Mining operations ended in 1976 when Santa Clara County bought the area for use as a park. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/9 "2008-04-22T16:40:04Z")
[QUOTE=Gbro] With all the mercury warnings on fish consumption, one would think a lake bottom would have a fare amount. [/QUOTE] Those are organomercury compounds such as methyl mercury. The mercury is in the fish, not floating around in the water or sitting at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/10 "2008-04-22T17:33:11Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] Ah, [Cinnabon](http://www.cinnabon.com/experience/index.html). Delicious - and about as good for you as consuming the same quantity of cinnabar. (I think each one includes something like half a pound of butter and 6000 calories.) [/QUOTE] \ [Not quite](http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/52903.html), but they are damn near sinful \ Actual question based on the OP: Why did they want to mine this stuff and convert it to liquid mercury? What were the uses that they felt it was important enough to use it for? ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/11 "2008-04-22T17:41:39Z")
[QUOTE=butler1850] Actual question based on the OP: Why did they want to mine this stuff and convert it to liquid mercury? What were the uses that they felt it was important enough to use it for? [/QUOTE] One use is explosives, like blasting caps and cartridge primers. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/12 "2008-04-22T17:49:07Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] One use is explosives, like blasting caps and cartridge primers. [/QUOTE] That addresses modern usage, but what about ancient usage? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/13 "2008-04-22T17:51:35Z")
[QUOTE=butler1850] \ [Not quite](http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/52903.html), but they are damn near sinful \ Actual question based on the OP: Why did they want to mine this stuff and convert it to liquid mercury? What were the uses that they felt it was important enough to use it for? [/QUOTE] LOTS of instrument uses besides thermometers - every thermostat used to contain a mercury switch before they became electronic. Dental amalgams. Gold mining. Batteries. Manufacturing processes such as caustic soda and chlorine. Certain types of paints and pesticides. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/14 "2008-04-22T17:58:51Z")
Oh, and mercury was used historically to treat felt, of course. The process was banned in 1941. And the Daguerreotype photo process and silvering mirrors. It was used as an anti-syphilitic treatment at one time. The more recent uses in anti-fouling paint and herbicides were banned in the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/15 "2008-04-22T18:14:42Z")
[QUOTE=zagloba] The mercury deposits of [Almadén,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almad%C3%A9n) Spain account for the largest quantity of liquid mercury metal produced in the world. Approximately 250,000 metric tons of mercury have been produced there in the past 2,000 years. The [New Almaden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Almaden) mine, near San Jose, California is the oldest and most productive mercury mine in the United States. Mining operations ended in 1976 when Santa Clara County bought the area for use as a park. [/QUOTE] It’s a nice park, and pretty large, for being right on the edge of San Jose. I’ve hiked in it a lot, since I can be there in 15 minutes or so. The way the now defunct rotary furnace operated gives one pause, though - you just heat the ground up cinnabar, and you get mercury vapor and sulfur dioxide. The rotary furnace condensed out the mercury vapor and vented the SO2 to the air. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/16 "2008-04-22T18:36:56Z")
[I know that Search isn’t broken, because I found this in a thread about the same question.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6448753&postcount=11) It even has pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/17 "2008-04-22T19:02:48Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] Oh, and mercury was used historically to treat felt, of course. [/QUOTE] Mad as a hatter… ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/18 "2008-04-22T20:13:37Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] … Gold mining. [/QUOTE] And silver mining. According to [this site](http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Elements-Toxic/Mercury-amalgamation.htm) mining accounts for around half of all the mercury ever produced (and the residue may represent a significant problem today). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/19 "2008-04-22T20:21:30Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] [I know that Search isn’t broken, because I found this in a thread about the same question.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6448753&postcount=11) It even has pictures. [/QUOTE] Thanks, lady! I was pretty sure the issue of mercury as naturally occurring native metal had been addressed here before, but lately I’m getting time-outs if I so much as run a Google search, so I didn’t want to work the hamsters into a frenzy to verify it. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382/20 "2008-04-22T20:26:38Z")
It was used as a laxative. Bottoms up! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-how-is-mercury-found-in-nature/446382.md?page=2)