Mercury

Description

Standard State: liquid at 298 K (the heaviest known elemental liquid)
Color: silvery white

Mercury was known the the Chinese and Hindus, and also found in Egyptian tombs of 1500 B.C.  Mercury is the only common metal liquid at ordinary temperatures and rarely occurs free in nature. 

It is a heavy, silvery white metal; a rather poor conductor of heat, as compared with other metals, and a fair conductor of electricity.  It easily forms alloys with many metals, such as gold, silver and time which are called amalgams.  The metal is widely used laboratory work for making thermometers, barometers, diffusion ion pumps and many other instruments. Mercury should be handled with care because of the absorbing through the skin and can cause many problems (very serious ones).