This is because Hg is an abbreviation of the Latin name of the element, which was hydrargium. With this name the Greeks were referring to the fact that mercury is a silvery liquid at room temperature, rather than a solid like other metals.
We've looked at the three types of heat transfer. Conduction and convection rely on temperature differences; radiation does, too, but with radiation the absolute temperature is important.
Temperature differences cause the flow of heat from a high temperature to a low temperature. There are three modes of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The basic microscopic mechanism of conduction is the motion of molecules and electrons.