Mercury sulfide Mercury sulfide Mercury sulfide, mercuric sulfide, mercury sulphide, or mercury(II) sulfide is a chemical compound composed of the chemical elements mercury and sulfur. It is represented by the chemical formula HgS. It is virtually insoluble in water. HgS is dimorphic with two crystal forms: Crystals of red, α-HgS, are optically active. This is caused by the Hg-S helices in the structure. β-HgS is precipitated as a black powder when HS is bubbled through solutions of Hg(II) salts. β-HgS is unreactive to all but concentrated acids. Mercury metal is produced from the cinnabar ore by roasting in air and condensing the
Ore Mountains Mountains in the vicinity of newly discovered ore deposits. Typical examples are the towns of Marienberg, Oberwiesenthal, Gottesgab ("Boží Dar"), Sebastiansberg ("Hora Sv. Šebestiána") and Platten ("Horní Blatná"). Economically, however, only silver and tin ores were used. From that time, the wealth of Saxony was built on the silver mines of the Ore Mountains. As a metal used for coinage, silver was minted on site in the mountain towns into money. The "Joachimsthaler" coins, minted in the valley of "Joachimsthal", became famous and gave their name to the medieval coin known as the "Thaler" from which the word "dollar" is