Period 6 element point of −38.83 °C and boiling point of 356.73 °C, mercury has one of the narrowest ranges of its liquid state of any metal. Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar (mercuric sulfide). The red pigment vermilion is mostly obtained by reduction from cinnabar. Cinnabar is highly toxic by ingestion or inhalation of the dust. Mercury poisoning can also result from exposure to water-soluble forms of mercury (such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury), inhalation of mercury vapor, or eating seafood contaminated with mercury. Mercury is used in thermometers, barometers, manometers, sphygmomanometers, float valves, mercury switches, and other
Ore dock steel chutes. These chutes project out over the water at a slight angle from the sides of the docks. The hinged chutes, which are lowered to drop ore from the pockets into ships, are located at twelve-foot intervals over the length of the dock. This spacing is not coincidental, as the docks and the lakers they could load evolved together, and laker hatch spacing is typically 12, or on center. Since the late 1800s, ore docks have been a common sight in many Lake Superior ports of Minnesota, Wisconsin and especially Michigan. Rich iron ore deposits were first discovered in