Mercury silvering methods. The technique was also used in Asia, for example "tokin" plating in Edo-period Japan. Mercury silvering Mercury silvering or fire gilding is a silvering technique for applying a thin layer of precious metal such as silver or gold (mercury gilding) to a base metal object. The process was invented during the Middle Ages and is documented in Vannoccio Biringuccio's 1540 book "De la pirotechnia". An amalgam of mercury and the precious metal is prepared and applied to the object which is then heated, sometimes in oil, vaporizing most of the mercury. The technique is dangerous since mercury is highly
Mercury(I) fluoride of 251 pm (Hg-Hg in the metal is 300 pm) and an Hg-F bond length of 214 pm. The overall coordination of each Hg atom is a distorted octahedron; in addition to the bonded F and other Hg of the molecule, there are four other F atoms at 272 pm. The compound is often formulated as Hg 2F. Mercury(I) fluoride Mercury(I) fluoride or mercurous fluoride is the chemical compound composed of mercury and fluorine with the formula HgF. It consists of small yellow cubic crystals, which turn black when exposed to light. Mercury(I) fluoride is prepared by the reaction of