Mercury silvering 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 toxic, especially in its vapor phase. Mercury silvering can be detected through a variety of
Mercury cycle Mercury cycle The mercury cycle is a biogeochemical cycle involving mercury. Mercury is notable for being the only metal which is liquid at room temperature. It is a volatile metal and evaporates, though it takes quite a while to do so. Most natural mercury occurs as cinnabar, HgS. Here mercury (Hg) is bound very tightly to sulfur, but weathering slowly releases the mercury to the environment. There are also trace amounts of mercury in coal. Mining mercury or burning coal results in releasing mercury. Volcanoes and forest fires are also sources of mercury. Chlorine factories, among other sources, release mercury