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(II) hydride mercury(II) hydride, it also produces other mercury hydrides in lesser quantities, such as the mercury(I) hydrides (HgH and HgH). Unpon treatment with a Lewis base, mercury(II) hydride coverts to an adduct. Upon treatment with a standard acid, mercury(II) hydride and its adducts convert either to a mercury salt or a mercuran(2)yl derivative and elemental hydrogen. Oxidation of mercury(II) hydride gives elemental mercury. Unless cooled below , mercury(II) hydride decomposes to produce elemental mercury and hydrogen: Mercury(II) hydride was successfully synthesized and identified in 1951 by Egon Wiberg and Walter Henle, by the reaction of mercury(II) iodide and lithium tetrahydroaluminate in