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
Single displacement reaction silver, Ag, and zinc nitrate, Zn(NO) (which contains a Zn ion). All simple metal with acid reactions are single displacement reactions. For example, the reaction between magnesium, Mg, and hydrochloric acid, HCl, forms magnesium chloride, MgCl, and hydrogen, H. One cation replaces another. A cation is a positively charged ion or a metal. When it is written in generic symbols, it is written out like this: Element X has replaced Y in compound YZ to become a new compound XZ and the free element Y. This is an oxidation–reduction reaction wherein element Y is reduced from a cation into the