Aluminium amalgam aluminium and reduce H from water, creating aluminium hydroxide (Al(OH)) and hydrogen gas (H). The electrons from the aluminium reduce mercuric Hg ion to metallic mercury. The metallic mercury can then form an amalgam with the exposed aluminium metal. The amalgamated aluminium then is oxidized by water, converting the aluminium to aluminium hydroxide and releasing free metallic mercury. The generated mercury then cycles through these last two steps until the aluminium metal supply is exhausted. Due to the reactivity of aluminium amalgam, restrictions are placed on the use and handling of mercury in proximity with aluminium. In particular, large amounts
Actinide chemistry Actinide chemistry Actinide chemistry (or actinoid chemistry) is one of the main branches of nuclear chemistry that investigates the processes and molecular systems of the actinides. The actinides derive their name from the group 3 element actinium. The informal chemical symbol An is used in general discussions of actinide chemistry to refer to any actinide. All but one of the actinides are f-block elements, corresponding to the filling of the 5f electron shell; lawrencium, a d-block element, is also generally considered an actinide. In comparison with the lanthanides, also mostly f-block elements, the actinides show much more variable valence. The