Amalgam (chemistry) but can be worked with under dry nitrogen. The Hg-Hg distance is around 300 picometres, Hg-K around 358 pm. Phases KHg and KHg are also known; rubidium, strontium and barium undecamercurides are known and isostructural. Sodium amalgam (NaHg) has a different structure, with the mercury atoms forming hexagonal layers, and the sodium atoms a linear chain which fits into the holes in the hexagonal layers, but the potassium atom is too large for this structure to work in KHg. Sodium amalgam is produced as a byproduct of the chloralkali process and used as an important reducing agent in organic and
Amalgam tattoo of discolored mucosa is much larger. If necessary, the diagnosis can be confirmed histologically by excisional biopsy, which excludes nevi and melanomas. If a biopsy is taken, the histopathologic appearance is: Theoretically, routine use of a dental dam during dental procedures which involve amalgam should reduce the risk of amalgam tattoo. No treatment is required since the lesion is entirely benign. Some suggest that amalgam tattoos are best surgically excised so as to ensure the lesion does not represent a melanoma. Other say that excision should only be carried out if there is any doubt over the diagnosis, and that