Amalgam (chemistry) miners seeking gold nuggets with the aid of an engine-powered water vacuum mounted on a float. Where stamp mills were used to crush gold-bearing ore to fines, a part of the extraction process involved the use of mercury-wetted copper plates, over which the crushed fines were washed. A periodic scraping and re-mercurizing of the plate resulted in amalgam for further processing. Amalgam obtained by either process was then heated in a distillation retort, recovering the mercury for reuse and leaving behind the gold. As this released mercury vapors to the atmosphere, the process could induce adverse health effects and long
Systematic element name Systematic element name A systematic element name is the temporary name assigned to a newly synthesized or not yet synthesized chemical element. A systematic symbol is also derived from this name. In chemistry, a transuranic element receives a permanent name and symbol only after its synthesis has been confirmed. In some cases, such as Transfermium Wars, such controversies have been protracted and highly political. In order to discuss such elements without ambiguity, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) uses a set of rules to assign a temporary systematic name and symbol to each such element. This approach