Editing Group 12 element (section)

===Mercury===
[[File:Mercury symbol.svg|thumb|right|120px|The symbol for [[Mercury (planet)|the planet Mercury]] (☿) has been used since ancient times to represent the element.]]

Mercury has been found in Egyptian tombs which have been dated back to 1500 BC,<ref>{{cite web|title=Mercury and the environment&nbsp;— Basic facts|publisher=[[Environment Canada]], Federal Government of Canada|year=2004|url=http://www.ec.gc.ca/MERCURY/EN/bf.cfm|access-date=2008-03-27|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115042236/http://www.ec.gc.ca/MERCURY/EN/bf.cfm|archive-date=2007-01-15}}</ref> where mercury was used in cosmetics. It was also used by the ancient Chinese who believed it would improve and prolong health.<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of China|year=2001|author=Wright, David Curtis|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-30940-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchina00wrig/page/49 49]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchina00wrig/page/49}}</ref> By 500 BC mercury was used to make [[amalgam (chemistry)|amalgams]] (Medieval Latin amalgama, "alloy of mercury") with other metals.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIWEi5Hg93gC&pg=PA120|page=120|title=Jewelrymaking through history|author=Hesse, R. W.|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year= 2007|isbn=978-0-313-33507-5}}</ref> [[Alchemy|Alchemists]] thought of mercury as the [[Prima materia|First Matter]] from which all metals were formed. They believed that different metals could be produced by varying the quality and quantity of [[sulfur]] contained within the mercury. The purest of these was gold, and mercury was called for in attempts at the [[wiktionary:Transmutation|transmutation]] of base (or impure) metals into gold, which was the goal of many alchemists.<ref name="Stillman">{{cite book|title = Story of Alchemy and Early Chemistry|author = Stillman, J. M.|publisher = Kessinger Publishing|year = 2003|isbn = 978-0-7661-3230-6|pages = 7–9|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hdaAGF5Y1N0C}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Hg is the modern [[chemical symbol]] for mercury. It comes from ''hydrargyrum'', a [[Latin]]ized form of the [[Greek language|Greek]] word Ύδραργυρος (''hydrargyros''), which is a compound word meaning "water-silver" (hydr- = water, argyros = silver)&nbsp;— since it is liquid like water and shiny like silver. The element was named after the Roman god [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], known for speed and mobility. It is associated with the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]]; the astrological symbol for the planet is also one of the [[alchemical symbol]]s for the metal.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ykEN2zHvCpQC&pg=PA260|page=260|title=The Pillar of Celestial Fire|author=Cox, R.|publisher=1st World Publishing|year= 1997|isbn=978-1-887472-30-2}}</ref> Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name became the common name.<ref name="Stillman"/>