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**Mercury is first mined in ores then extracted and condensed.

Mercury (Hg) is a white, liquid, dense, metal with a mirror-like appearance. It is the only metal that is liquid during room temperature and is commonly used in thermometers.

NATURAL ISOTOPES

Mass Number Natural Abundance (%)196 0.15%198 9.97%199 16.87%200 23.10%201 13.18%202 29.86%204 6.87%

Mercury has 34 different isotopes, with the highest natural abundance at 29.86%.

There are 7 natural isotopes, 196Hg, 198Hg, 199Hg, 200Hg, 201Hg, 202Hg and 204Hg, all of which are stable but differ by the number of neutrons.

There are numerous isotopes for Mercury. These include isotopes 172- 196, 197,199,203, and 205-208. Most isotopes are formed through nuclear reactions which make most of them unstable or radioactive.

Mercury isotopes have many uses. For example, in a Canadian experiment 3 isotopes (Hg-198, Hg-200 and Hg-202) were used to track how mercury accumulates in fish.

A medical use for mercury isotopes would be for gamma radiation calibration.

196Hg, 198Hg, 199Hg, 200Hg, 201Hg, 202Hg 204Hg

Average atomic mass=( atomic mass x abundance%)+( atomic mass x abundance%)+( atomic mass x abundance%)+( atomic mass x abundance%)+( atomic mass x abundance%)+( atomic mass x abundance%)+( atomic mass x abundance%)

AAM= (195.965833 x 0.15%) + (197.9667690 x 9.97%) + (198.9682799 x 16.87%) + (199.9683260 x 23.10%) + (200.9703023 x 13.18%) + (201.9706430 x 29.86%) + (203.9734939 x 6.87%)

AAM= 0.2939487495 + 19.7372868693 + 33.56594881913 + 46.192683306 + 26.48788584314 + 60.3084339998 + 14.01297903093

AAM = 200.59uThe average atomic mass is 200.59u

APA CITATIONSGagnon, S. (n.d.). Isotopes of the element mercury. Retrieved from http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/iso080.htmlChemiCool. (n.d.). Mercury element facts. Retrieved from http://www.chemicool.com/elements/mercury.html

Lucy Low September 28th 2010