Mercury

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Definition of mercury:
Mercury is a heavy metal with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. [1]It is liquid (at room temperature and atmospheric pressure) and has a silvery-white color. [2]
This is the common definition for mercury, other definitions can be discussed in the article

Notes

Natural mercury derives from the weathering of mercury-bearing rocks, volcano's and hydrothermal vents. It's industrial use includes electronics, light bulbs and thermometers. Within these products, mercury doesn't pose a health problem. However when vaporised into the air by factories producing these products, it can be deposited in soils, and be flushed through rivers towards the ocean. Once deposited in anoxic soils, mercury can be transformed by bacteria to methylmercury.

In the Northern hemisphere anthropogenic sources have largely been eliminated since the 1980's. Mercury is the only contaminant (apart from pathogens) that certainly has been responsible for human deaths.. [3] In humans high levels of mercury can cause:[4]

  • Disruption of the nervous system
  • Damage to brain functions
  • DNA damage and chromosomal damage
  • Allergic reactions, resulting in skin rashes, tiredness and headaches
  • Negative reproductive effects, such as sperm damage, birth defects and miscarriages

Concentrations of mercury on the open ocean range from 0,001 to 0,004 µg/l, in coastal areas concentrations are usually 10 times higher. In heavily polluted systems however (like the Targus estuary in Portugal or Minamata bay in Japan) concentrations have been as high as 80ng/l.

Although inorganic mercury doesn't have biomagnifying characteristics, the organic compound, methylmercury, does.

See also

The relation between pollutants and disease in guillemots

Common starfish can act as a bioindicator for heavy metal pollution

Effects of heavy metals on the sperm quality and the larvae survival of sea urchins

Heavy metals in various Belgian benthic invertebrates

Mercury pollution

Methylmercury

Minamata disease

References