Mercury
Mercurio (Hg, Z=80)
- Date
- c. 1500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Egypt (tombs of Qurna)
- Credited to
- Unknown (antiquity)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Found in Egyptian tombs around 1500 BCE and obtained by roasting cinnabar at Almadén since Roman times; central to alchemy.
Ancient element; approximate date.
What it led to
- Amalgamation to extract silver and gold
- Thermometer and barometer
- Alchemy and sulphur-mercury theory
Built on
- Cinnabar as a pigment
- Roasting of ores
Made possible
- Patio process (silver amalgamation)1554
- Torricelli's barometer
- Amalgamation (patio process)