Anyone for a pint of mercury? This image shows a pool ball floating on liquid mercury. A pool ball is fairly heavy for its size, but you can see that it floats on, or is less dense, than the mercury. In fact, mercury is denser than lead, and metal objects like forks, coins, or even a cannonball will float on top (see video below).
Mercury, or quicksilver, can be a bit dodgy though. It can be absorbed through the skin and over time it accumulates in the system and causes heavy metal poisoning (as does, for instance, lead). Symptoms include dementia, vomiting, cramping, diarrhea and ultimately for prolonged exposure, death. One touch will not kill you, or necessarily even cause symptoms but, like all heavy metal poisoning, it accumulates in your system.
So it's probably not a good idea to sit in (or on) a bath of it. This picture was taken in 1972 and it's no wonder the poor guy can't raise a smile.Finally, you've probably heard the term "mad as a hatter". This is thought to have originated from traditional hatmaker's use of mercury to cure the felt they used to make the hats, which caused dementia due to the prolonged exposure over the life of the milliner.
