Full-color image of Mercury from first MESSENGER flyby. — Photo: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington . Edited version of Image:Mercury in color - Prockter07.jpg by Papa Lima Whiskey . · Public domain
Mercury
Mercury is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the native element class, with the chemical formula Hg.
Key properties: specific gravity 13.596; Metallic, brilliant. R1 –R2: n.d luster.
IMA symbol Hg, grandfathered status — known before the IMA’s founding.
Found in hydrothermal deposits formed at low temperature and in association with hot springs.
It is found associated with Cinnabar, metacinnabar, calomel, terlinguaite, eglestonite, mercurian silver, mercurian gold, pyrite, dolomite, barite, quartz.
The name comes from the Latin Mercurius, the mythological messenger of the gods, in allusion to its mobility in liquid form; the chemical symbol from the Latin hydrargyrum, liquid silver.