Mercury reagent is a chemical element with the element symbol Hg. It ranks 80th in the periodic table of elements. It is located in the 6th cycle and IIB group in the periodic table of chemical elements, commonly known as the same. It is the only metal in liquid form at standard temperature and pressure.
It has a minimal distribution in nature and is considered a rare metal, but It has been found for a long time. Natural mercuric sulfide, also known as cinnabar, has been used as a red pigment for a long time because of its bright red colour. According to the fact that the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed by Yin Xu were painted with Ganesha, it can be proved that China used natural mercuric sulfide before history.
According to ancient Chinese documents, before Qin Shihuang, some princes had already used it in their tombs. For example, Duke Huan of Qi was buried in Linzi (now Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province), and then it was poured into a pool in his tomb. That is to say, China obtained a large amount of it in the 7th century BC or earlier. It was also used as a surgical drug in ancient China. The 52 prescriptions in the silk script unearthed from Mawangdui Han tomb in Changsha in 1973 were copied in the Qin and Han Dynasties. It is the oldest medical prescription in China, in the Warring States period. Four of these prescriptions use. For example, mix Mercury and realgar to treat scabies.
Alchemists in the East and West were interested in it. Western alchemists believe that it is the commonness of all metals - the embodiment of metallicity. They think metallicity is an "element" that makes up all metals. In ancient China, the working people calcined Ganesha (also known as a mercuric sulfide) to obtain it. However, the generated it is easy to volatilize and difficult to collect, and operators will suffer from it poisoning. The working people of China have accumulated experience in practice and used secure methods to produce It, some in bamboo tubes and some in closed pomegranate cans. According to the data from western chemical history, a small tube of it was found in Egyptian tombs. According to historical research, it was the product of the 16th-15th century BC. But the working people in ancient China first made a lot of it.
On August 16, 2017, the Minamata Convention on it entered into force for China, which stipulates that "the production of it containing thermometers and mercury-containing sphygmomanometers shall be prohibited from January 1, 2026."On October 27, 2017, the list of carcinogens published by the international agency for research on cancer of, the World Health Organization, was preliminarily sorted for reference. it and inorganic compounds were included in the list of three types of carcinogens. On July 23, 2019, the Mercury reagent and its compounds were listed in the toxic and harmful water pollutants (the first batch).