Why is Mercury liquid at room temperature? (1 Viewer)

[_Anonymous]

I understand that Mercury has a full outer 6s shell, meaning it doesn't want to share Electrons.

Firstly, why isn't it a Noble gas then? Aren't noble gases the most stable elements (Ik that Mercury isn't a gas at room temp, but still).

Secondly, I tried searching up why Mercury is a liquid at room temp and people started talking about the 6s electrons travelling very close to the Nucleus at high speeds which doesn't make sense; isn't the 6s orbital 6 energy shells away from the nucleus? How is it so close to the Nucleus? They then mention about relativity.

Could someone please answer the questions I have above? Thanks.

 

[Queenroot]

I understand that Mercury has a full outer 6s shell, meaning it doesn't want to share Electrons.

Firstly, why isn't it a Noble gas then? Aren't noble gases the most stable elements (Ik that Mercury isn't a gas at room temp, but still).

Secondly, I tried searching up why Mercury is a liquid at room temp and people started talking about the 6s electrons travelling very close to the Nucleus at high speeds which doesn't make sense; isn't the 6s orbital 6 energy shells away from the nucleus? How is it so close to the Nucleus? They then mention about relativity.

Could someone please answer the questions I have above? Thanks.

Remember that electrons can jump shells.

 

[Queenroot]

6s higher velocities, more momentum, can jump into the closest shell.

 

[_Anonymous]

6s higher velocities, more momentum, can jump into the closest shell.

Thanks. Do you know why Mercury is a liquid at room temperature though, or why it's not classified in the Noble Gases section (ik it's a liquid, but it has a stable valence shell)?

 

[Queenroot]

Thanks. Do you know why Mercury is a liquid at room temperature though, or why it's not classified in the Noble Gases section (ik it's a liquid, but it has a stable valence shell)?

more momentem gives it more mass, which keeps it from becoming a gas. And I assume there's some other factors involved.

 

[_Anonymous]

more momentem gives it more mass, which keeps it from becoming a gas. And I assume there's some other factors involved.

Right, will we learn more about why elements are at their current state in room temperature in Year 11/12?

 

[fan96]

Right, will we learn more about why elements are at their current state in room temperature in Year 11/12?

You can find the new HSC Chemistry syllabus here.

https://syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au/assets/chemistry/chemistry-stage-6-syllabus-2017.pdf

 

[ichila101]

Right, will we learn more about why elements are at their current state in room temperature in Year 11/12?

You can find the new HSC Chemistry syllabus here.

https://syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au/assets/chemistry/chemistry-stage-6-syllabus-2017.pdf

Based off of the new syllabus you will be looking at the properties and structure of elements which will be related to their chemical and physical composition however I believe it will be covered in one or two lessons only and wont really deal with specific elements. Check page 37 the third dot point of the syllabus. Also I might add in case its your first time reading the syllabus if you just want to know about the content you will learn then just look at pages 32, 36-44 for the year 11 syllabus content and pages 45, 49-58 for the year 12 syllabus content