In terms of atomic structure, why is liquid mercury a good electrical conductor?
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Mercury has a Rhombohedral crystal structure, which means that it is close packed.  The close packed structure of the mercury will have a greater efficiency in conducting electricity compared metals such as alkaline earth metals which are packed less efficiently having 8-co-ordinated structure.  The reason why it can conduct electricity well is because it is a metal containing atoms with relatively large numbers of free electrons and it is efficiently packed.  With such structure, the electrons flow from one atom to another when electrical field is passed through quite well.  Although it is not considered to be an ideal electrical conductor, Mercury is a fairly good conductor with electrical conductivity of 10.163 1/mohm-cm.
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Mercury\nIts liquid at room temperature so it has to be.
632924
good conductors are material with very tight atomic structure. Remember you are talking about electron flow here. they flow best and easies through material with very tight atomic make up like lead gold copper aluminum silver so forth. Most good conductors are non ferrous metals. This means If you heat them up to melting point they will not get red hot first, you will see very little color change in them from solid to liquid state.
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A water molecule contains two elements: hydrogen and oxygen. Both elements have different electronegativities, which is a fancy word meaning how well they can attract electrons. Since oxygen has a higher electronegativity, it forces the electrons of the water molecule toward itself, giving the oxygen element a slight negative charge and the hydrogen atoms slight positive charges.\nBasically speaking, water itself is somewhat charged. This makes water what is called a polar molecule and allows it to conduct electricity. This also accounts for how well water adheres to itself (cohesion).\nHowever, this polarity is relatively small.
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it is also dangerous like mercury.Be carefull when you use it.\nWhen you touch the mercury you might get poisoned.Mercury not only dangerous via mercury vapour.
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Hmmm...\n\nIn order to clarify any possible ambiguities, I will attempt to answer this question from 2 very different perspectives.\n\nGiven this came from your anatomy homework:  Water carries a current because H2O readily dissociates into H+ and OH- ions.  The charged ions make water a good electron carrier, and therefore, a good conductor for current.\n\nIn case this came from another science class: Water carries a current because it is subject to physical forces such as atmospheric phenomenae, namely wind, the gravitic pull of the moon (the source of tides), the spinning of the earth, the creatures which inhabit it.... and basically anything which causes water to move.  All these forces sum up to give water the various currents we see in different parts of the world.
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Causes of resistance\n[edit]\n\nIn metals\n\nA metal consists of a lattice of atoms, each with a shell of electrons. This can also be known as positive ionic lattice. The outer electrons are free to dissociate from their parent atoms and travel through the lattice, creating a 'sea' of electrons, making the metal a conductor. When an electrical potential difference (a voltage) is applied across the metal, the electrons drift from one end of the conductor to the other under the influence of the electric field.\n\nIn a metal the thermal motion of ions is the primary source of scattering of electrons (due to destructive interference of free electron wave on non-correlating potentials of ions) - thus the prime cause of metal resistance. Imperfections of lattice also contribute into resistance, although their contribution in pure metals is negligible.\n\nThe larger the cross-sectional area of the conductor, the more electrons are available to carry the current, so the lower the resistance. The longer the conductor, the more scattering events occur in each electron's path through the material, so the higher the resistance. [1]\n[edit]\n\nIn semiconductors and insulators\n\nSemiconductors have properties that are part-way between those of metals and of insulators. A silicon boule has a grayish metallic sheen, like a metal, but is brittle, like glass. It is possible to manipulate the resistive properties of semiconductor materials by doping those materials with atomic elements, such as arsenic or boron, which create electrons or holes which can move across the material lattice.\n[edit]\n\nIn ionic liquids/electrolytes\n\nIn electrolytes, electrical conduction happens not by band electrons or holes, but by full atomic species (ions) traveling, each carrying an electrical charge. The resistivity of ionic liquids varies tremendously by the salt concentration - while distilled water is almost an insulator, salt water is a very efficient electrical conductor. In biological membranes, currents are carried by ionic salts. Small holes in the membranes, called ion channels, are selective to specific ions and determine the membrane resistance.\n[edit]\n\nResistance of various materials\nMaterial Resistivity, ρ\nohm-meter\nMetals 10 - 8\nSemiconductors variable\nElectrolytes variable\nInsulators 1016\n[edit]\n\nBand theory\nElectron energy levels in an insulator.\nElectron energy levels in an insulator.\n\nQuantum mechanics states that the energy of an electron in an atom cannot be any arbitrary value. Rather, there are fixed energy levels which the electrons can occupy, and values in between these levels are impossible. The energy levels are grouped into two bands: the valence band and the conduction band (the latter is generally above the former). Electrons in the conduction band may move freely throughout the substance in the presence of an electrical field.\n\nIn insulators and semiconductors, the atoms in the substance influence each other such that between the valence band and the conduction band, there exists a forbidden band of energy levels that the electrons simply cannot occupy. In order for a current to flow, a relatively large amount of energy must be furnished to an electron for it to leap across this forbidden gap and into the conduction band. Thus, large voltages yield relatively small currents.
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It really depends on how free electrons are to move with depends on how the molecules are bonded together. So, covalent bonds, like those in glass, has the electrons constrained to an individual molecule, so they are not free to move much. The same is true of solid ionic bonds, like salt. However, an electrolyte like salt, dissolved in water makes a good conductor because the ions are free to move through the water,  so a current can flow though it. Metals are good conductors because the electrons are not constrained to a particular atom or area, the entire metal bonds together by sharing its electrons across the entire metal, and so they are free to move making it a good conductor for electricity.\n\nEdit: Despite what has been said, the number of valence electrons is not a great way to determine conductivity. For example, most metals, which are very good conductors, have two (and some, like gold I believe, have only one), whereas carbon, which is used in resistors because it doesn't conduct electricity as well, has four valence electrons.
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Mercury\n\nA heavy, silvery, transition metal, mercury is one of five elements that are liquid at or near standard room temperature (the others are the metals caesium, francium, and gallium, and the nonmetal bromine)
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See the two references below about metallic bonds.  The explanation is a little too long to type in this tiny space, but the first reference explains why gold is soft and both of them explain why it is a good conductor of electricity.\n\nTypes of bonding page 4 and Metallic bonds page 5: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-chem-bnd.html\n\nLast section on metallic and hydrogen bonds:  http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-chem-bnd.html
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1) copper has metallic bonding, the reason it conducts electricity is that in the lattice structure the outer electrons of the atoms are free to move between eachother, refered to as a sea of delocalised electrons.  The electrons can thus carry a current thru the structure.\n\n2) There is only one type of bonding in PVC, covalent bonds.  It does not conduct because it has no charge carrying pieces to it's structure.\n\n3) -4\n\n4)  it isn't attracted to one sodium by a bond, it's attacted to a sodium ion by electrostatic force.\n\n5) you can point to the bond regardless of where the electrons came from or went because at the point of reaction it is unlikely that the two recipients and doners will come to gether to make a single molecule NaCl crystal.\n\n6)i'm not listing 30 ionic compounds, just google it.\nbasic types are single ion pair, multi atom ion pairs, variations between ect.\n\n7)go onto wiki and look up those three different bond types and it will give u the answers.\n\n8)graphite has planer structure of aromaticaly bonded carbons with only weak interactions between A and C layers of the structure with a repulsion force from the cloud of delocalised electrons between A and B layers thus allowing the sheets to slip apart easily.\n\nworth about 60 points.
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You need to know more than just the electron configuration.  There is contraction from left to right on the periodic table, plus additional periodic trends that must be considered.   \n\nEven more importantly, you need to define whether you are looking for the largest element IN ITS NATURAL  STATE (i.e. Cl2, Hg metal, etc) or AS THE ION.   Atomic and ionic radii differ.\n\nMore clarity is needed here.
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um, no. It's not mercury. Liquids can mean any liquid, not just a periodic element. Lauric Acid has an atomic mass of 280g/mole, which is OVER any element by itself and it's melting point is at *negative*16 degrees Celsius. Long fatty chains like vegetable oils are in multiples of that.
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Depending upon whether it is metallic mercury or a mercury compound, different rules apply.\nYou can get some ideas at the site below:
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You've read something completly wrong. Even if the mercury were liquid, which it isn't in this case, it would evaporate. The small amount in a lamp isn't enough to worry about and posses no health risks. Mercury is a strange metal in that it acts like liquid. That includes wanting to evaporate.\n\nNot getting cut on the glass is the real problem.
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Chemically pure water is an electrical insulator.\n\nEven the least impurity, even the least amount of any dissolved ion, will convert it into a conductor.  Even dissolved CO2 will provide the ionic activity to make water conductive
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The electrons of the atoms in general is responsiblle for their bonding. Metal atoms are said to be "surrounded in a sea of electrons". Their electrons are loosely held together and they will be attracted to an area with a high positive charge. Electricity is the flow of electrons and when the electrons of metallic atoms get attracted they will flow thus creating electricity.