Mercury like Lead and a few other metals have been targeted by the anti-metal crowd as a toxic menace to all life, despite the reality that Mercury since the beginning has been part of the chain that binds all life. Similarly, the Aunt Nanny regulators want industry to stop using any form of Lead or Mercury. Yet, for some unexplainable reason these well-wishers fail to mention that volcanoes belch out more compounds of Mercury than man ever has. Likewise, these do-gooder’s legislated the demise of the incandescent light bulb to be replaced with expensive Mercury laden fluorescent bulbs that will save their hypocritical ecovillage. It’s too bad that honesty is not part of social-scientist’s agenda regarding metals or mining.

Sure Mercury and some of its salts are dangerous; but what is not hazardous when too much or in a compound not conducive to normal consumption? Case in point – besides eating too much bread and getting obese why isn’t the natural occurring substances oleander, nightshade and poison ivy regulated into oblivion? Could it be that the social managers (politicians) can’t make any money by saving the people from these plant’s toxic effects?

30x – Hg in 1 drop HNO3 & 2 drops H2O with a little heat to initiate the dissolving action of HNO3, which are the air bubbles being generated around the Hg as digestion occurs.
The microscope lens is being reflected on top of the Mercury bead.
There is an emerald green color on the Hg, which according to previous Hg digestions the nitric acid becomes a very light green solution, and is usually predicated upon how much nitric acid is present and how much Mercury is digested..
The pinkish color near the bottom of Hg in bubbles is due to reflected light off my hand as I adjust the focus.

35x – With a little heat the mercury is attacked faster by the acidic solution and the sphere of Hg appears to be revolving very fast.
The green color (opposite the bright light source) is very pronounced on the metal.

50x – With a little heat applied to the underside of glass slide, which drove off some of the water and nitric acid the solution developed an oily appearance and these concentrated crystals formed along the perimeter.

70x – An enlarged view of the preceding image to better illustrate the appearance of thes individual white crystals.

10 – Because the solution was too concentrated, when a drop of water was added an immediate white mass precipitated.
This glob of white very slowly re-dissolves when a little heat is applied to glass slide.
Obviously, water is a precipitant when dissolved Mercury is concentrated in a nitric acid solution.

50x – A magnified view of a tiny portion of the preceding image to better define this white precipitation.

40x – A single small crystal of NaCl added to the solution that has received the drop of water. Yet, even this further diluted solution is still to concentrated, because the salt crystal acted as though it became mercury chloride or, more likely some kind of surface pacification.

20x – Same NaCl crystal as preceding image, which suggests that this salt crystal was surface pacified.
With another drop of water the NaCl began to form a little more typical (snotty) form of Mercury chloride.

40x – The magnified NaCl precipitant in the preceding image.

40x – In another solution of 1 drop HNO3 and 4 drops of H2O that dissolved another small Mercury sphere a single NaCl crystal was inserted, which produced this immediate precipitant around the sodium chloride crystal.
Clearly, the amount of solution dilution determines shape of the HgCl precipitant.
Instead of adding a salt crystal – pipetting a concentrated drop of HCl in a similar solution produces a jelly-white precipitation.

20x – A single grain and a chip of K2Cr2O7 inserted into the solution created this orange-red color, but became more and more red.
A previous introduced drop of water caused the white precipitation, which is slowly dissolving.

25x – After about 30 minutes the preceding image of potassium dichromate is crystallizing and stayed this way for another hour, at which time, because no further crystal growth seemed destined to occur it was mucked.

Performing microchems requires the use of several glass slides.

40x –A magnified view of the preceding image, which provides better clarity.

10x – A single crystal of KI added to a different solution of 3 drops water and 1 drop nitric acid, which dissolved a small mercury sphere.
As soon as the KI was inserted there was an immediate violent reaction, which I did not have time to capture. This image is what remained of this orange-red and bits of yellow curd.
I suspect that the Iodine was reacting with too much nitric acid.

15x – A single crystal of KI inserted into a different solution of 5 drops water and 1 drop nitric acid that had dissolved a small sphere of Hg..
This reaction of the KI in this diluted solution is obviously is a better way to precipitate a HgI precipitant. Still there are signs (orange) that the solution was not diluted enough.

A toothpick tip was inserted into the original concentrated solution and ignited in the lowest heat of a cigarette lighter flame and no metal formed. No metal was expected to be seen because Hg as a nitrate would surely volatilize before reducing a metal..