| Reactions of Mercury |
 Reactions with water |
| Mercury does not react with water under normal conditions. |
| Reactions with air |
| Mercury reacts in air at about 350°C to form mercury(II) oxide. |
2Hg(s) + O2(g) 2HgO(s) |
| Reactions with halogens |
| Mercury metal reacts with fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine to form the mercury(II) dihalides.
|
| Hg(l) + F2(g)HgF2(s) |
| Hg(l) + Cl2(g)HgCl2(s) |
| Hg(l) + Br2(l)HgBr2(s) |
| Hg(l) + I2(s)HgI2(s) |
| Reactions with acids |
| Mercury does not react with non-oxidizing acids but does react with concentrated nitric acid or concentrated sulphuric acid
to form mercury(II) compounds together with nitrogen or sulphur oxides.
|
| Mercury dissolves slowly in dilute nitric acid to form mercury(I) nitrate, mercurous nitrate, Hg2(NO3)2.
|
| Reactions with bases |
| Mercury does not react with alkalis under normal conditions. |
| |
| Reduction Potentials |
| Balanced half-reaction |
E0 / V
|
Hg2+ + 2e- Hg(l) |
+0.854 |
| 2Hg2+ + 2e-Hg22+ |
+0.920 |
| 2Hg2+ + 2e-Hg22+
|
+0.907 |
| Hg22+ + 2e-2Hg(l) |
+0.788 |
| Hg22+ + 2e-2Hg(l) |
+0.274 |
| Hg22+ + 2e-2Hg(l) |
+0.776 |
| Hg22+ + 2e-2Hg(l) |
+0.674 |
| HgO(s) + H2O + 2e-Hg(l) + 2OH- |
+0.10 |
| HgO(s) + 2H+ + 2e-Hg(l) + H2O3 |
+0.9 |
| 2Hg(OH)2(s) + 4H+ + 2e-Hg22+ + 4H2O
|
+1.28 |
| Hg2Cl2(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + 2Cl- |
+0.268 |
| Hg2Cl2(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + 2Cl- |
+0.244 |
| Hg2Cl2(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + 2Cl- |
+0.282 |
| Hg2Cl2(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + 2Cl- |
+0.334 |
| Hg2Br2(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + 2Br- |
+0.14 |
| Hg2I2(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + 2I- |
-0.04 |
| Hg2C2O4(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + C2O42- |
+0.42 |
| Hg2SO4(s) + 2e-2Hg(l) + SO42- |
+0.615 |
| HgS(s) (black) + 2e-Hg(l) + S2- |
-0.67 |
| HgS(s) (red) + 2e-Hg + S2- |
-0.70 |
| Hg(CN)42- + 2e-Hg(l) + 4CN- |
-0.37 |