The element MERCURY (Hg) is a metal which is liquid at room temperature! Mercury is a bit like LEAD but it's liquid. You can hold it in your hand. (Not recommended - it's toxic!) Heavy (density 13.6), in fact so heavy that objects such as bricks, cannonballs, and lumps of lead or iron will FLOAT in Mercury. Gold doesn't float in mercury - it behaves more like sugar in tea! Mercury does NOT stick to magnets, so if it gets into your carpets or under your floorboards it will be a long-term problem. Mercury vapour makes nice bright lights but is not for breathing.
The highly reflective surface of the Mercury, or Quicksilver as it is sometimes known, makes it the stuff of mirrors. It's also used for thermometers, barometers, electrical devices, etc. However the problem is the cumulative poisonous nature. In the pure metal form it's relatively inert, so not so deadly, but in compounds such as mercuric chloride it's skull-and-crossbones stuff!
Although mercury is a liquid it is NOT WET! It has a negative coefficient of surface tension, which means that the meniscus on the surface is the other way up from normal, or to put it another way it does not soak into material but more runs off in the style of "water off a duck's back".
Other physical properties:
Mercury freezing point: -38.72 degrees C
Mercury boiling point: 357 degrees C
Mercury density 13.6
