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AMALGAM

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 778 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMALGAM , the name applied to See also:

alloys which contain See also:mercury. It is said by Andreas Libavius to be a corruption of ,uaXay,ua; in the alchemists the See also:form algamala is also found. Many amalgams are formed by the See also:direct contact of a See also:metal with mercury, sometimes with absorption, sometimes with See also:evolution, of See also:heat. Other methods are to See also:place the metal and mercury together in dilute See also:acid; to add mercury to the See also:solution of a metallic See also:salt, to place a metal in a solution of mercuric nitrate, or to electrolyse a metallic salt using mercury as the negative electrode. Some amalgams are liquids, especially when containing a large proportion of mercury; others assume a crystalline form. In some cases definite compounds have been isolated from amalgams which may be regarded as mixtures of one or more of such compounds with mercury in excess. In See also:general these compounds are decomposable by heat, but some of them, such as those of See also:gold, See also:silver, See also:copper and the See also:alkali metals, even when heated above the boiling point of mercury retain mercury and leave residues of definite See also:composition. See also:Tin amalgam is used for " silvering " mirrors, gold and silver amalgam in See also:gilding and silvering, See also:cadmium and copper amalgam in See also:dentistry, and an Amalgam of See also:zinc and tin for the rubbers of See also:electrical See also:machines ; the zinc plates of electric batteries are amalgamated in See also:order to reduce polarization.

End of Article: AMALGAM

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