I am learning about solutions and while giving an example of a liquid (solute) and a solid (solvent), my teacher told us that mercury forms an amalgam with all the metals except iron.
I want to know why this is so?
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1$\begingroup$ Iron does form an amalgam with mercury: see for example this paper iopscience.iop.org/0953-8984/4/44/024. $\endgroup$ – J. LS Apr 18 '15 at 9:59
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$\begingroup$ Pt, W and Ta also resist dissolution with Hg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_(chemistry) $\endgroup$ – Mithoron Nov 11 '18 at 20:16
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Iron does not form an amalgam readily, hence the use of iron electrodes in mercury switches. Apparently, iron does form alloys with mercury under specific conditions; see http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2011-04/1304143502.Ch.r.html.
By contrast, mercury spilled on gold (e.g. gold-alloy jewelry) soaks in immediately, discoloring the gold, and migrates further into the bulk metal in a few hours, thus restoring the color.
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4$\begingroup$ Mercury also forms an amalgam with aluminium, one of th reasons why it is banned on planes. $\endgroup$ – user15489 Apr 19 '15 at 3:41
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In Fe,Co,Ni The Metallic Bonds Are Very Strong Hence Don't Allow Mercury To Diffuse Into It Hence No Amalgam With Them While In Other Metals Like Ag,Au,Na etc(Soft Metals) Mercury Can Easily Diffuse And Form Metallic Bonds With Them(Ag,Au,Na,etc) Hence Amalgam Formation In Them. Note:-All Metal Mentioned Above Are Of Comparable Size Of Hg i.e. Fulfilling Amalgam formation Condition.
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1$\begingroup$ @Vishal Gupta Is there a reason why you capitalize the first letter of every word ? $\endgroup$ – Poutnik Nov 22 '19 at 3:02
