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What are some features of mercury?

Since mercury can mean either the element mercury or the planet mercury and since the question does not specify element or planet, I will give an answer to both.


Mercury (element):


Mercury is a metal and has an atomic number of 80 and a atomic mass of 200.6 amu. It is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature; all the other metals are solid at room temperature. One of the key features of mercury is its density, which is about 13.6 gram per ml. In other words, mercury has a specific gravity (the ratio of density to that of a standard liquid, generally water). We can also state that it is 13.6 times heavier than water. It is this property (specific gravity) that makes mercury useful in manometers and barometers for pressure measurement. Mercury is also commonly used in thermometers, although nowadays we prefer mercury-less thermometers. Mercury is a toxic element.


Mercury (planet):


Mercury is one of the planets in our solar system. In fact, Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Mercury is also one of only two planets (the other being Venus) that does not have a natural satellite or moon of its own. All the other planets of our solar system have moons. Mercury is also the smallest of the 8 planets and takes the least amount of time to complete 1 revolution around the sun. 


Hope this helps. 

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