What is red mercury?

Red mercury is a material presumably made from mercury and some of its chemical compounds that has caused quite a stir since the days of the cold war and the arms race. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what the term refers to, as it largely depends on the context in which it is used.

Next, the different hypotheses about what red mercury is and why it is so popular that it has even appeared in Hollywood hits such as Red 2 , starring Bruce Willis, are presented.

It is presumably a ballotechnic explosive for nuclear fusion bombs

The reason why red mercury is so famous is because during the end of the cold war, word spread that a team of Russian scientists had discovered a form of mercury so explosive that it would be used to detonate a thermonuclear fusion bomb. These types of bombs generally require the initial explosion of a fission atomic bomb to compress a sample of tritium (the heaviest isomer of the element hydrogen) enough to counteract the strong repulsive forces between the positive nuclei and thus be able to give the merger

It is assumed that a mixed oxide of mercury and antimony, whose formula could be HgSbO or Hg ₂ Sb ₂ O ₇ , would have the property of reacting violently when subjected to high pressure. These types of explosives are known as “ballotechnics”, but their use as a detonator for thermonuclear bombs is completely speculative, since there are no scientific studies that confirm the existence of any explosive, with or without mercury, that can release enough energy from concentrated enough to achieve nuclear fusion. In fact, this would go against the laws of physics, in particular the law of conservation of energy.

It could be said that the ballotechnic red mercury is the philosopher’s stone of the manufacturers of nuclear weapons. It represents a myth, an ideal that they wanted to achieve, since this would greatly simplify the manufacture of the most destructive weapons in the world without the need to use fissionable material such as uranium or plutonium. Since these materials are highly monitored and controlled internationally, both at the point of extraction and during refining and enrichment, it is very difficult for the different states and for private and/or criminal organizations to secretly acquire them. On the other hand, mercury and its compounds are a group of substances that do not suffer from this type of control. In view of this, if red mercury really exists as a ballotechnic explosive,

It can be any mercury compound from Russia

The color red is politically associated with communist parties, and is the emblematic color of the Russian Kremlin. For this reason, it is common to use the term “red” more as an indication of origin than a description of the color. Thus, “red mercury” could simply refer to elemental mercury or one of its compounds that comes from Russia.

Generic name of red colored mercury compounds

There are several compounds derived from mercury that have an intense red color, so the term red mercury could well refer to some of these substances. The two most common are cinnabar and mercury(II) iodide.

Cinnabar or Vermilion

One of them is cinnabar, a mineral of the sulfide class that contains mercuric sulfide (HgS). Cinnabar represents the most widely used ore in the world to obtain elemental mercury. In addition, this mineral, also called cinnabarite, is usually processed into a deep red pigment called vermilion, one of the most important examples of mercury-based pigments.

Cinnabar gems were often collected and used as a base material for carving red ornamental pieces; however, its use has declined due to mercury toxicity.

Mercury(II) iodide

Mercury(II) iodide, whose chemical formula is HgI ₂ , is a solid substance that has two different phases. Below 127°C this compound exists in its alpha phase, which has a deep red color. On heating above 127°C, a phase change occurs and becomes the beta phase, which is deep yellow in color.

Hook to catch nuclear weapons manufacturers

There is a theory according to which the Russian government spread the word about red mercury as an essential component for the manufacture of nuclear weapons and publicized that they could manufacture it, in order to attract and trap terrorists who seek this type of material on the market. black.

You must not fall into the trap

Whatever the truth behind red mercury, there is no doubt that an aura of mystery and fantasy surrounds it. Some unscrupulous people have taken advantage of this and have even taken to offering red mercury for sale, fooling the unwary and promising all sorts of mysterious properties.

In many cases it is any red pigment that does not even contain mercury, and in others it is simply vermilion in suspension or some other mixture that has nothing special about it.

References

BBC News World. (2019a, September 14). Why has the strange myth of “red mercury” persisted for centuries? https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-49683063

BBC News World. (2019b, September 16). The myth of the miraculous “red mercury” that floods social networks (and why it is dangerous) . The Peru Commerce. https://elcomercio.pe/tecnologia/tecnologia/mito-milagroso-mercurio-rojo-inunda-redes-sociales-peligroso-mexico-colombia-argentina-noticia-676230-noticia/

cinnabar . (2020, April 23). Online Mining. https://mineriaenlinea.com/rocas_y_minerales/cinabrio/

Ponce U., A. (2020, September 18). What is red mercury? Quora. https://en.quora.com/What%C3%A9-is-the-red-mercury

Shop, L. (2019, December 4). Theories about red mercury confirming or denying its existence . Medium. https://medium.com/@lsfdermashop/theories-about-red-mercury-confirming-or-denying-its-existence-c457ec9b31e4