Explaining why mercury is a liquid at room temperature

Mercury, a.k.a. quicksilver, is famous for being a liquid at room temperature...and also below room temperature. But you can't use a high school chem class to explain why. Instead, we need a little help from Einstein. Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him) ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Adam Brainard, Alex Hackman, Ash, Benjamin Carleski, Bryan Cloer, charles george, Chris Mackey, Chris Peters, Christoph Schwanke, Christopher R Boucher, DrakoEsper, Eric Jensen, Friso, Garrett Galloway, Harrison Mills, J. Copen, Jaap Westera, Jason A Saslow, Jeffrey Mckishen, Jeremy Mattern, Kenny Wilson, Kevin Bealer, Kevin Knupp, Lyndsay Brown, Matt Curls, Michelle Dove, Piya Shedden, Rizwan Kassim, Sam Lutfi ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? SciShow Tangents Podcast: https://scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow #SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly ---------- Sources; https://www.physics.rutgers.edu/grad/601/CM2019/ed068p110.pdf https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/what-does-mercury-being-liquid-at-room-temperature-have-to-do-with-einsteins-theory-of-relativity/ https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/150th-anniversary/ask-me-questions/is-mercury-a-liquid-or-a-metal-and-why https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/relativity-behind-mercurys-liquidity/6297.article https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.201302742 https://www.neonickel.com/technical-resources/general-technical-resources/a-guide-to-metal-melting-points https://www.britannica.com/science/mercury-chemical-element http://mrtremblaycambridge.weebly.com/c8-the-periodic-table--c10-patterns-of-reactivity.html https://uen.pressbooks.pub/introductorychemistry/chapter/the-structure-of-the-atom/ https://www.space.com/bohr-model-atom-structure https://www.britannica.com/science/wave-particle-duality https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-chemistry-beta/x2eef969c74e0d802:atomic-structure-and-properties/x2eef969c74e0d802:atomic-structure-and-electron-configuration https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/University_of_Illinois_Springfield/UIS%3A_CHE_124_(Morsch_and_Andrews)/Book%3A_The_Basics_of_GOB_Chemistry_(Ball_et_al.)/02%3A_Elements%2C_Atoms%2C_and_the_Periodic_Table/2.6%3A_Arrangements_of_Electrons https://content.byui.edu/file/a236934c-3c60-4fe9-90aa-d343b3e3a640/1/module2/readings/chemical_bonds.html https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Inorganic_Chemistry/Supplemental_Modules_and_Websites_(Inorganic_Chemistry)/Descriptive_Chemistry/Periodic_Trends_of_Elemental_Properties/Periodic_Trends https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_introductory-chemistry/s14-solids-and-liquids.html https://www.britannica.com/science/transition-metal https://webelements.com/zinc/atoms.html https://webelements.com/cadmium/atoms.html https://webelements.com/mercury/atoms.html https://www.space.com/36273-theory-special-relativity.html https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/336167/why-does-velocity-of-electron-increases-with-increase-atomic-number-in-the-bohr https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/van-der-waals-force https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/thermodynamics-chemistry/internal-energy-sal/a/heat http://chemsite.lsrhs.net/ChemicalBonds/ChemicalBondingAndEnergy.html https://revisionscience.com/a2-level-level-revision/chemistry-level-revision/atomic-structure-bonding-periodicity/shells-and-subshells Images: https://www.gettyimages.com/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Qin_shihuangdi_c01s06i06.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:202_Two_Models_of_Atomic_Structure.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atomic-orbital-clouds_spdf_m0.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Single_electron_orbitals_s.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Single_electron_orbitals_p.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Single_electron_orbitals_d.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aufbau_gif.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Single_electron_orbitals_f.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pouring_liquid_mercury_bionerd.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3bodyproblem.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_Einstein_1921_(cropped).jpg