Abstract In the 4th century BC, ancient Greece first recorded the preparation of liquid mercury, while China appeared the mercury preparation process in the pre-Qin Dynasty. During the alchemy period, both the “sulfur-mercury theory” and the “tria prima” regarded mercury as the material origin. In the 17th century, Boyle advocated the particle philosophy, believed that Mercury particles were the condensate of “particle” and maintained the characteristics of mercury. In the 18th century, under the paradigm of phlogiston theory, mercury was a compound of mercuius calcinatus and phlogiston. But Lavoisier, who opposed the phlogiston theory, believed that mercury was a simple metal substance composed of mercury element. In the 19th century, Dalton’s atomism believed that mercury was composed of mercury atoms, the atomic weight of mercury was a characteristic of mercury element. In the 20th century, with the rise of isotope chemistry, mercury element was considered to be the general name of a class of atoms with 80 protons. In short, the concept of mercury has developed from ancient material origin to modern mercury element, and has experienced continuous changes from macro to micro, from qualitative to quantitative. The development history of the concept of mercury has implications for chemical research and chemical education.
WU Yu-Fei, YUAN Zhen-Dong, HOU Yan. From Material Origin to Modern Chemical Elements: Formation and Development of the Concept of Mercury Element[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Education, 2023, 44(15): 122-126.
