Here's a look at a few of its properties and how it's used in the real world. Follow Tech Insider: On Facebook More from Science You definitely shouldn't mess around with mercury, but if you want ...

Gold and mercury were often used by alchemists (including Brahe) in medicines, and it was common for alchemists to link the Earth’s elements to properties in space and the human body.

Archaeologists have found that people living in the Iberian Peninsula used to ingest mercury powder around ... presumably for its magical properties. The powder was ground from a mineral called ...

Copper has been used by humans for as much as 7000 years and elements such as gold, silver, tin, lead and mercury have been ... the elements based on their properties into gases, non-metals ...

And humans are then exposed to the element when they eat the fish, one of the most widely consumed around the world. Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Concentrations of mercury in the fish ...

You definitely shouldn't mess around with mercury, but if you want a safe ... Here's a look at a few of it's properties and how it's used in the real world. Produced by Chris Snyder.