We tend to think of metals as hard, strong and resistant to high temperatures — just look at iron, aluminum and steel. While this is generally true, there's one key exception: mercury. With a melting point of minus 37.9 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 38.8 degrees Celsius), mercury is one of only two elements that are liquid at room temperature. (The other is bromine, which is not a metal.)But why is mercury so different from its fellow metals?The answer comes down to mercury's position in the periodic table and its knock-on effect on how the metal bonds together.
