On May 2, 2005, at 3:40 AM, ThePicMan wrote:

>> Functionally Mercury dissolves Aluminium. They form an amalgam. 
>> Throwing globs of mercury onto Alumin(i)um could have unpredictable 
>> results.

I think it's a bit worse than that.  The mercury amalgam doesn't have 
the same
protective oxide properties as metallic mercury, so the Aluminum in it 
oxidizes
relatively rapidly to Al2O3 (which ISN'T soluble in mercury.)  So a 
small amount
of mercury can effectively "dissolve" a LARGE amount of aluminum (or, 
more
accurately, it causes it to corrode...)

BillW
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