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[Lalandrathon]

Of course you would float well in it, but you would still not be able to stand in it, and if you end up face down, well, try coughing up something 13.5 times as dense as water.

[G-Flex]

Mercury is a horrible choice for poison-tipped arrowheads. Haven't you seen mercury on anything before? It pools up and sort of drifts away in little blobs, even on something like carpet, so you wouldn't really be able to coat an arrowhead with it.

[krumlink]

Mercury is a horrible choice for poison-tipped arrowheads. Haven't you seen mercury on anything before? It pools up and sort of drifts away in little blobs, even on something like carpet, so you wouldn't really be able to coat an arrowhead with it.

It has high viscosity and does not wet objects as water does.

[XmasApe]

Inobtanite, which is admittedly a modded stone.
But I'm very, very tired of having to abandon a fort in the first year because we're in no way set up to have the King arrive the first summer. 

And I can't seem to find the file to remove it from.

And for just a little extra irony, it just happened to this fort, having spent 7 hours laying out 6-room apartment towers for dwarves to live in.

[A_Fey_Dwarf]

Because of this thread, I looked up a few rocks and minerals found in the game.

My WTF moment was looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivine where is said that olivine has "Poor Cleavage".

Believe it or not but cleavage is quite important in minerals. The cleavage is pretty much the minerals tendency to cut along defined planes. The reason you can get diamonds to have such a smooth glass-like surface is due to cleavage. When a jeweler cuts a diamond he/she must know the correct angle to which to hit the diamond at (ie the cleavage plane). If the jeweler fails to do this the diamond will shatter. Sorry for the science lesson

[Viprince]

Mercury is a horrible choice for poison-tipped arrowheads. Haven't you seen mercury on anything before? It pools up and sort of drifts away in little blobs, even on something like carpet, so you wouldn't really be able to coat an arrowhead with it.

Seriously mercury as a poison when you already have multiple types of collectable venoms in the game? Possibly use it as a burning substance against attackers medeaval style. Boiling oil poured from atop. As mercury is liquid at room temperature it would allow it to be poured. Fair enough no fires and magma does the job but hey it could be a fancy trap

[RickiusMaximus]

But you could carry barrels and barrels of mercury and use it to pour into moats so you can walk across the top...

Use 1001

[G-Flex]

Yeah, then you breathe in too much of the vapor while walking across it and die.

[onodera]

But you could carry barrels and barrels of mercury and use it to pour into moats so you can walk across the top...

Use 1001

It would take several Ultra-Mighty dwarves to *lift* a barrel of mercury.

[Granite26]

Check your history folks.  Mercury wasn't always thought of as poisonous.  It used to be given as medicine (much like bleeding and leeches).  It's not poisonous except in prolonged exposure.

On the other hand,

Urist, Clothier cancels Make Hat.  Gone Mad

would be pretty awesome.

[Porpoisepower]

The ideal use for mercury would be in childs toys... 

Actually I could see a use for it in tanning and haberdashery.  MAking super high quality leathers... 

Any one know what tempeture it freezes at? It could be interesting in freezing enviroments.

[Skanky]

Believe it or not but cleavage is quite important in minerals. The cleavage is pretty much the minerals tendency to cut along defined planes. The reason you can get diamonds to have such a smooth glass-like surface is due to cleavage. When a jeweler cuts a diamond he/she must know the correct angle to which to hit the diamond at (ie the cleavage plane). If the jeweler fails to do this the diamond will shatter. Sorry for the science lesson

Thanks for the background. I was reluctant to do a search for "cleavage" while at work.

[G-Flex]

The ideal use for mercury would be in childs toys... 

Actually I could see a use for it in tanning and haberdashery.  MAking super high quality leathers... 

Any one know what tempeture it freezes at? It could be interesting in freezing enviroments.

Err... I don't see anything online to tell me mercury is used in tanning. Where did you hear that? I'm not even sure how that would work.

Oh, and it freezes at -37.89 °F (which is about the same in °C). Pretty low, but achievable in extremely low temperature areas.

[Omniarch]

The ideal use for mercury would be in childs toys... 

Actually I could see a use for it in tanning and haberdashery.  MAking super high quality leathers... 

Any one know what tempeture it freezes at? It could be interesting in freezing enviroments.

Err... I don't see anything online to tell me mercury is used in tanning. Where did you hear that? I'm not even sure how that would work.

Oh, and it freezes at -37.89 °F (which is about the same in °C). Pretty low, but achievable in extremely low temperature areas.

Hat making

From the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, a process called "carroting" was used in the making of felt hats. Animal skins were rinsed in an orange solution (the term "carroting" arose from this color) of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate, Hg(NO3)2·2H2O.[20] This process separated the fur from the pelt and matted it together. This solution and the vapors it produced were highly toxic. The United States Public Health Service banned the use of mercury in the felt industry in December 1941. The psychological symptoms associated with mercury poisoning are said by some to have inspired the phrase "mad as a hatter", though etymological study suggests that the phrase is actually much older and unrelated to hatters - see hatter for commentary on the origin of the phrase. Lewis Carroll's "Mad Hatter" in his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was a play on words based on the older phrase, but the character himself does not exhibit symptoms of mercury poisoning.[21]

I modded my game to allow smelting of mercury from cinnabar, and it's melting point is set such that it should be a liquid at normal temperature (not that I actually would have any use for it yet).  I just haven't found any cinnabar in this game yet :/

[sweitx]

Of course you would float well in it, but you would still not be able to stand in it, and if you end up face down, well, try coughing up something 13.5 times as dense as water.

If I presume correctly, it'll be sufficient dense for not even drown (you'll have a hard time breathing it in if you're face down).  It'll be nearly impossible to stand in thou (think really slippery floor... with ANY shoes).