Would mercury be a good WC coolant?

[jak731]

The idea sprung to mind and i thought i would have little look into it, here is the basics i found for mercury vs water:

Advantages:

Far higher thermal conductivity (8.30  W·m−1·K−1 vs 0.58 W·m−1·K−1)
Not likely to get anything growing in it, possibly more reliable, less/no corrosion?
Larger liquid phase than water (-38 to 350 degrees centigrade)

Disadvantages:

Higher viscosity
Lower heat capacity
Hard to get ahold of
High electrical conductivity, would be bad if their was a leak
Toxic

It doesn't seem like anyone has tried mercury for WC a pc before, wondering if their is something basic i've missed.

 

[*Chris]

It's worth a thought, but imo after it started get hot after long long use it would be very difficult to cool down (wouldnt flow very well)

+ it's heavy, would be difficult to pump round / set up

 

[benjo plz.]

^ as said it's heavy, gallium would be a better choice.

most importantly, it's extremely toxic, and is also very harmful for the environment.

 

[pingwing]

Plus if you spilt it/it leaked on your carpet or something you have one very very nasty mess (worse that water and electricity probably...)

 

[jak731]

Seems like its poisness nature is reason enough to outweigh the advantages, and as stated would probably require some pretty good pumps. Could look very good with clear tubing though

 

[muon]

Also, how expensive is mercury?

 

[LanceCrossfire]

using a planet that close to the sun isnt a great idea for cooling your pc now is it? ^^

 

[Greebo]

Using a dead lead singer of a pop group isn't advisable either.

 

[AtreuS]

In theory yes it would be better, if you could get the pumps to work well enough with the higher viscocity of mercury.

However like has been said its very expensive, very difficuly to safely handle and very toxic. Get some on your skin and its not good for your health

 

[tres]

it is brilliant stuff, i remember our chemistry teacher let us play with a bowl of it, only for a few minutes though.

looking back, a few minutes is quite a long time.

 

[PhillyDee]

it is brilliant stuff, i remember our chemistry teacher let us play with a bowl of it, only for a few minutes though.

looking back, a few minutes is quite a long time.

 

[tres]

Must be about 8 or 9 years ago (24 now..)

we got to pick some up in the palm of our hands, push down on it in a bowl, submerge fingers etc..

 

[dillingerdan]

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't mercury expand, like not just a small amount, under heat? You'd need a MASSIVE reservoir to contain it, and it would dip up and down, so you could never fill it with certainty that 1 day it wouldn't spill out of the top either.

 

[Rob--]

i thought mercury is like super dangerous?

 

[Nutbusta]

i thought mercury is like super dangerous?

Yeah, but we have no fear of danger!

We're overclockers

 

[pingwing]

Tis, the hours i played it on my girfriends psp is insane! it clearly wouldnt do too well to cool anything (let alone a pc)

he he he

 

[p4radox]

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't mercury expand, like not just a small amount, under heat? You'd need a MASSIVE reservoir to contain it, and it would dip up and down, so you could never fill it with certainty that 1 day it wouldn't spill out of the top either.

That's what I was thinking.

Although it's not as significant as you might think. The only reason mercury thermometers are so useful is that there's a relatively large reservoir of mercury in the base and a tall thin tube that makes a small expansion a bit more obvious.

 

[clv101]

it is brilliant stuff, i remember our chemistry teacher let us play with a bowl of it, only for a few minutes though.

looking back, a few minutes is quite a long time.

Me too... back when teachers were real teachers, students were real students yada yada yada...

 

[Greebo]

Me too... back when teachers were real teachers, students were real students yada yada yada...

And putting peices of sodium and potassium in water bowls and watch it fizz from side to side before popping, filling a coffee tin with gas and when the air/gas mixture hits the right combination blowing the lid off.

I always remember my mate going to the front of the class and collecting his peice of sodium and carrying to the back of the class in the palm of his hand and then saying to the teacher "Sir, what are we meant to do with this again?" to which the teacher said "DROP IT NOW!"

Those were the times.

 

[sulli]

Those were the days. Dont reckon kids these days are allowed near fun stuff like magnesium, sodium and pottasium without a full protective suit. I used to love mixing iron oxide powder and magnesium just ignite and look at the pretty flames oooooh.