Question

Which one of the following is false for Hg?
(a) It can evolve hydrogen from ${{H}_{2}}S$
(b) It is metal
(c) it has a high specific heat
(d) It is less reactive than hydrogen

Answer 1

Hint: Mercury is a liquid metal and comes under the category of the d-block elements and to identify the correct statement we should know about the physical and chemical properties of the mercury and then, you can easily answer the given statement.

Complete step by step answer:
Mercury is metal under the category of the d-block elements i.e. the transition metals.
- d-block or the transition metals are those metals that lie in between the s and p-block elements and hence, thus their properties li8es in between the properties of the s and p-block elements.
- Mercury lies in the 6th period and the 12th group of the periodic table and has the atomic number as 80 and mass number as 200 and has the fully filled stable electronic configuration in its outermost valence shell.
- The value of the specific heat for the mercury is very high and is very less reactive than the hydrogen according to the spectrochemical series and thus, it cannot displace the hydrogen gas from ${{H}_{2}}S$.
So, thus from all these points, it is clear that mercury cannot evolve hydrogen from ${{H}_{2}}S$.
So, the correct answer is “Option A”.

Note: Mercury easily reacts with other metals i.e. gold, silver, tin, etc., and thus forms the
amalgams with these metals. It is commonly used in batteries, thermometers, lights, laboratories, diffusion pumps, etc.