Q Mintz is one of the largest and fastest-growing online platforms dedicated to high-quality Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) for students, job seekers, and professionals. Our mission is to provide reliable, accurate, and up-to-date learning material that helps users prepare effectively for school exams, competitive tests, departmental assessments, and job interviews.
At Q Mintz, we believe that consistent practice leads to success.
Search
Which is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature?
A. Mercury
B. Silver
C. Lead
D. Aluminium
Correct Answer Is Option = Mercury
Notes / Explanation
The only metal that is liquid at ordinary room temperature is mercury, which is unusual among the metals because, while nearly all metals are solid at room temperature, mercury is a liquid. Metals are a group of elements that generally share certain properties, such as being shiny, being good conductors of heat and electricity, and being solid at ordinary temperatures, so that we usually think of metals as hard, solid materials. Mercury, however, although it is a metal and has some of the properties of metals, such as being shiny and being a conductor, is a liquid at room temperature, being the only metal that is so. It is a heavy, silvery liquid, and because it is a liquid metal, it has a number of special uses and properties. In the past, mercury was widely used in certain instruments, such as some thermometers, in which the mercury, being a liquid that expands and contracts evenly as the temperature changes, was used to measure temperature, and in certain other instruments used to measure pressure. However, it is important to be aware that mercury is a poisonous substance, harmful to health, and its use has therefore been reduced, and care must be taken in handling it, so that in many applications where it was once used it has been replaced by safer alternatives. Mercury is found in nature in certain minerals, from which it can be obtained. Because of its unusual property of being a liquid metal, and its silvery, flowing appearance, mercury has long been an object of interest. It is named after a swift figure of ancient mythology, perhaps because of the quick, flowing way in which the liquid metal moves. The study of the elements and their properties, including unusual ones such as the liquid metal mercury, is a part of chemistry. For PPSC and other competitive examinations, the key points to remember are that the only metal that is liquid at ordinary room temperature is mercury, that while nearly all metals are solid at room temperature, mercury is a heavy, silvery liquid, that it was in the past widely used in instruments such as some thermometers and pressure-measuring instruments because it is a liquid that responds evenly to changes of temperature, and that it is a poisonous substance, so that its use has been reduced and care must be taken in handling it.
