Mercury(I) oxide, also known as mercurous oxide, is an inorganic metal oxide with the chemical formula Hg2O.

It is a brown/black powder, insoluble in water but soluble in nitric acid. With hydrochloric acid, it reacts to form calomel, Hg2Cl2.[4] Mercury(I) oxide is toxic but without taste or smell. It is chemically unstable and converts to mercury(II) oxide and mercury metal.

References

  1. ^ a b Chambers, Michael. "ChemIDplus - 15829-53-5 - RPZHFKHTXCZXQV-UHFFFAOYSA-N - Mercurous oxide - Similar structures search, synonyms, formulas, resource links, and other chemical information". Chem.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Mercuric oxide MSDS". sciencelab.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11.
  3. ^ "Mercury(I) oxide". pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  4. ^ Perry, Dale L. (2011). Handbook of Inorganic Compounds (2nd ed.). Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis. p. 270. ISBN 978-1-4398-1461-1. OCLC 587104373.