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Metallic Element

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guhorwine | 10:35 Mon 24th Jun 2013 | Science
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What is the only metallic element that can be solid, liquid or gas?
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Mercury
Mercury is liquid and gas at normal temperatures and can be solidified with cooling.
Many metals can be solid liquid or gas. It depends on the temperature.
Mercury is the only metallic element that is a liquid at "normal" temperatures. As all liquids have a vapour pressure, there will also be mercury vapour at normal temperatures. Mercury freezes at about -39ºC, so it would not work in a thermometer in Arctic or Antarctic conditions. Bromine is the only other element that is liquid at "normal" temperatures. It freezes at -7.2ºC.
But, given the right temperature and pressure, and the absence of other elements or compounds that might react, all the elements, metallic or not, can be solid, liquid, or gas.
We were taught at school that there were three states of matter, solid, liquid and gas.

In fact there a many more but one does not have to go to QuarkSoup or Bose-Einstein condensate to see them.

A very common form of matter where the elements is still itself is the Plasma and it aught to be included in the common states of matter taught to children.
Depending how warm day it is, there are other metals that can be liquid at room temperature. Caesium (melting point 28C), Francium (27C) and Gallium (30C). It's stretching it a bit to include Rubidium (39C).
all of them.

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