Cinnabar (redirected from Mercury sulphide)

cinnabar (sĭn`əbär), mineral, the sulfide of mercury, HgS. Deep red in color, it is used as a pigment (see vermilion), but principally it is a source of the metal mercury. It is mined in Spain, Italy, and in the United States in California. The mercury is obtained from it by roasting, the sulfur combining with oxygen and passing off as sulfur dioxide.

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cinnabar

Cinnabar from Red Devil Mine, north of Homer, Alaska

(credit: Courtesy of the MacFall Collection; photograph, Mary A. Root)

Mercury sulfide (HgS), the chief ore mineral of mercury. It is commonly encountered with pyrite, marcasite, and stibnite in veins near recent volcanic rocks and in hot-springs deposits. It has been used as a bright orange-red pigment in stage makeup (now known to be toxic), painting, and Chinese lacquerwork.

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cinnabar

1. a bright red or brownish-red mineral form of mercuric sulphide (mercury(II) sulphide), found close to areas of volcanic activity and hot springs. It is the main commercial source of mercury. Formula: HgS. Crystal structure: hexagonal

2. the red form of mercuric sulphide (mercury(II) sulphide), esp when used as a pigment

3. a bright red to reddish-orange; vermilion

4. a large red-and-black European moth, Callimorpha jacobaeae: family Arctiidae (tiger moths, etc.)

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cinnabar [′sin·ə‚bär]

(mineralogy)

HgS A vermilion-red mineral that crystallizes in the hexagonal system, although crystals are rare, and commonly occurs in fine, granular, massive form; the only important ore of mercury. Also known as cinnabarite; vermilion.

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Cinnabar 

a mineral of the sulfide group. Chemical composition, HgS; contains 86.2 percent Hg. Cinnabar crystallizes in the trigonal system, forming rhombohedral crystals and fine granular or powdery masses. Red in color, it sometimes exhibits bluish-gray iridescence. Cinnabar is transparent in thin pieces and has a bright adamantine luster. It has a hardness of 2–2.5 on the mineralogical scale and a density of 8,090–8,200 kg/m³. Cinnabar is the most abundant mineral of mercury and is formed in hydrothermal deposits near the surface together with quartz, calcite, barite, antimonite, pyrite, and marcasite, less often with realgar and native gold.

Cinnabar deposits in the USSR are located in the Ukraine (Nikitovka), in Kirghizia (Khaidarken, Chauvai), in the Altai Mountains (Aktash, Chagan-Uzun), and elsewhere. Abroad it is found in Spain (Almadén), Yugoslavia (Alvala), Italy (Idria), and the USA (New Almaden, Calif.). Natural cinnabar serves as a primary raw material in the production of mercury; it is also used in the manufacture of paints, chiefly pigments (watercolors and oils). The ancient Egyptians were the first to use cinnabar in artwork.

G. P. BARSANOV