The common Ionic Charges of Mercury (Hg) are 1+ and 2+.
But the question is how can you find the ionic charge on Mercury (Hg)?
Well, mercury is a post-transition element and all the transition and post-transition elements have a variable ionic charge.
The ionic charge of mercury (or any other transition or post transition elements) depends on what it is bonded with.
So let’s try to find out the ionic charge of Mercury (Hg) using some examples.
You can also refer to the below video from which you will learn to find charge of any ion.
How to find the ionic charge of Mercury (Hg)?
As I mentioned earlier, the ionic charge of Mercury (Hg) can be found out by looking at what it is bonded with.
So let’s take examples of compounds of Mercury (Mg) like Hg2Cl2, HgCl2, HgO, Hg2O, etc.
Example 1: Hg2Cl2
In Hg2Cl2, the Mercury (Hg) is bonded to Chlorine (Cl).
You know that the ionic charge of Cl is 1-.
So you can easily say that the ionic charge of Hg should be 1+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Mercury in Hg2Cl2 is 1+.
Example 2: HgCl2
In HgCl2, the Mercury (Hg) is bonded to Chlorine (Cl).
And again, you know that the ionic charge of Cl is 1-.
So here also you can easily say that the ionic charge of Hg should be 2+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Mercury in HgCl2 is 2+.
Example 3: HgO
Similarly in HgO, the Mercury (Hg) is bonded to Oxygen (O).
And you know that the ionic charge of O is 2-.
So from this, you can easily say that the ionic charge of Hg should be 2+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Mercury in HgO is 2+.
In this way, Mercury can have variable charges depending on what it is bonded to.
But as seen from the above examples,
The most common charges of Mercury (Hg) are 1+ and 2+.
I hope you have understood why mercury has variable ionic charges.
Check out some other related topics for your practice.
Related topics:
Charge of Helium (He)
Charge of Gold (Au)
Charge of Cesium (Cs)
Charge on SO2 (Sulfur dioxide)
Charge of Arsenic (As)
Jay is an educator and has helped more than 100,000 students in their studies by providing simple and easy explanations on different science-related topics. With a desire to make learning accessible for everyone, he founded Knords Learning, an online learning platform that provides students with easily understandable explanations.
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