Editing Alloy (section)

=== Amalgams ===

[[Mercury (element)|Mercury]] has been smelted from [[cinnabar]] for thousands of years. Mercury dissolves many metals, such as gold, silver, and tin, to form [[amalgam (chemistry)|amalgams]] (an alloy in a soft paste or liquid form at ambient temperature). Amalgams have been used since 200 BC in China for [[gilding]] objects such as [[armor]] and [[mirror]]s with precious metals. The ancient Romans often used mercury-tin amalgams for gilding their armor. The amalgam was applied as a paste and then heated until the mercury vaporized, leaving the gold, silver, or tin behind.<ref>Rapp, George (2009) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ed0yC98aAKYC&pg=PA180 ''Archaeomineralogy''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428005752/https://books.google.com/books?id=ed0yC98aAKYC&pg=PA180 |date=2016-04-28 }}. Springer. p. 180. {{ISBN|3-540-78593-0}}</ref> Mercury was often used in mining, to extract precious metals like gold and silver from their ores.<ref>Miskimin, Harry A.  (1977) [https://books.google.com/books?id=QE04AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA31 ''The economy of later Renaissance Europe, 1460–1600''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505181953/https://books.google.com/books?id=QE04AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA31 |date=2016-05-05 }}. Cambridge University Press. p. 31. {{ISBN|0-521-29208-5}}.</ref>