As a former model maker for advertising, I once did a job for a tech client that required “molten” silver metal. I foolishly thought that we could build a temporary vapor recovery booth in the studio and use real mercury if we were really, really careful. Wrong.
The MSDS for mercury is an amazing and convincing read (did you know that one of the astounding side effects of mercury poisoning is the inability to accept criticism?).
We quickly decided to abandon mercury in any form or fashion and settled for using gallium. We used a gallon or so, which was quite heavy. Getting rid of it properly was actually more work than getting the stuff in the first place.
It wasn’t nearly as much fun as mercury, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. The only downside with it for “play” or photography purposes is that it quickly develops a dark gray scum on the top from atmospheric contamination, so the silveriness doesn’t last that long before you need to skim the top.
