noun
definition
An alloy containing mercury.
definition
A combination of different things.
definition
One of the ingredients in an alloy.
Examples of amalgams in a Sentence
By the addition of sodium amalgam to a concentrated solution of ammonium chloride, the so-called ammonium amalgam is obtained as a spongy mass which floats on the surface of the liquid; it decomposes readily at ordinary temperatures into ammonia and hydrogen; it does not reduce silver and gold salts, a behaviour which distinguishes it from the amalgams of the alkali metals, and for this reason it is regarded by some chemists as being merely mercury inflated by gaseous ammonia and hydrogen.
As soon as he was able to work again he attempted to obtain the metals of the alkaline earths by the same methods as he had used for those of the fixed alkalis, but they eluded his efforts and he only succeeded in preparing them as amalgams with mercury, by a process due to Berzelius.
With mercury it forms amalgams. Bismuth is a component of many ternary alloys characterized by their low fusibility and expansion in solidification; many of them are used in the arts (see Fusible Metal).
It also forms amalgams with mercury, and on this account has been employed in dentistry for the purpose of stopping (or filling) teeth.
New amalgams and methods of colouring have been discovered, and fresh forms have been diligently studied.
Many amalgams are formed by the direct contact of a metal with mercury, sometimes with absorption, sometimes with evolution, of heat.
Some amalgams are liquids, especially when containing a large proportion of mercury; others assume a crystalline form.
In some cases definite compounds have been isolated from amalgams which may be regarded as mixtures of one or more of such compounds with mercury in excess.
A current cause for concern is the emission of mercury from dental amalgams.