Red mercury

Red Mercury or Red mercury is a speculative term and is used to denote different chemical substances that might actually exist or hypothetical or merely fantastic or mysterious speculations come. There is no chemical substance which is thus correctly identified. The element Mercury is in pure form only in a silver gray modification. In nature, it is usually in conjunction with sulfur in the presence ( HgS ). This mineral called cinnabar or vermilion is red in color.

According to a publication in " Nucleonics Week" in 1993 the term " Красная ртуть " days of the Soviet Union as a code for the lithium isotope 6Li ( " lithium -6") was ( " Red Mercury " or "Red Mercury" ) are used. 6Li is used as a component of the fusion fuel 6Li deuteride ( a isotopomer of lithium hydride ) for the fusion part of a Teller- Ulam bomb ( " Sakharov's Third Idea" ) is required. For the production of lithium-6 large amounts of mercury, which the lithium in the final remainder of - a gel-like substance of bright red color - contaminating to a certain degree, without adversely affecting the application.

References in the film

• In the film R.E.D. 2 from the year 2013 in Moscow there is a nuclear bomb of red mercury.