Quote Originally Posted by noparlpf View Post
It's possible their numbers are way off, or they're using something completely non-mercury. Oh hey, I just remembered--gallium is a liquid at just above room temperature (29.77°C), which is probably Indian room temperature if my Indian friends describe the heat at all accurately. And the density would be right, 5.91g/cc as a solid at room temperature. (Though it's apparently denser as a liquid at its melting point, like water...so it's possible that it would be a wee bit less dense in a pool of cool water. Still, about the 6g/cc I estimated. Perfect.
That… that just might work. Of course, now I have to ask how many souvenir lingams are actually made as a mercury amalgam, and how many are just Gallium? It probably wouldn't be too difficult to convince someone off the street that the liquid metal you're working with is Mercury which you make it, then sell it as though it were this über-rare solid mercury pendant.