Is quicksilver actually mercury? : V

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:35 pm

As I was happily smithing myself some elven armor the other day, it occured to me that all these bars of "quicksilver" may actually be what we in the real world call mercury.

If that's true, and the elves make such liberal use of it in the armors, how are they not slowly poisoning themselves to death?

Just a thought.

What do you think?

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:11 pm

...mercury is a liquid at room temperature.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:08 pm

What SirBryghtside said. Also, you need to remember metals (and crafting materials in general) in TES are nothing like the real-world ones; they share the name, but nothing else. Glass is a volcanic rock, ebony is not wood etc.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:39 am

That explains their attitude, " mad as a hater " :shocking:

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:54 am

Its silver...but faster!

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:03 am

ya quicksilver is just some silver colored metal in tes, malchiai...the green rock you mine to make glass isn't anything like its real world counterpart either

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:32 am

In our world quicksilver is just another word for mercury. Mercury amalgams can be in solid form and they have some industrial uses and was frequently used in dentistry. Common mercury amalgams are mercury + tin and mercury + zinc which have dull silver look.

I don't have problem believing that quicksilver in skyrim refers to mercury or mercury alloys.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:24 am

In our world quicksilver is just another word for mercury. Mercury amalgams can be in solid form and they have some industrial uses and was frequently used in dentistry. Common mercury amalgams are mercury + tin and mercury + zinc which have dull silver look.

I don't have problem believing that quicksilver in skyrim refers to mercury or mercury alloys.

See below.

...mercury is a liquid at room temperature.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:50 pm

Nirn =/= Earth

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:51 am

Maybe the pointy ears are sneaking in other things so everyone else is slowly dying when wearing the armor. You never know.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:44 pm

Nah, they just needed to name some extra metals for use in Skyrim smithing, and actual 'real world' metals used in such weapons are pretty much limited to iron and steel (and wood)... so to add variation, they invented the ones you see in the game. But aside from iron and steel, all the other 'metals' in the game are imaginary/invented. Some of the names may sound familiar, but none of them are anything actually used in weapon or armor construction, in our reality.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:49 am

You have ebony ingots as well. Ebony on Earth is a wood, not a metal...

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:18 am

glass is malachite, a gem of sorts

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:03 pm

As I was happily smithing myself some elven armor the other day, it occured to me that all these bars of "quicksilver" may actually be what we in the real world call mercury.

If that's true, and the elves make such liberal use of it in the armors, how are they not slowly poisoning themselves to death?

Just a thought. :biggrin:

What do you think?

If it were mercury, wouldn't it actually end up being heavy armor (ridiculously heavy)?

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:58 am

If it were mercury, wouldn't it actually end up being heavy armor (ridiculously heavy)?

Not if they use in small amounts. Say you can infuse leather with a small amount of quicksilver to make it much stronger.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:47 am

Nirn is a funny amalgam (there's that word again) of things you'd find on Earth and things similar to what you would find here, but not quite. They've made no attempt at giving the world its own unique evolution. Quicksilver is mercury here. On Nirn, not quite.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:28 am

...mercury is a liquid at room temperature.

Terrible choice of armour then.

» Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:02 pm

Terrible choice of armour then.

Mercury + iron is solid though. You can use solid mercury alloy.