What is Red Mercury?

[MrPrax]

What is Red Mercury?

Three men have been cleared of trying to procure the raw ingredients for a "dirty bomb" which the prosecution claimed could have devastated a British city if it fell into the hands of terrorists. But mystery surrounds the material at the centre of the plot. So what exactly is red mercury?

The most bizarre aspect of the trial of Abdurahman Kanyare and his two co-defendants was the fact that no-one in the court could be certain whether the terrifying substance on which the entire prosecution case was based actually existed.

The prosecutor, Mark Ellison, admitted the police had no idea if there even was such a thing as red mercury - supposedly the main ingredient for a "dirty bomb" which could have devastated London.

But he told the jury at the outset: "The Crown's position is that whether red mercury does or does not exist is irrelevant."
...
The trial heard that when detectives checked Dominick Martins' computer after his arrest they found evidence that he had been scouring the internet trying to find out about red mercury.

He was particularly interested by an article, by Dr Anne Marie Helmenstine, which was posted on the About.com website.


BBC

When the public finally gets some of the details about these 'terrorists', it turns out that 'our side' is far far scarier than any fuckin' bomb these might be planning...far scarier.

Cinnibar = red mercury

THE MINERAL CINNABAR

* Chemistry: HgS, Mercury Sulfide
* Class: Sulfides and Sulfosalts
* Uses: primary ore of mercury, a pigment and as a minerals specimen.
* Specimens

Cinnabar is a colorful mineral that adds a unique color to the mineral color palette. Its cinnamon to scarlet red color can be very attractive. Well shaped crystals are uncommon and the twinned crystals are considered classics among collectors. The twinning in cinnabar is distinctive and forms a penetration twin that is ridged with six ridges surrounding the point of a pryamid. It could be thought of as two scalahedral crystals grown together with one crystal going the opposite way of the other crystal. Cinnabar was mined by the Roman Empire for its mercury content and it has been the main ore of mercury throughout the centuries. Some mines used by the Romans are still being mined today. Cinnabar shares the same symmetry class with quartz but the two form different crystal habits.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

* Color is a bright scarlet or cinnamon red to a brick red.
* Luster is adamantine to submetallic in darker specimens.
* Transparency crystals are translucent to transparent.
* Crystal System is trigonal; 32
* Crystal Habits: individual, well formed, large crystals are scarce; crusts and crystal complexes are more common; may be massive, or in capilary needles. Crystals that are found tend to be the six sided trigonal scalahedrons that appear to have opposing three sided pyramids. It also forms modified rhombohedrons, prismatic and twinned crystals as discribed above.
* Cleavage is perfect in three directions, forming prisms.
* Fracture is uneven to splintery.
* Hardness is 2 - 2.5.
* Specific Gravity is approximately 8.1+ (very heavy for a non-metallic mineral)
* Streak is red
* Associated Minerals are realgar, pyrite, dolomite, quartz, stibnite and mercury.
* Other Characteristics: silghtly sectile and crystals can be striated.
* Notable Occurances include Almaden, Spain; Idria, Serbia; Hunan Prov., China and California, Oregon, Texas, and Arkansas, USA.
* Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, density, cleavage, softness and color.

The First Internet Rock Shop!

OMG...I googled 'red mercury' and cinnibar...I'm toast

[Orrex]

1. My father drove a red Mercury when I was little

I recall that it had a really loud horn.

[bigworld]

2. freddie mercury's brother? nt

[BrotherBuzz]

6. I had a silver Mercury

it had a V-8 and was a quicksilver little car.

[MrPrax]

8. I had a Ford Red Granada...

small block 8...coupe

If it was a Monarch...then I could have had a Red Mercury too!!



I wished!!!


My was more like this one...currently available for parts. I got good coin for one of the doors and lense caps!!

[Joe Bacon]

36. My first car was a red 1970 1/2 Gremlin.

Base model, no power anything. Manual transmission with unsynchronized first gear, windshield wiper worked off the engine vacuum. I paid $1,970.50 for it, brand new...

[ozone_man]

39. I’m crazy 'bout a Mercury

From the Mercury Blues.

If I had money tell you what I'd do
I'd go downtown and buy a Mercury or two
I’m crazy 'bout a Mercury, I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

- David Lindley

[Buzz Clik]

3. and this:

[jimbot]

4. From wiki

Red mercury is a semi-mythical substance that was claimed to be used in the creation of nuclear bombs (some believed that red mercury was a ballotechnic material). It was supposed that red mercury is an incredibly powerful conventional explosive that can be used in the making of small and highly portable fusion bombs (H-bombs) or red mercury WMD.

Adding on edit for relevance: It rose to prominence due to "sting" operations against putative terrorists. These consist of offering them "red mercury" and then arresting them when they make arrangements to buy this fictitious substance.

Link is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury

--JT

[QuettaKid]

5. You could ask Delmart Vreeland. . . .

if anyone has his number these days.

[ret5hd]

9. now THAT was a bizarre little sideshow, wasn't it?

[QuettaKid]

10. more bizarre than we will ever know. nt.

.

[Kagemusha]

7. I saw a truly crazy show all about this substance years ago.

About people trying to get it out of the former Soviet Union.

If you go by the description of cinnibar above, red mercury is mercury trapped in red ore that has not been yet extracted to create... plain old mercury.

Based on this, one would assume that buying mercury thermometers in bulk would be a terrorist's first step in creating a dirty bomb.

Edit: Though other posters said what it really was supposed to be. I only saw the last half of the crazy show years ago, see, so I missed some of the juicy details.

I wonder if you could get arrested for trying to buy Kryptonite for a criminal purpose.

[Kagemusha]

31. The Guardian provides the final word on the subject.

"Red mercury was described by the News of the World as "a deadly substance developed by cold war Russian scientists for making briefcase nuclear bombs". In fact it was invented by Soviet intelligence for cold war sting operations."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1830215,00.html

I am soooo not surprised.

[seemslikeadream]

11. However, the Russium tritium fusion bomb is more interesting...

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/chemicalweapons/f/blredmercury.htm

The science newsgroups have been a-buzz with tales of a 2-kiloton yield Russian red mercury fusion device, theoretically in the possession of terrorists. This, of course, prompts the question: What Is Red Mercury? The answer to this question depends largely on whom you ask. Is red mercury real? Absolutely, but definitions vary. If you had asked me before I did a bit of Internet research, I would have given you the standard cinnabar/vermillion answer. However, the Russium tritium fusion bomb is more interesting...

[wtmusic]

19. Let me guess...mercury fuses into gold,

makes the enemy rich, and they die from decadence!

Bah. A measly 2KT yield for a fusion weapon has to be a joke.

[et in Arcadia ego]

12. It's called Mercury sulfide

It used to be a main ingredient in red tattoo ink for several decades. Tattoo folklore says that the turn of the century tattooers(early 20th, not 21st) used to smash open thermometers in order to obtain the bright red material at the very bottom. Only problem was it's extreme toxicity and the fact that once in the body, it behaves the same way as it does in the thermometer; it expands with heat, making the skin extremely itchy and painful. There was still some of it floating around as late as the early 90's. I have a small portion of it in my right arm.

So I guess anyone buying thermometers at Walmart should be tossed into Quantico and Interpol's database or sumthin..

[dipsydoodle]

13. Sound about as airy fairy as

white gold. Search white gold + pyramids sometime to see what I mean - alleged to be gravity free and hence used to move pyramid stones.

[freethought]

14. Claims about "Red Mercury" are nothing new

They have been going on for years. Red Mercury is said-emphasis on the word 'said'- to be a product of the Cold War developed by the Soviet Union. With mercury it was rumored that the soviet performed an 'alchemy' that turned the Mercury red. Its use was to be the equivalent to a neutron bomb, which, if detonated- would not cause much physical damage but would unleash hyper-lethal levels of radiation.

Rumors of red mercury have been going on for years. Investigators who supposedly make contact with black marketeers that can provide a sample usually wind up getting a small sample of some mercury salt or compound like mercuric oxide that, coincidentally, is red.

Look, as far as I remember, no person has been able to procure even the smallest amount of this stuff, nor do I remember any scientist(s) making claims that they had a hand in creating it. It could be the feds do know the truth and simply aren't telling. Who knows!

I'll give my 2 cents. The Soviets were actually pretty good at the intelligence game. In at least one situation the Soviets were able to create the belief in the American intel and military circles that they had a weapon or some sort of technology they didn't actually have. This would actually drive the Americans to develop a counter weapon and spending millions or billions to do it. Who is to say that Red Mercury isn't the same sort of deception that sort of took on a life of its own. Much in the same way that some people still believe in the Loch Ness monster.

Until science can actually shows it, it would be health to treat Red Mercury with skepticism.

[Kagemusha]

32. See my post #31

Apparently the British media know for a fact it really WAS a fake substance used for sting ops by Russian intel.

[whistle]

15. I googled "red mercury as a weapon" and found these links...

<snip>
The CIA says it doesn't exist. Terrorists and rogue nations have offered to pay millions of dollars to procure it. Scientists fear its lethal potential.

RED MERCURY - this ominous name has been long-whispered among the operatives in the nuclear underground and in the dark avenues of international espionage.

Red Mercury is a compound containing mercury that has undergone massive irradiation. When exploded, it creates tremendous heat and pressure - the same type needed to trigger a fusion device such as a mini-neutron bomb.

Do terrorist organizations now have red mercury neutron bombs? Some scientists say that with the help of red mercury, nuclear weapons of unimagined power could be contained in a package smaller than a softball, and easily hidden in cities all over the world.

The Potential is Frighteningly Real!


Click Here Can You Survive
The Bioterrorist Threat
of the 21st Century?A Special Report By Commander XDeadly New Terrorist Super Weapon
Nuclear, Chemical and Bioterrorist
Threats of the 21st Century

http://uforeview.tripod.com/redmercury.html

It sounds like it is the trigger for neutron bombs. Bigger more powerful blasts in smaller packages!

<other links>
http://www.gamershell.com/xbox/shadow_ops_red_mercury/review.html

http://www.manuelsweb.com/sam_cohen.htm

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/douglass/2003/0311.htm

[et in Arcadia ego]

18. Here's another one that doesn't come from LaLa Land

http://www.dermnetnz.org/reactions/tattoo-reaction.html

[sgxnk]

16. on inchoate crimes

the issue of intent NOT reality is key

so, the fact that red mercury as some sort of superneato bomb stuff does not exist (if true) is irrelevant

i'll give you a case law analogy

Johnny intends to kill Frank, while frank sleeps this evening. They are roommates

At 03:00 am, Frank dies in his sleep of natural causes (unbeknownst to Johnny).

at 03:15 am, Johnny walks into Frank's room, sees what he THINKS is Frank's sleeping body (but is actually Frank's DEAD body), and shoots the body.

What crime is he guilty of (besides desecration of a corpse) :)

he is guilty of ATTEMPTED MURDER!

but Frank is already dead

100% irrelevant that Frank is dead, and that Johnny could not have killed him no matter how hard he tried

bearing in mind this reality of criminal law, i think helps put the red mercury thing in focus. i could give other examples of inchoate and other type crimes that fall under this same concept

rens mea baybee

it's what's for dinner

[leveymg]

23. Bad intent (Mens rea) is one element of a homicide or conspiracy charge.

There has to be some action taken to advance the crime toward completion. Just sitting around Googling Red Mercury won't get an indictment. Baybee. At least, that's the way it was when constitutional protections still existed.

Red Mercury is a fictional component of a fictional miniaturized Soviet suitcase bomb. It's also the name of a video game involving a terrorist attack using said fictional bomb. That's probably where these idiots got the idea.

Guess you can go to jail for Googling Space Invaders. They have ray guns and WMD crap too.

[sgxnk]

24. correct

i haven;'t read the PC cert., so i don't know specific case facts.

i'm just saying, assuming this was some sort of conspiracy case, etc. that IF in fact there is no such nifty keen bomb element called red mercury, that that is kinda irrelevant under many state statutes and probably the fed statutes

these of course vary. in some jurisdictions, for instance, a conspiracy has to involve two (or more) bona fide participants. thus, if a police officer (undercover) conspires with a criminal, that is not prosecutable as a conspiracy to commit XXX... there has to be a third party

however, in many other states, the conspirator (1/2 the conspiracy) can be an agent, and that still qualifies

[fshrink]

17. Hitchcock called it the "McGuffin".

Nobody knows exactly what that is, but everybody is running after it. Without McGuffin, there's no plot, without plot there's no captivated audience, without captivated audience there is no assholes and idiots ruling the world.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. And quite an audience it gathered here at DU

eg http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x23813

The originator of that thread outed himself on 2004 election night as a troll. No-one pushed the red mercury/radioactive bomb/Twin Cities/Vreeland story more. Another lucky site still has him as a member, where they believe his password just happened to get cracked on election night and the hacker sent messages saying he was a troll.

[MrPrax]

27. Good call...

I remember those dumb threads. For a time there Vreeland and the BCCI did everything, including assassinating Kennedy. It was eventually all tied to Mesa, AK and you know who.

I am on the other hand a little disappointed that the 'red mercury' angle is attracting MORE attention here that the substance of the story itself, which has to do with clueless intelligence people running around fabricating yarns to implicate innocent people to pursue overall objectives of a fascist state.

It would be better if all they did was fabricate these yarns on forums and in the news...it gets scary when you hear it from Prosecutors in a court and it's your computer.

[Ediacara]

21. Another "Red Mercury" is element 114

Bob Lazar (of Area 51 fame) claims that there is a stability zone from elements of about 112-116 where radioactivity doesn't happen. Red Mercury is what the guys at Area 51 supposedly call element 114 because it's reddish and liquid. It also supposedly the fuel that powers the space ships of the Grey Aliens.

At least according to Bob Lazar. :eyes:

[nealmhughes]

22. Red Mercury is used in the Q-bomb.

It was invented by Professor Alfred Koknitz in the Duchy of Grand Fenwick in the late 1950s. It is capable of reducing the land mass of Eurasia or North America to cinders upon detination. Luckily, Tully Bascombe, hereditary lead archer of the Royal Fenwickian Army and hereditary head forester, was able to invade the USA successfully and rescue the Q-Bomb back to Fenwick where it was actually disarmed by a mouse, to noone's knowledge, allowing the USA and the USSR to keep on the straight and narrow.

And that, boys and girls, is Red Mercury.

Unless it is a specific motor car made by the Ford/Lincoln-Mercury corporation of a reddish hue.

[MrPrax]

26. One of Seller's best...

A real gem...

It stands up to some of the better British satires like 'Man in the White Suit' or 'Passport to Pimlico'...

According to IMDB, Sellers wanted avehicle to showcase his ability to do multiple roles like his idol Alec Guinness.

Hard to beat Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets...which might be the best example in film of this.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Sellers may have beaten Guinness in Dr. Strangelove

filmed a few years after The Mouse That Roared, of course.

[daleo]

25. Red Mercury is nothing, imagine the power of this one:

"The philosopher's stone, in Latin philosophi lapis, is a legendary substance that supposedly could turn inexpensive metals into gold and/or create an elixir that would make humans younger, thus delaying death."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone

The person who controlled this would have wealth and power beyond their wildest dreams. We should make it a crime, and incarcerate all potential alchemists.

[Kailassa]

38. And that was actually

the dried menstrual blood of (presumably female) space aliens, and it was through taking this that the patriarchs of Old Testament fame could live forever. However the aliens got angry with humanity and withdrew their supply, so these pampered oldies all carked it.

I know because I read it on the internet somewhere.

:beer:

[benEzra]

29. Gasp! I once saw the plans for PHOTON TORPEDOES at the library!

And dilithium crystallic warp cores, too! Somebody call DHS!!

[TheCentepedeShoes]

30. I knew someone

in college who owned a red Mercury. Wonder where he is now...hmmmm....

[XemaSab]

33. It's common in the coast range in California

:shrug:

[struggle4progress]

34. What is red mercury? (Guardian Sep 04)

David Adam
Thursday September 30, 2004
The Guardian

The only thing we can be sure of is that it's a ripping yarn. Rumours that Soviet nuclear experts had produced a mysterious explosive material with unimaginable destructive power first circulated in the 1970s, and despite several official investigations and subsequent denials the story refuses to die. The near-mythical compound cropped up again on Sunday, when the News of the World claimed it had foiled a terrorist plot to buy red mercury as material for a dirty bomb.

Depending on who you believe, red mercury is either an elaborate hoax, a codename for nuclear material smuggled through the former iron curtain, or a terrifying new trigger for a handheld hydrogen bomb. What it isn't, according to the speculation and hearsay that makes up the scientific literature on the subject, is any use for a dirty bomb (one that scatters radioactive material) ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/story/0,12977,1315466,00.html

[Canuckistanian]

35. Ah yes, red mercury

Better known by it's chemical name, unobtanium.

[drm604]

37. Don't you guys know anything?

It's an important component of an Illudium Q-32 Explosive Space Modulator. :D

[NoodleyAppendage]

40. I've got some brown carbon for the cinnibar fear mongers. n/t

J