[ozzymandus]

Wouldn't this mercury just sink into the ocean floor?

When I was in high-school chemistry, there was a pint jar about half full of mercury in the supply closet. We used to hold little globs of it in our hands, and that was nearly 40 years ago, so I guess it's not all that deadly unless ingested. The cool part was to drop one of these globs and watch it splatter into zillions of tiny balls.

[GingisK]

zillions of tiny balls

I liked pushing the little balls together to watch them form a bigger ball. I like that stuff. Naturally, I like lead and asbestos as well.

[OCCASparky]

We used to hold little globs of it in our hands, and that was nearly 40 years ago, so I guess it's not all that deadly unless ingested. The cool part was to drop one of these globs and watch it splatter into zillions of tiny balls.

Not necessarily--it can be absorbed through the skin. Back in the 18th and 19th Centuries, hat makers would use mercury to stiffen hat brims but of course not use any protective gear. Insanity is one of the symptoms of mercury poisoning, hence the origin of the phrase, "mad as a hatter."