[grey_whiskers]

Hmm, what’s the nuclear binding energy for Mercury compared to Gold?

[Jonty30]

Almost identical, it seems.

Comparison
Mercury-200: Total binding energy ≈ 1571.89 MeV, B/A ≈ 7.86 MeV/nucleon
Gold-197: Total binding energy ≈ 1548.95 MeV, B/A ≈ 7.86 MeV/nucleon
The binding energy per nucleon for both Hg-200 and Au-197 is nearly identical at ~7.86 MeV/nucleon, indicating similar nuclear stability per nucleon. However, Hg-200 has a slightly higher total binding energy due to its larger number of nucleons (200 vs. 197).

[Rio]

Looks like Hg197 decays naturally...

Radioactive Decay
Half-life T½ = 64.14(5) h (hours) respectively 2.30904 × 105 seconds s.

Decay
mode Daughter Probability Decay energy γ energy
(intensity)
EC 197Au 100 % 0.600(3) MeV