My friend recently got a small amount of Mercury on her hand. Since then her gold rings now appear silver. Why has this happened, and what can we do about it?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

Well, the first thing is to tell your friend to keep mercury away from her skin and not to breath it in because mercury is toxic. She should only touch this ring with gloves on.

Mercury bonds very easily to other metals (a good thing, since this spills easier to clean up), but it also means that it bonds to things such as rings easily.

Mercury is fairly volatile, so it may actually evaporate if there isn't too much and she gives it time (Opossibly a couple months). Until then, she should not touch it and leave it in a well-ventilated area.

Polishing it will remove the mercury, but it will remove some of the gold as well.

Because I have access to it, I would dip it in nitric acid, but this isn't exactly a household item.

If she's willing to spend the money, the best solution would be to bring it to a jewelry shop where they will be able to fix it.