Mercury as armor

[Aldarion]

Soo... is this post actually true? Would mercury be usable as an armor for ice demons, and what would the advantages/disadvantages be?

 

[pmmg]

Well...a spearhead might be a stretch as the blade is on the end of a pole, far away from the flesh...

But...why would a demon need it. Isn't being a demon enough?

 

[Prince of Spires]

There is of course more to armour than just tensile strength, but I'm too lazy to actually look up solid mercury's other properties...

I think the main issue is that you are now wearing armour that requires constant energy to function. You're basically strapping ice cubes to your body and trying to prevent them from melting. It's like a reverse coat, where instead of keeping you warm, you are trying to keep your coat cold.

Google tells me Mercury has a low heat capacity (meaning that it requires little heat to warm 1 degree), and a high thermal conductivity, meaning it moves heat very fast. It's why it's used in thermometers. So your armour would basically be dripping off your demon constantly.

Also, the fact that it melts so others can't loot the armor isn't much reason, since the demon would be dead when that occurs. You wouldn't care what happens to your armor then. And maybe the adventurers are after mercury, say because they're in the thermometer business, so you're now a prime mining opportunity...

 

[Karlin]

There was a sherlock holmes tory in which the murder weapon was a crossbow- but the bolt was made of ice. so when they found the body, there was an inexplicable hole in its chest

 

[AlexS]

Also, the fact that it melts so others can't loot the armor isn't much reason, since the demon would be dead when that occurs. You wouldn't care what happens to your armor then. And maybe the adventurers are after mercury, say because they're in the thermometer business, so you're now a prime mining opportunity...

The Demon may not care the armor is looted, but the Demon Prince who's in charge of a horde of 10,000 Demons may care if his dead subordinates' weapons constantly ended up in non-Demon hands.

 

[JBCrowson]

The density might be an issue though. Even as a liquid mercury is denser than most metals. Of the metals most of us have heard of and might get to touch (unless you're a Russian spy) only gold, tungsten, and platinum are denser. So armour made of solid mercury would be twice as heavy as same size steel armour.