Question

Cinnabar is---
A. ${\text{HgS}}$
B. ${\text{HgO}}$
C. ${\text{HgCl}}$
D. ${\text{HgO}}{\text{.HgCl}}$

Answer 1

Cinnabar is an ore. Ore is a substance that contains minerals and a sufficient amount of metals. The metal which is present in excess in the ore, the ore is used as a source for that metal. Cinnabar is the ore of mercury it contains a high amount of mercury.

Complete answer:
Cinnabar contains mercury in high amounts which is present in the form of sulphide.
So, cinnabar is mercury sulphide. The chemical formula of mercury sulphide is ${\text{HgS}}$.
Cinnabar is produced by volcanic activity and at hot alkaline springs. It is a hexagonal crystalline solid of brick-red colour. Due to the attractive colour it is used as decorative items.
So, Cinnabar is ${\text{HgS}}$.

**Therefore, option (A) ${\text{HgS}}$ is correct.

Additional information: **
Ore is used for the extraction of the metal. Extraction of metal from ore is known as metallurgy. Ore is the primary starting material of metallurgy. Main ore of copper is cuprite and silver is argentite. Aluminium is bauxite. For zinc is zinc blend and calamine. For iron is hematite and magnetite.

Note:
Ore is concentrated to remove the impurities. Sulphide ores are concentrated by the froth flotation method. The concentrated ore is converted into oxide. Sulphide ore is heated into a reverberatory furnace. Oxide is reduced by using a reduction agent. The extracted metal is purified by some method to remove impurities. This process is known as refining. Mercury is refined by distillation. In the distillation method, impure metal is evaporated to obtain pure metal. The distillation method is used for the metal having a low boiling point.