Question

Cinnabar is the ore of ______
A.Lead
B.Silver
C.Mercury
D.Gold

Answer 1

Cinnabar is known as toxic ore and is of bright red color. As gold and silver are not toxic and the remaining two are toxic. And also, lead is of black or grayish colour.

Complete step by step answer:

Cinnabar is a toxic mercury sulfide mineral which has a chemical composition of ${H_2}S$. There is only one important ore of mercury which is cinnabar ore. Its physical characteristics are that it is bright right In color and which is why it is used as a pigment.
It is also being carved in jewelry and ornaments for thousands of years and in many parts of the world. As it is known in studies that it is toxic then its uses as a pigment and in jewelry is discontinued.
Cinnabar ore is a hydrothermal mineral that precipitates from hot water and vapours as they move from fractured rocks. It is formed at a shallow depth where the temperature is found to be less than that of $200^\circ C$.
It is generally formed in the rocks which are surrounded by the geological volcanic activity and can also form near hot springs. Cinnabar tends to deposit in the fractured rocks as a filling and also as a coatings of the rock.
The red color of the cinnabar is the most striking property. It has the hardness of $2 - 2.5$ (Mohs hardness) and it can be easily ground to a very fine powder. It has a specific gravity of $8.1$ which is basically extremely high for a non-metallic mineral.
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material.
The luster of cinnabar ranges from the dull to adamantine. Specimens who have a dull luster are usually massive and it contains high amounts of impurity and also does not have the brilliant red color of cinnabar whereas, adamantine specimens are usually very rarely found crystals.
Gangue minerals that are associated with the cinnabar ore are quartz, calcite, dolomite and barite. Sometimes small drops of liquid mercury are present on or near cinnabar.
Therefore, Option C is correct.

Note:
Gangue is the commercially valueless material in which the ore is found. Toxicity of cinnabar, as a mineral ore of mercury cinnabar is hazardous material. And it should be treated as a toxic substance. It should not be handled or used with students and should always be stored with a label that warns unknowing people.