Amalgam (chemistry)
![Arquerite, a natural amalgam of silver and mercury](/Images/godic/202502/04/Amalgam-2006752256.jpg")
![An amalgam dental filling](/Images/godic/202502/04/Filling2256.jpg")
![Interior of the Deadwood Terra Gold Stamp Mill. Crushed ore is washed over mercury coated copper sheets, and fine gold particles form an amalgam with the mercury. The amalgam was scraped off and the gold then separated from the amalgam by heating and evaporating the mercury which was then recovered by a condenser for reapplication to the plates](/Images/godic/202502/04/Grabill_-_Clean_Up_day_at_the_Deadwood_Terra_Gold_Stamp_Mill2257.jpg")
![The amalgam probe](/Images/godic/202502/04/Amalgamprobe2257.jpg")
An amalgam is an alloy of mercury with another metal. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, the notable exceptions being iron, platinum, tungsten, and tantalum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore.