Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white metal. As compared to other metals, it is a poor conductor of heat, but a fair conductor of electricity.Mercury has a freezing point of 38.83 °C and a boiling point of 356.73 °C,both exceptionally low for a metal, and it is the only elemental metal known to melt at a generally cold temperature. A complete explanation of this delves deep into the realm of quantum physics, but it can be summarized as follows: mercury has a unique electron configuration where electrons fill up all the available 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f, 5s, 5p, 5d, and 6s subshells. Since this configuration strongly resists removal of an electron, mercury behaves similarly to noble gas elements, which form weak bonds and become solids which melt easily at relatively low temperatures.