The sample of mercury, shown here is approximately 30 grams in a thick-walled glass ampoule. This ampoule is hermetically closed and as such provides a safe sample of mercury metal. The metal is very lustrous and has very interesting physical properties, but it also is very poisonous. The metal has a relatively high vapor pressure.

The metal forms a very mobile liquid, which moves quickly and sometimes unexpectedly. This makes working with mercury fairly risky. A spill of the metal is easily made. Two small videos nicely show the motion of the metal, when the ampoule is moved. Here are the links for video1 and video2.