Because it’s just a movie and they got all kinds of things wrong. Gollum sank because the only liquid screenwriters ever splash around in is water and people mostly sink in water. Though not entirely. You could tell yourself Gollum didn’t sink, his body was just burned and vaporized from the bottom up, but that would be giving the movie too much credit. The ring didn’t sink immediately because that wouldn’t be dramatic enough. Though Gollum screaming as he burns to death with the ring in his hand would be pretty dramatic.

Way worse than the ring not sinking fast enough:

The hobbits weren’t small enough. They were supposed to be 2½ or 3 feet tall, not 4 like the dwarves, that’s why they are exempt from fighting, they’re too tiny, like small children.

The bizarre “subplot” about Arwen being magically imperiled like Sleeping Beauty by the Ring War going badly, just to shoehorn Liv Tyler into the climax as a damsel in distress, made no damn sense and served no purpose.

Sauron’s “Great Eye” is a spiritual horror at most visible to wraiths and other people with Rings on, and a metaphor for his network of spies, not a literal great big glowing red eye in the sky. The literal big glowing red thing in the sky over Mordor is Mount Doom. A second big glowing red thing in the sky was totally redundant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_glass

The mercury vapor danger (from mining and such) is when mercury is heated and vaporized, IIRC. At room temperature, I don’t think it poses any breathing hazard (though he’s wise to wear gloves).

Quicksilver (liquid metallic mercury) is poorly absorbed by ingestion and skin contact. It is hazardous due to its potential to release mercury vapour. Animal data indicate that less than 0.01% of ingested mercury is absorbed through the intact gastrointestinal tract; though it may not be true for individuals suffering from ileus. Cases of systemic toxicity from accidental swallowing are rare, and attempted suicide via intravenous injection does not appear to result in systemic toxicity.[11] Though not studied quantitatively, the physical properties of liquid elemental mercury limit its absorption through intact skin and in light of its very low absorption rate from the gastrointestinal tract, skin absorption would not be high.[13] Some mercury vapour is absorbed dermally but uptake by this route is only approximately 1% of that by inhalation.[14]

In humans, approximately 80% of inhaled mercury vapor is absorbed via the respiratory tract where it enters the circulatory system and is distributed throughout the body.[15] Chronic exposure by inhalation, even at low concentrations in the range 0.7–42 μg/m3, has been shown in case control studies to cause effects such as tremors, impaired cognitive skills, and sleep disturbance in workers.[16][17]

For what it’s worth, I would imagine it’s easier and more realistic to buy a ticket to Israel than it would be to buy the mercury yourself or find a place that has the mercury and would be willing to let you bathe in it.

One side note – I’m sure the mercury tastes better than Dead Sea water – I got one drop in my mouth and couldn’t spit enough to get the taste out for several minutes.

For what it’s worth, I would imagine it’s easier and more realistic to buy a ticket to Israel than it would be to buy the mercury yourself or find a place that has the mercury and would be willing to let you bathe in it.

One side note – I’m sure the mercury tastes better than Dead Sea water – I got one drop in my mouth and couldn’t spit enough to get the taste out for several minutes.

http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/88fs1/sink_or_float_cannonball_dropped_into_pool_of/c08jp5r

http://www.craveonline.com/videos/videos/00010882/cannonball_on_mercury.html

I feel like I’ve entered some weird time warp to the past.

Why does he have so much?

He also observed that the level of the thin column of mercury would rise and fall, which he attributed to the “weight of the air” pressing down on the vat of mercury. Essentially, the worlds first barometer. For this reason, we still (in the US) use the outdated measurement “inHG” for pressure.. each inHG being the weight of a column of mercury 1 inch in height at 32 °F at the standard acceleration of gravity.

He’s also the namesake of the “Torr”, a unit of pressure equal to one mmHg.

Hatters used to use it in the treating of moleskins to make top hats and it sent the workers insane.

Thus Mad Hatters.

INterstingly, the massive lighting apparatus in old light houses was rotated by being floated on a mercury bath.

This was about a ton of brass and glass spinning on the mercury bed all powered by a very small crawler gear cog on the edge of the bath that drove the massive cog that ran around the light housing.

you could spin the whole thing with the strength of one finger.

Why does he have so much?

Because he wants to throw a cannonball in it, obviously.