We had this demo in science class in year 10 at school. The mercury stops the aluminium from forming a sealed surface and consequently the oxygen keeps reacting with the aluminium. I thought it would be pretty interesting to use this to open up aluminium window frames without breaking the window.

This definitely isn't stuff you want inside your body.

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Thank goodness there is no oxygen in the blood.

Pretty sure aluminium and mercury also react with carbon dioxide too. Mercury will stick to any oxidative radical. Oxygen, chlorine, bromine, fluorine, and dramatically increase their reactivity.