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Gallium Essay

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The existence of Gallium was proposed in 1871 by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who named it, based on its position in the periodic table, “eka-aluminum”. He also predicted it’s melting point, density, oxide character and bonding in chloride, that were all similar to the real properties of Gallium. Gallium was discovered by the French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875 in an examination of a sphalerite sample, and found it by its characteristic spectrum, its two violet lines. Lecoq named the element “gallia”, from the Latin word Gallia meaning Gaul, after his native land of France; he also named the element after himself (“le coq” is french for “the rooster”and the Latin word for rooster is “gallus”). From its discovery until the era of semiconductors, Galliums main uses were in high-temperature thermometric applications and in preparation of metal alloys with unusual properties of …show more content…

Pure Gallium is a silvery-color and in its solid form fractures a lot like glass. When solidifying, it can expand by 3.1% and is stored in glass or metal containers so that the container does not break apart. Gallium shares a higher-density liquid state with materials like water, silicon, germanium, bismuth, and plutonium. It alloys easily with other metals, and is used in small quantities as a plutonium-gallium alloy in the cores of nuclear bombs to help stabilize the plutonium crystal structure. The melting point of Gallium is about 85 degrees fahrenheit, just above average room temperature. its unique melting point allows it to melt in one's hand, then re-solidify when removed. Gallium more than likely will supercool below its freezing point. It is one of the metals, like mercury, that is able to be liquid at room temperature, and therefore be used in metal-in-glass high-temperature thermometers. Unlike mercury though, it has a low vapor pressure at high

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