Gallium’s element 31, I’ll tell you a story bout how it begun
In the year of 1875, discovered by Lecoq and it came alive
Finding Gallium was the answer, now we have LED lights, and found tumors with cancer
Gallium’s a shiny, slivery-blue, it has a low melting point and in your hand turns to stew
The element Gallium is the best, now scroll on down and read the rest

 

History
Group
Physical/Chemical Properties
Gallium Arsenide
Health and Enviormental Effects
Isotopes

 

History

When Mendeleev created the periodic table, the element number 31 was missing. Mendeleev predicted that this element would be similar to aluminum and indium because of the group it was missing from. He named this unknown element eka-aluminum. Based on Mendeleev’s predictions, French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq Boisbaudran discovered the unknown element. He had been studying zinc ores for years trying to find element 31, and in August of 1875 he did just that. Lecoq had been researching the spectra of elements for 15 years, so when he saw an electric spark he knew he found it. It was recorded that its wavelength was about 417. Lecoq named the missing element, Gallium, after the ancient name for France, Gallia.

Group

Gallium is in the Group 13, also known as the Boron Family. Some of the similarities in Group 13 are that it goes from a non-metallic character to a metallic character. The other elements in the Boron Family are all larger than Boron, making them more ionic and metallic. Most elements have characteristics of metals. All of the elements are found in minerals and ores. Aluminum is the most popular element. The melting points in all of the elements in Group 13 are very high, making them all very soft. Boron has very limited uses, but Aluminum is one of the most industrial important materials.

 

Physical/ Chemical Properties
Melting Point 30 degrees Celsius
Boiling Point 2,400 degrees Celsius
Density 5.9037 grams per cubic cm.
Atomic Weight 69.72
Phase Solid at Room Temperature
Classification Metal
Color Silvery-blue

 

 

 

 

Physical/Chemical Properties

Gallium is reactive, combines with most nonmetals at high temperatures and reacts with both acids and alkalis. Gallium is mainly found in zinc and aluminum ores, as well as in germinate. It’s not produced in the U.S., but in Australia, Russia, France and Germany.

Gallium Arsenide

Only 5% of Gallium is used by itself, but 95% of Gallium is used to make Gallium arsenide. Some of the many things Gallium arsenide is used for are to convert electric currents directly into the light, it’s used to make a device called a light-eliminating diode (LED), parts of CD players, transistors (used to control the flow of electricity in a circuit) and photovoltaic cells (turns sunlight into electricity).  Gallium arsenide is beneficial because it produces less heat, making it useful for electronics.

Health And Enviormental Effects

Pure gallium produces a metallic taste in the mouth, skin rash and a decrease in the production of blood cells. Gallium chloride can cause throat irritation, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and its fumes can also cause pulmonary edema and partial paralysis. Gallium citrate can be injected into the body in small amounts and is not harmful. There is a very small amount of Gallium in out bodies, probably from natural resources such as water, vegetables and fruit, or from the natural environment. In the environment, there is some controversy over the use of gallium in nuclear weapons and pollution. Gallium is used to hold together nuclear bomb pits. After the plutonium oxide powder is formed, gallium remains in the plutonium, making it unusable in fuel. The process to remove the gallium contributes to pollution of water in radioactive substances.

Isotopes

The two naturally occurring isotopes in Gallium are Gallium-67 and Gallium-71. There are about a dozen radioactive isotopes in Gallium. Gallium-67 is used in medicine to seek out cancer cells in the liver, spleen, bowels, breasts, thymus, kidneys and bones by the radiation it gives off.
Glossary
 

Wavelength-the distance in the line of advance of a wave from any one point to the next point of corresponding phase

Ionic-an atom or group of atoms that carries a positive or negative electric charge as a result of having lost or gained one or more electrons

Metallic-having properties of a metal

Alkalis-any of the monovalent mostly basic metals of group I of the periodic table comprising lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and francium

Electric Currents – the flow of electricity through a conductor or transmitter

Isotopes-any of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and nearly identical chemical behavior but with differing atomic mass or mass number and different physical properties

Radioactive-exhibiting the rays emitted from some elements or isotopes

Radiation-energy sending out waves or particles
Bibliography
 

"Gallium (Ga) - Chemical properties, Health and Environmental effects." Water treatment & Air Purification systems. 18 Mar. 2009 <http://www.lenntech.com/periodic-chart-elements/ga-en.htm>.

"GALLIUM in West VIrginia Coals." West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey (WVGES) Welcome Page. 18 Mar. 2009 <http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/datastat/te/GaHome.htm>.

"It's Elemental - The Element Gallium." Science Education at Jefferson Lab. 18 Mar. 2009 <http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele031.html>.

"New process generates hydrogen from aluminum alloy to run engines, fuel cells." Purdue News Service. 18 Mar. 2009 <http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070515WoodallHydrogen.html>.

Newton, David E. Chemical Elements from Carbon to Krypton. Farmington Hills, MI: UXL, 1999.

Stewartka, Albert. A Guide to the Elements. New York City, NY: Oxford UP Inc., 2002.

"Visual Elements: Group 13." Royal Society of Chemistry, the largest organisation in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences. 18 Mar. 2009 <http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/Pages/data/intro_groupiii_data.html>.


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