Monday, December 12, 2011

What is Gallium

Gallium is a chemical element. Elemental gallium does not occur in nature, but as the gallium(III) salt in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. Symbol: Ga. Before the discovery of gallium its existence and main properties were predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev. A soft silvery metallic poor metal, elemental gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures. As it liquefies slightly above room temperature, it will melt in the hand. He named the hypothetical element eka-aluminum as he predicted the element would sit below aluminum on the periodic table. Atomic weight: 69.723. Its melting point is used as a temperature reference point, and from its discovery in 1875 to the semiconductor era, its primary uses were in high-temperature thermometric applications and in preparation of metal alloys with unusual properties of stability, or ease of melting; some being liquid at room temperature or below. Liquid gallium wets porcelain and glass surfaces; it forms a bright, highly reflective surface when coated on glass. It can be used to create brilliant mirrors. Atomic Number: 31. It can be used to create brilliant mirrors.
Gallium easily alloys with most metals, so it is used to form low-melting alloys.
Gallium is not known to be essential in biology, but because of the biological handling of gallium's primary ionic salt gallium(III) as though it were iron(III), the gallium ion localizes to and interacts with many processes in the body in which iron(III) is manipulated. Analog integrated circuits are the most common application for gallium, with optoelectronic devices (mostly laser diodes and light-emitting diodes) as the second largest end use. Its now characteristic spectrum (two violet lines) identified it as a new element. As these processes include inflammation, which is a marker for many disease states, several gallium salts are used, or are in development, as both pharmaceuticals and radiopharmaceuticals in medicine. Gallium is used in some high temperature thermometers.
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