gallium

Symbol: Ga
Atomic number: 31
Atomic weight: 69.723
Density (at room temperature and pressure): 5.91 g/cc
Melting point: 29.8°C
Boiling point: 2,204°C
Valence: +3
Ground state electron configuration: [Ar]3d¹⁰4s²4p¹

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To the Periodic Table

Chemical Symbol-Ga

Atomic Mass-69.723

Electron Configuration-1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p1

Melting point-29.78 degrees Celsius

Boiling point-2403 degrees Celsius

Density-5.91 g/cm3

Gallium is a silvery metal, and it looks similar to glass in its texture. At room temperature, it is in solid state. However, it is one of the few metals to melt at near room temperature.

It is used in high-temperature thermometers because of its low melting point and high boiling point. If painted on glass, it makes a very good mirror. It is used as a doping material for semiconductors and for making transistors. Of its compounds, gallium arsenide has been used in converting electricity into light. It also forms compounds with most metals, so is used to make some alloys. Also, gallium trichloride has been studied at the Gallium Neutrino Observatory in Italy to observe neutrinos.

Gallium was predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev as ekaaluminum and discovered spectroscopically by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875. Later in the year he obtained the free metal. Its name comes from the Latin gallus, a translation of "Lecoq", which means a cock. Gallium can be found as a trace element in bauxite, coal, diaspore, germanite, and sphalerite. Also, dusts from burned coal have had up to 1.5 percent gallium. Gallium costs about 3$/gram.

Gal"li*um (?), n. [NL., fr. L. Gallia France.] (Chem.)

A rare metallic element, found in certain zinc ores. It is white, hard, and malleable, resembling aluminium, and remarkable for its low melting point (86° F., 30° C). Symbol Ga. Atomic weight 69.9.

⇒ The element was predicted with most of its properties, under the name ekaluminium, by the Russian chemist Mendelejeff, on the basis of the Periodic law. This prediction was verified in its discovery by the French chemist Lecoq de Boisbaudran by its characteristic spectrum (two violet lines), in an examination of a zinc blende from the Pyrenees.

© Webster 1913

Gal"li*um (?), n. [NL.; perh. fr. L. Gallia France.] (Chem.)

A rare metallic element, found combined in certain zinc ores. It is white, hard, and malleable, resembling aluminium, and remarkable for its low melting point (86° F., 30° C.). Symbol, Ga; at. wt., 69.9. Gallium is chiefly trivalent, resembling aluminium and indium. It was predicted with most of its properties, under the name eka-aluminium, by Mendelyeev on the basis of the periodic law. This prediction was verified in its discovery (in 1875) by its characteristic spectrum (two violet lines).

© Webster 1913