Harmful effects:
Gallium is considered to be non-toxic.
1kg of Gallium costs $ 220.00
200 g of gallium would make an unusual gift!
Metallic chemical element, chemical symbol Ga, atomic number 31.
The liquid metal clings to or wets glass and similar surfaces. Gallium expands on solidification and super cools readily, remaining liquid at temperatures as low as 0 °C .
In various combinations with aluminum, indium, phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony, it forms compounds (e.g., gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide phosphide) with valuable semiconductor and optoelectronic properties; some of these compounds form the basis for such electronic devices as light-emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers.
Discovery of Gallium
Before the discovery of gallium its existence and main properties were predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev. He named the hypothetical element eka-aluminum as he predicted the element would sit below aluminum on the periodic table.
Gallium was discovered by Paul E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran through a spectroscope in 1875.
Its now characteristic spectrum (two violet lines) identified it as a new element.
De Boisbaudran extracted gallium in the first instance from a zinc blend ore from the Pyrenees and obtained initially only 0.65 grams from 430 kilograms of ore. He isolated gallium by electrolysis of its hydroxide in potassium hydroxide solution.
The origin of the name comes from the Latin word 'Gallia', meaning France.
