Bismuth (Bi)

Stable Isotopes of Bismuth

In early times, bismuth was often confused with tin and lead because of its similarities to those elements. In 1753, Claude Geoffroy the Younger demonstrated its distinctness from lead. It takes its name from the German word bisemutum.Miners in the age of alchemy also gave bismuth the name tectum argenti, or “silver being made,” in the sense of silver still in the process of being formed within the earth.

Bismuth is a crystalline, brittle, soft metal, grayish-white with a pinkish tinge and a metallic luster. It has a rhombohedral crystal system. It is soluble in nitric and hydrochloric acids. Its thermal conductivity is lowest of all metals except mercury. It forms trivalent and pentavalent compounds (the trivalent compounds are more common). Many of bismuth's chemical properties are similar to those of other elements in its group, especially arsenic and antimony. It is stable in both dry and moist air at ordinary temperatures; at elevated temperatures, the vapors of the metal combine rapidly with oxygen, forming bismuth trioxide. Bismuth reacts with chlorine, bromine and iodine vapors, forming their bismuth halides.

The major commercial applications of bismuth are as fusible alloys and in pharmaceuticals. Some bismuth compounds also find catalytic applications in the manufacture of acrylic fibers. It is used in electric fuses, fusible boiler plugs, low-melting solders, thermoelectric materials and semiconductors, and as an additive to steel and other metals. Other compounds are used in medicine as antacids, antisyphilitics and anti-infectives, and in cosmetics such as lipstick, powder and eye shadow.

Properties of Bismuth

Research

• Measurement of several β-delayed neutron emitting isotopes beyond N = 126
• Targeted Alpha Therapy, an Emerging Class of Cancer Agents: A Review