Antimony
Antimony belongs to your Arsenic Group of minerals that features Antimony, Arsenic and Bismuth. Antimony is an element that is native. Native element minerals are elements that occur in nature uncombined with other elements and with a mineral structure that is distinct. An element that is native a pure substance consisting of a solitary sort of atom. Antimony has only antimony (Sb) atoms rather than a mineral such as Quartz who has two types of atoms; silicon (Si) and oxygen (O) or other more complicated minerals that have various kinds of atoms. Elements are divided into metals, metalloids and nonmetals. Antimony is a metalloid which means it’s a feature that has properties between the metals that are typical nonmetals. The six commonly recognised metalloids are antimony, arsenic, boron, germanium, tellurium and silicon. Elements less commonly recognised as metalloids include aluminium, astatine, carbon, selenium and polonium.
Antimony rarely types in its statement that is elemental and far more common in sulphides and sulfosalts such as Bournonite, Jamesonite, Stibnite, Tetrahedrite and Boulangerite. It is also present some oxides such as for instance Valentinite, Stibiconite and Sénarmontite. Antimony substances happen understood since ancient times and had been used for cosmetics in ancient Egypt. Metallic Antimony had been also known but it had been erroneously recognised as leaders. It was first described and separated in 1540 by Vannoccio Biringuccio. The biggest uses for metallic Antimony are as a material that is allowing lead and tin and for lead antimony plates in lead-acid batteries. Alloying tin and lead with Antimony improve the properties of the alloys wich are used in bullets, soldiers and bearings. Antimony is now also used in microelectronics.
The day that is modern locality for Antimony is listed as Sala Silver Mine, Sala, Västmanland, Sweden but Antimony ended up being known in ancient Egypt as soon as 3100 BC. Antimony was named from the Arabic, al-Utah mud, which became the Medieval Latin, antimuonium; which was originally applied to Stibnite, the Sulphide of Antimony. The etymology is somewhat uncertain. One course of this true title origin is that antimuonium originated in avτίμοναχός, or anti-monarchs, meaning “anti monks”, literally “monk-killer” because early alchemists were often monks and that Antimony is poisonous. Another etymology that is popular is the Greek word anti mono meaning “against aloneness” which may mean “not found unalloyed” in allusion to the proven fact that Antimony is hardly ever discovered in its elemental state.
There are numerous localities for Antimony: in the United States, from South Riverside, Riverside County; in kg masses from Erskine Creek, Kern County, California. From Príbram, Czech Republic. At St. Andreasberg, Harz Mountains, Germany. In France, from Allemont, Isère. At Sarrabus, Sardinia, Italy. From Sala, Västmanland, plus in the Vena mines, near Askersund, Örebro, Sweden. At Kalliolampi, Nurmo, and near Seinajöki, Finland. At Broken Hill, Brand New South Wales, Australia. From Huasco, Tarapacá, Chile. In Canada, at South Ham, Wolfe County, Quebec. At Arechuybo, Chihuahua, Mexico.
| Chemical Formula: | Sb |
| Antimony (native element) | |
| Molecular Weight: | 121.75 gm |
| Composition: | Antimony | 100.00 % | Sb | ||
| 100.00 % |
| Crystallography: | Trigonal – Hexagonal Scalenohedral |
| Crystal Habit: | Prominent {0112} yields pseudocubic crystals, to 1 cm; also rounded and hopped; commonly massive or cleavable lamellar, also radiated; may be botryoidal or reniform with a granular texture. |
| Twinning: | On {0114}, commonly forming complex groups, fourlings, siblings; also polysynthetic twins. |
| Cleavage: | Perfect on {0001}, distinct on {1011}, imperfect on {1014}, indistinct on {1120}. |
| Fracture: | Irregular/Uneven |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Moh’s Hardness: | 3.0 – 3.5; (Vickers: VHN100=50 – 69 kg/mm2) |
| Density: | 6.61 – 6.71 (g/cm3) |
| Luminescence: | None |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioactive |
| Color: | Tin-white, light gray to a steel gray which can tarnish to darker grays | |
| Transparency: | Opaque | |
| Luster: | Metallic | |
| Refractive Index: | R1–R2: (400) 71.6–74.1, (420) 72.3–75.1, (440) 72.9–75.8, (460) 73.6–76.6, (480) 74.2–77.3, (500) 74.6–77.8, (520) 74.7–77.9, (540) 74.5–78.0, (560) 74.0–77.7, (580) 73.3–77.1, (600) 72.3–76.6, (620) 71.4–76.0, (640) 70.3–75.3, (660) 69.2–74.8, (680) 68.4–74.4, (700) 67.7–74.2 | |
| Birefringence: | 0.00 (opaque) | |
| Dispersion: | n/a | |
| Pleochroism: | Very feeble | |
| Anisotropism: | Weak in air, lively in oil |
