Gallium is one of those elements that is used in industry every day. Gallium was discovered in Paris at the private laboratory of Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1831-1912) at 3 a.m. on August, 1875. He observed a new violet line in the atomic spectrum of some zinc he had extracted from a sample of zinc blende ore (ZnS) from the Pyrenees. He knew it meant that an unknown element was present. Gallium comes from Gallia, the Latin name for France. Gallium also has origins in the Latin word Gallus. Boisbaudran was also able to obtain the free metal by electrolysis of a solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH). Lecoq de Boisbaudran had to work through a large amount of zinc ore. But his hunch turned out to be correct. What Boisbaudran didn’t realise
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Gallium will melt when held in the palm of the hand and on so doing it also shrinks in volume. Gallium has been used to detect neutrinos (these are elementary particle with zero charge and virtually zero mass) emitted by the sun. Gallium is a moderately abundant element in the Earth's crust. Its abundance has been estimated to be about 5 parts per million. It is found primarily in combination with zinc and aluminum ores. It is also found in germinate, an ore of copper sulfide (CuS).The United States produces no gallium. The largest producers are Australia, Russia, France, and Germany. Gallium does not exist in elemental form in nature, and the few high-gallium minerals that do occur are too rare to serve as a primary source of the element. Fortunately, gallium occurs in low amounts in many minerals where it substitutes for elements of similar size and charge. Currently, gallium is obtained mainly from mining and mineral processing of bauxite ore for aluminum, although some gallium is also derived from the processing of sphalerite ore for zinc. Gallium is also recycled from scrap generated in the manufacture of GaAs- and GaN-based
Gallium will melt when held in the palm of the hand and on so doing it also shrinks in volume. Gallium has been used to detect neutrinos (these are elementary particle with zero charge and virtually zero mass) emitted by the sun. Gallium is a moderately abundant element in the Earth's crust. Its abundance has been estimated to be about 5 parts per million. It is found primarily in combination with zinc and aluminum ores. It is also found in germinate, an ore of copper sulfide (CuS).The United States produces no gallium. The largest producers are Australia, Russia, France, and Germany. Gallium does not exist in elemental form in nature, and the few high-gallium minerals that do occur are too rare to serve as a primary source of the element. Fortunately, gallium occurs in low amounts in many minerals where it substitutes for elements of similar size and charge. Currently, gallium is obtained mainly from mining and mineral processing of bauxite ore for aluminum, although some gallium is also derived from the processing of sphalerite ore for zinc. Gallium is also recycled from scrap generated in the manufacture of GaAs- and GaN-based