|
Thallium is a chemical element with symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray post-transition metal is not found free in nature. When isolated, it resembles tin, but discolors when exposed to air. Chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861, in residues of sulfuric acid production. Both used the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy, in which thallium produces a notable green spectral line. Thallium, from Greek , , meaning "a green shoot or twig," was named by Crookes. It was isolated by electrolysis a year later, by Lamy and isolated also by Crookes, who obtained it as early as January,1862 by precipitation and melting of the resultant powder. Crookes exhibited it as a powder precipitated by Zinc at the International exhibition which opened on the first of May, that year.〔(The Mining and Smelting Magazine ) Ed. Henry Curwen Salmon Vol iv July Dec 1963,p 87.〕 Thallium tends to oxidize to the +3 and +1 oxidation states as ionic salts. The +3 state resembles that of the other elements in thallium's group (boron, aluminum, gallium, indium). However, the +1 state, which is far more prominent in thallium than the elements above it, recalls the chemistry of alkali metals, and thallium(I) ions are found geologically mostly in potassium-based ores, and (when ingested) are handled in many ways like potassium ions (K+) by ion pumps in living cells. Commercially, however, thallium is produced not from potassium ores, but as a byproduct from refining of heavy metal sulfide ores. Approximately 60–70% of thallium production is used in the electronics industry, and the remainder is used in the pharmaceutical industry and in glass manufacturing.〔 It is also used in infrared detectors. The radioisotope thallium-201 (as the soluble chloride TlCl) is used in small, nontoxic amounts as an agent in a nuclear medicine scan, during one type of nuclear cardiac stress test. Soluble thallium salts (many of which are nearly tasteless) are highly toxic in quantity, and were historically used in rat poisons and insecticides. Use of these compounds has been restricted or banned in many countries, because of their nonselective toxicity. Notably, thallium poisoning results in hair loss. Because of its historic popularity as a murder weapon, thallium has gained notoriety as "the poisoner's poison" and "inheritance powder" (alongside arsenic). ==Characteristics== Thallium is extremely soft, malleable and sectile enough to be cut with a knife at room temperature. It has a metallic luster that, when exposed to air, quickly tarnishes to a bluish-gray tinge, resembling lead. It may be preserved by immersion in oil. A heavy layer of oxide builds up on thallium if left in air. In the presence of water, thallium hydroxide is formed. Sulfuric and nitric acid dissolve thallium rapidly to make the sulfate and nitrate salts, while hydrochloric acid forms an insoluble thallium(I) chloride layer. Its standard electrode potential is −0.34, slightly higher than the potential for iron (at −0.44). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thallium」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|