top of page

Arsenic As

 

Where is arsenic used--or where does it impact our everyday lives?

 

Arsenic is poisonous to the human body

 

 

 

Arsenic

Researched by Karina C

Atomic number: 33

Atomic mass: 74.922 g mol-1

Location in the periodic table: Period 4, group 15

Melting point: 817 â„ƒ (1,502 ℉)

Boiling point: 603 ℃ (1,133 â„‰)

Density: 5.75 g cm-3

Isotope: 75As is the only form of arsenic (abundance 100%)

Electron configuration: [Ar]3d10 4s2 4p3

Found in nature - in Earth’s crust: 0.00021%, in universe: 8 • 10-7%

Can be extracted from arsenopyrite by heating it, which will cause the arsenic within to sublime and leave behind iron (II) sulfide.

Cost: Pure arsenic costs $320 per 100 g.

Uses of arsenic: poison, but also some medicinal uses; wood preservative, bronzing, pyrotechnics

Reactivity in air: stable/solid in dry air, accumulates a black oxide coat in moist air

Does not react with water, acids, or alkalis.

Can bind with many metals to form arsenides.

 

Sources: http://periodic.lanl.gov/33.shtml

 

 

 

This is a sample of arsenic, As, from Andreasberg, Niedersachsen, Germany, on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. viewed during a Chemistry One field trip.

WIS Photographer

 

Above is a sample of stibarsen, SbAs, from Rio Moctezuma, Sonora, Mexico on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. viewed during a Chemistry One field trip.

WIS Photographer

Compounds of indium with semimetals such as arsenic allow indium to be used in LEDs, light-emitting diodes.  See a video of the red LED during a Chemistry One lab investigating the properties of metals, non-metals and metalloids.  The Tester for electrical conductivity has a green and red LED.  The sample of silicon in the movie lights the diodes in the tester confirming the electrical conductivity of the metalloid silicon.

See the VIDEO of the use of red LEDs with aluminum gallium arsenide, AlGaAs, and  aluminum gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP)

 and ANOTHER VIDEO incuding  testing magnesium and silicon for electrical conductivity

This arsenic containing ore is sperrylite, PtAs2, with chalcopyrite and pentlandite from the Talnach deposit, Noril'sk, Krasnoyarskiy Kray, Russia viewed at the National Museum of Natural Histoy in Washington DC during a Chemistry One field trip

WIS Photographer

Solar panels can use semiconductors like gallium arsenide to transfer light energy into electrical energy.  This house on  has solar panels on the roof, spotted by both Chem teachers old Ms. H and young Ms. H on a field trip.

WIS Photographer

bottom of page