Note: I would've done Californium... but it wasn't an option...
Hi! My name is Arsenic, but you can
call me As for short. My Italian friends call me Arsenico; I'm Arseen in Dutc
h, and the German version of my moniker is Arsen. I got my name from the Greek word arsenikon, which means "yellow orpiment".
As a pure element, I am yellow and metallic or grey. In the nucleus of my only (and therefore most common) isotope, I have 33 protons and 22 neutrons. I have other isotopes, but only one stable one, so I am considered to be monoisotopic. My one stable isotope, naturally occurring As-75, has a natural abundance of 100%! (That's right, I'm not a two-faced kind of person--er, element.) My average atomic mass is 74.92160 g.
In a neutral atom of my element, I have 33 electrons. I have 4 shells of electrons.
My atomic radius in meters is 1.14E-10, or .000000000114 m.
My properties in my pure elemental form are being steel grey, very brittle, crystalline, and
a semimetallic (metalloid) solid. I also tarnish in air, and when I get hot I start smelling like garlic. (But it's not my fault I rapidly oxidize to arsenous oxide, which has a
garlic odor!)
My abundance in Sarah's human body is 0.0025197 grams (abundance in the human body is
50 ppb by weight). My abundance in the Earth's crust is 2100 ppb by weight and in
our Universe is 8 ppb by weight.
Some compounds I form are
Arsenic pentafluoride: AsF5
Diarsenic trioxide: As2O3
My discovery is credited to Albertus Magnus in 1250 A.D. who obtained me by heating soap together with orpiment (arsenic trisulphide, As2S3). However, early Chinese, Greeks, and Egyptians mined my compounds, and discovered toxic properties.
In human society, I perform jobs in bronzing; pyrotechnics; hardening and improving the sphericity of shot; and doping agent in solid-state devices such as transistors. My arsenide is used as a laser material to convert electricity directly into coherent light.
Something that's interesting about me is that I am one of the elements special enough to have an alchemical symbol.
Also, I am a widely-used poisoner/murderer in tons of mystery books. Hehhehheh...
No comments:
Post a Comment