INTRODUCTION
Cadmium is a silvery-white metallic element that can easily be shaped into desire form.It occurs as the principal constituent of a mineral only in the rare greenockite.It is the 65th most abundant elements on the Earth's crust.
When heated, cadmium burns in air with a bright light, forming its oxide.Cadmium and solutions of its compounds are highly toxic, with cumulative effects similar to those of mercury poisoning.
BASIC INFORMATIONS
- Atomic Number
- 48
- Atomic Mass
- 112.414
- Atomic radius
- 0.141
- Ionization energy
- 876
- Electronic config
- 2,8,18,18,2
- Principal Valency
- +2
- Density g/cm³
- 8.65
- Melting point °C
- 321.07
- Boiling point °C
- 767
- Type of Element
- Metal
- Electronegativity
- 1.7
- Element Category
- Zinc Group
- Appearance
- Silvery white solid
- Block
- d-block
- Period
- 5
- Group
- 12
- No of Isotopes
- 39
- Occurrence
- Combine form
- Abundance in ppm
- 0.16
- Year of Discovery
- 1807
EXTRACTION
It is obtain as a by-product in the refining of zinc ores.
OXIDATION STATES
+2,+1 (Mildly Acidic)
MAJOR SOURCE
Missouri, Montana, Silesia
EXAMPLES OF COMPOUND PRESENT
CdO, CdS, CdSe
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
* Cadmium is used with lead, tin, and bismuth in the manufacture of fusible metals for automatic sprinkler systems, fire alarms, and electric fuses.
* Its salts are used in photography and in the manufacture of fireworks, rubber, fluorescent paints, glass, and porcelain.
* Cadmium sulfide is employed in a type of photovoltaic cell, and nickel-cadmium batteries are in common use for specialized purposes.
* It absorb neutron perfectly, and is used to make control rods for nuclear reactors.