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- Name : Selenium
- Symbol : Se
- Atomic # : 34
- Atom weight: 78.96
- Melting P. : 50 (amorphous form) or 217 (gray form)
- Boiling P. : 685
- Oxidation : -2, +4, +6
- Pronounced : si-LEE-ni-em
- From : Greek selene, "moon"
- Identified : Jons Jacob Berzelius in 1818
- Appearance : A soft metalloid similar to sulfur
- Note : The degree to which its electrical conductivity increases
- in response to light shining onto it.
-
- [Properties]
-
- Selenium is a soft metalloid, or semimetal. It is quite similar to sulfur
- in a number of respects, but overall it is more like tellurium. It is
- difficult to describe the physical appearance of selenium because it can
- exist in several allotropic forms that range from a gray metallic appearance
- to a red glassy appearance.
- Selenium is in the VIA, or oxygen, group of elements on the period table.
- It is a metalloid, or semimetal. This means it has some characteristics of
- metals and some of nonmetals.
- Some of the most important properties - heat conductivity and density, for
- example - change dramatically with the allotropic form and only small
- amounts of impurities.
-