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- Name : Thallium
- Symbol : Tl
- Atomic # : 81
- Atom weight: 204.38
- Melting P. : 303.5
- Boiling P. : 1457
- Oxidation : +1, +3
- Pronounced : THAL-i-em
- From : Greek thallos, "green twig"
- Identified : Sir William Crookes in 1861
- Appearance : Soft, gray metal
- Note : Very much like lead
-
- [Properties]
-
- Although thallium can be found in ores such as crooksite, hutchinsonite,
- and lorandite, these minerals are rather rare and sparsely distributed
- around the world. Most thallium is recovered from the byproducts of lead
- and zinc refining operations. It is also recovered from sulfuric acid
- manufacturing processes that begin with certain pyrites.
- The exact refining procedure depends on the source of the metal. The
- general idea, however, is to dissolve the mixture in hydrochloric acid to
- produce a precipitate of thallious chloride, or thallium (I) chloride, TlCl.
- This heavy compound is easily separated from the other substances by
- filtering and drying it.
-