218 | The History and Use of Our Earth’s Chemical Elements
218 | The History and Use of Our Earth’s Chemical Elements
ORIGINOFNAME:Theelement’snamecomesfromtheGreekwordsantiandminos, whichmean“notalone,”andantimony’ssymbol(Sb)isderivedfromthenameforits ancientsourcemineral,stibnium.
ISOTOPES:Thereare53isotopesofantimony.TheyrangefromSb-103toSb-139(afew havetwoforms).Theirhalf-livesrangefrom150nanosecondsto2.7years.Thetwo stableisotopesofantimonyandtheircontributiontothenaturalabundanceofantimony onEarthareasfollows:Sb-121=57.21%andSb-123=42.79%.
ELECTRONCONFIGURATION EnergyLevels/Shells/Electrons Orbitals/Electrons
s2,p6
3-M=18
s2,p6,d10
4-N=18
s2,p6,d10
5-O=5
s2,p3
Properties Physically, antimony’s properties are related to sulfur and some of the nonmetals, but
chemically, its properties are related to metals. It behaves like a metal and is often found in nature along with other metals. In its pure form it is rather hard and brittle with a grayish crystal structure
Characteristics There are two allotropes of antimony. The native metallic form is one allotrope, and the
other allotrope is an amorphous grayish form. Antimony is a true metalloid that is brittle with
a low melting point. And similar to nonmetals, it is a poor conductor of heat and electricity. Antimony is unique in that when it solidifies from a molten liquid state to a solid state, it expands, which is just the opposite of most metals. This is useful in making some typesetting castings in which the expansion assures an accurate reproduction of the letter mold.
AbundanceandSource Although antimony is not a rare metal, it is not well known, despite having been known
and used for many centuries. It is the 63rd most abundant element on Earth, and it occurs mainly as sulfide ores or in combination with the ores of other metals. The ore that is the
primary source of antimony is the mineral stibnite (antimony sulfide, Sb 2 S 3 ). Antimony is also found in copper, silver, and lead ores. Breithauptite (NiSb) and ullmanite (NiSbS) are two ores containing nickel. Dicrasite (Ag 2 Sb) and pyrargyrite (Ag 3 SbS 3 ) are silver ores containing some antimony.
219 History
Guide to the Elements |
Antimony in its black form (Stibnite, Sb 2 S 2 ) was known at least 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Egyptian women used it as an eyeliner for both themselves and their children. It was known during biblical times and was referred to as “stick-stone”; it was also used during this time as black eyeliner for wealthy women.
Antimony was known in the days of alchemy (500 BCE to 1600 CE) when it was associated with other metals and minerals such as arsenic, sulfides, and lead used as medications. It is possible that an alchemist, Basilus Valentinus (fl. 1450), knew about antimony and some of its minerals and compounds sometime around the mid-fifteenth century CE. Physicians of this period—and earlier periods—used elements such as mercury and antimony to cure diseases, although they knew that these elements were toxic in larger doses. Antimony was used to treat depression, as a laxative, and as an emetic for over two thousand years. Despite the elements’ poisonous nature, physicians of that early era considered both mercury and antimony good medicines.
Nicolas Lemery (1645–1715), a French chemist, studied and analyzed antimony and its compounds in detail. He published his findings in 1707. Antimony was used primarily as a treatment for diseases, but as a chemical element it was neglected it until modern days, when it was used to produce low-melting-point alloys.
CommonUses Today the most common use of antimony is as an alloy metal with lead to make the lead
harder. This lead–antimony alloy is used for electrical storage batteries, for sheathing for elec- trical and TV cables, in the making of wheel bearings, and as solder.
Although it is a brittle metal, it has found a use in the semiconductor industry in the production of diodes and infrared devices. It is also used to flameproof material and vul- canize rubber and can also be a component in paints, ceramic enamels, glass, pottery, and fireworks.
The head of a safety match is a mixture of antimony trisulfide (Sb 2 S 3 ) and an oxidizing agent (potassium chlorate (KClO 3 ). Red phosphorous is placed on the tip so that when it is struck against a rough surface, it ignites with enough flame to ignite the other chemicals in the head and then burn the wood match.
Both antimony-124 and antinomy-125 radioisotopes are used as industrial and metal- lurgical tracers. A unique use is as a partition or separator between different types of fluids flowing through the same pipeline. Its radioactivity can mark where one type of fluid ends and a different fluid begins.
Antimony has a long history of medical use. Some scholars believe that Mozart died after being given antimony by the physicians who were treating his depression and who were unaware of just how poisonous antimony was. The evidence for this story is scant. It is also known that around 870 BCE, Queen Jezebel and her contemporaries used the mineral or ore antimony sulfide as a cosmetic to darken their eyelashes and as an eyeliner. It is still used for this purpose in many countries.
Antimony has few other uses except as an alloy to harden other materials. One recent development was to add antimony oxide to polyvinyl chloride (PVC pipe) to act as a flame retardant.