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GERMANIUM

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 777 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GERMANIUM (See also:

symbol Ge, atomic See also:weight 72.5); one of the metallic elements included in the same natural See also:family as See also:carbon, See also:silicon, See also:tin and See also:lead. It was discovered in 1886 by C. Winkler in See also:argyrodite, a See also:mineral found at See also:Freiberg in See also:Saxony. On examination of the See also:metal and its salts it was shown to be identical with the hypothetical See also:element eka,silicon, whose properties had been predicted by D. Mendeleeff many years previously. The element is of extremely rare occurrence, being met with only in argyrodite and, to a very small extent, in euxenite. It may be obtained from argyrodite by See also:heating the mineral in a current of See also:hydrogen; or by heating the dioxide to redness with carbon. _ It forms See also:grey coloured octahedra of specific gravity 5'496 at 20° C., melting at 900° C.; it See also:burns at a red See also:heat, is insoluble in hydrochloric See also:acid, but dissolves in aqua regia, and is also soluble in molten alkalis. Two oxides of germanium are known, the dioxide, GeO2, being obtained by roasting the sulphide and treatment with nitric acid. It is a See also:white See also:powder, very slightly soluble in See also:water, and possesses acid properties. By heating with a small quantity of See also:magnesium it is converted into germanious See also:oxide, GeO. By heating the metal with See also:chlorine, germanic chloride, GeC14j is obtained as a colourless fuming liquid boiling at 86-87° C., it is decomposed by water forming a hydrated germanium dioxide.

Germanium dichloride, GeC12, and germanium See also:

chloroform, GeHCI3, have also been described. Germanium compounds on See also:fusion with alkaline See also:carbonates and See also:sulphur See also:form salts known as thiogermanates. If excess of a mineral acid be added to a See also:solution of an alkaline thiogermanate a white precipitate of germanium disulphide, GeS2, is obtained. It can also be obtained by passing sulphuretted hydrogen through a solution of the dioxide in hydrochloric acid. It is appreciably soluble in water, and also in solutions of the See also:caustic alkalis and alkaline sulphides. By heating the disulphide in a current of hydrogen, germanious sulphide, GeS, is formed. It sublimes in thin plates of a dark See also:colour and metallic lustre, and is soluble in solutions of the caustic alkalis. Alkyl compounds of germanium such as germanium tetra-See also:ethyl, Ge(C2H5)4, a liquid boiling at 16o° C., have been obtained. The germanium salts are most readily recognized by the white precipitate of the disulphide, formed in acid solutions, on passing sulphuretted hydrogen. The atomic weight of the element was determined by C. Winkler by See also:analysis of the pure chloride GeC14, the value obtained being 7232, whilst Lecoq de Boisbaudran (Comptes rendus, 1886, 103, 452), by a comparison of the lines in the spark spectrum of the element, deduced the value 72.3.

End of Article: GERMANIUM

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