cadmium

• Description
• General information
• Physical data
• Radii
• Electronegativities
• Solid state structure
• Temperatures
• Enthalpies
• Ionization Enthalpies
• Isotopes
• Further information

Description

Cadmium is a soft, bluish-white metal which is easily cut with a knife. It is similar in many respects to zinc. Cadmium and its compounds are highly toxic. Silver solder, which contains cadmium, should be handled with care.

General information

Discoveror: Friedrich Strohmeyer
Date discovered: 1817
Discovered at: Germany
Meaning of name: From the Latin word "cadmia" meaning "calamine" (zinc carbonate, ZnCO₃) and from the Greek word "kadmeia" with the same meaning

Physical data

Standard state: solid at 298 K
Colour: silvery grey metallic
Density of solid at ambient temperature/kg m^-3: 8650
Molar volume/cm³: 13.00

Radii /pm

Atomic: 161
Covalent (single bond):
Pauling radius for the ion [Cd]^-: no data

Valence shell orbital radius maxima (R_max)

orbital	s	p	d	f
radius	136.8	no data	51.7	no data

Electronegativities

Both values are quoted on the Pauling scale.

Pauling: 1.69
Allred Rochow: 1.46

Crystal Structure

structure: hcp (hexagonal close-packed)

The following CrystalMaker image represents the solid state structure. For most elements, the most stable allotrope is illustrated. Try WebElements version 2 for interactive virtual reality and CHIME images.

Temperatures (/K)

melting point: 594.22
boiling point: 1040

Enthalpies /kJ mol^-1

fusion: 6.2
vaporization: 99.9

single bond enthalpies:

Cd-F	Cd-Cl	Cd-Br	Cd-I	Cd-Cd
no data	no data	no data	no data	7.37

Ionization enthalpies /kJ mol^-1

Number	Enthalpy
1st	867.7
2nd	1631.4
3rd	3616

Isotopes

This section gives some data for naturally occurring isotopes.

Nominal mass	Accurate mass	% natural abundance
106Cd	105.906461 (7)	1.25 (4)
108Cd	107.904176 (6)	0.89 (2)
110Cd	109.903005 (4)	12.49 (12)
111Cd	110.904182 (3)	12.80 (8)
112Cd	111.902757 (3)	24.13 (14)
113Cd	112.904400 (3)	12.22 (8)
114Cd	113.903357 (3)	28.73 (28)
116Cd	115.904755 (4)	7.49 (12)

Further Information

• Additional information about WebElements 1.2.2
• This is a licensed copy (here is the full list) of WebElements 1.2.2 and contains a subset of the material contained within the main version of WebElements (version 2)
• For further information please try WebElements version 2
• Sheffield Chemdex: perhaps the largest internet chemistry directory
• Sheffield Chemputer: interactive chemistry calculators on the WWW