antimony

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

Description

Metallic antimony is an extremely brittle metal of a flaky, crystalline texture. It is bluish white and has a metallic lustre. It is not acted on by air at room temperature, but burns brilliantly when heated with the formation of white fumes. It is a poor conductor of heat and electricity.

Antimony and its compounds are toxic. It is found mostly with other minerals and in stibnite.

General information

Discoveror: Known since ancient times
Date discovered:
Discovered at: not known
Meaning of name: From the Greek words "anti + monos" meaning "not alone" (the origin of the symbol Sb comes from the Latin word "stibium")

Physical data

Standard state: solid at 298 K
Colour: silvery lustrous grey
Density of solid at ambient temperature/kg m^-3: 6697
Molar volume/cm³: 18.19

Radii /pm

Atomic: 133
Covalent (single bond):
Pauling radius for the ion [Sb]^-: 295

Valence shell orbital radius maxima (R_max)

orbital	s	p	d	f
radius	106.5	126.6	44.7	no data

Electronegativities

Both values are quoted on the Pauling scale.

Pauling: 2.05
Allred Rochow: 1.82

Crystal Structure

structure: trigonal

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: 903.78
boiling point: 1860

Enthalpies /kJ mol^-1

fusion: 19.7
vaporization: 68

single bond enthalpies:

Sb-F	Sb-Cl	Sb-Br	Sb-I	Sb-Sb
402	248	184	195	299.2

Ionization enthalpies /kJ mol^-1

Number	Enthalpy
1st	831.6
2nd	1595
3rd	2440
4th	4260
5th	5400
6th	10400

Isotopes

This section gives some data for naturally occurring isotopes.

Nominal mass	Accurate mass	% natural abundance
121Sb	120.9038212 (29)	57.36 (8)
123Sb	122.9042160 (24)	42.64 (8)

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