Símbolo | Ga |
Número atómico | 31 |
Grupo | 13 (Familia del boro) |
Período | 4 |
Bloque | p |
Clasificación | Metal del bloque p |
Apariencia | Silver-white |
Color | Plata |
Número de protones | 31 p+ |
Número de neutrones | 39 n0 |
Número de electrones | 31 e- |
Fase en STP | Sólido |
Densidad | 5.91 g/cm3 |
Peso atómico | 69.7231 u |
Punto de fusión | 302.915 K 29.765 °C 85.577 °F |
Punto de ebullición | 2673 K 2399.85 °C 4351.73 °F |
Entalpía de vaporización | 256.06 kJ/mol |
Electronegatividad (Escala de Pauling) | 1.81 |
Afinidad electrónica | 41 kJ/mol |
Estado de oxidación | −5, −4, −3, −2, −1, +1, +2, +3 (an amphoteric oxide) |
Energía de ionización |
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Predicción | Dmitri Mendeleev (1871) |
Descubrimiento y primer aislamiento | Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1875) |
Descubrimiento de galio In 1871, the existence of gallium was first predicted by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who named it "eka-aluminium" from its position in his periodic table. He also predicted several properties of eka-aluminium that correspond closely to the real properties of gallium, such as its density, melting point, oxide character, and bonding in chloride. Gallium was discovered using spectroscopy by French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875 from its characteristic spectrum (two violet lines) in a sample of sphalerite. Later that year, Lecoq obtained the free metal by electrolysis of the hydroxide in potassium hydroxide solution. He named the element "gallia", from Latin Gallia meaning Gaul, after his native land of France. |