Símbolo | In |
Número atómico | 49 |
Grupo | 13 (Familia del boro) |
Período | 5 |
Bloque | p |
Clasificación | Metal del bloque p |
Apariencia | Silvery lustrous gray |
Color | Plata |
Número de protones | 49 p+ |
Número de neutrones | 66 n0 |
Número de electrones | 49 e- |
Fase en STP | Sólido |
Densidad | 7.31 g/cm3 |
Peso atómico | 114.818 u |
Punto de fusión | 429.749 K 156.599 °C 313.8782 °F |
Punto de ebullición | 2345 K 2071.85 °C 3761.33 °F |
Entalpía de vaporización | 226.35 kJ/mol |
Electronegatividad (Escala de Pauling) | 1.78 |
Afinidad electrónica | 37.043 kJ/mol |
Estado de oxidación | −5, −2, −1, +1, +2, +3 (an amphoteric oxide) |
Energía de ionización |
|
Descubrimiento | Ferdinand Reich, Hieronymous Theodor Richter (1863) |
Primer aislamiento | Hieronymous Theodor Richter (1864) |
Descubrimiento de indio In 1863, the German chemists Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymous Theodor Richter were testing ores from the mines around Freiberg, Saxony. They dissolved the minerals pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and sphalerite in hydrochloric acid and distilled raw zinc chloride. Reich, who was color-blind, employed Richter as an assistant for detecting the colored spectral lines. Knowing that ores from that region sometimes contain thallium, they searched for the green thallium emission spectrum lines. Instead, they found a bright blue line. Because that blue line did not match any known element, they hypothesized a new element was present in the minerals. They named the element indium, from the indigo color seen in its spectrum, after the Latin indicum, meaning 'of India'. Richter went on to isolate the metal in 1864. An ingot of 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) was presented at the World Fair 1867. Reich and Richter later fell out when the latter claimed to be the sole discoverer. |