Antimony was previously known as a metal, but 1748 was defined as an element. It usually occurs in massive, leafy or granular form and it has a flaky texture that makes it shiny, silvery, bluish white and brittle. Occurring in rare, usually massive, leafy or granular form. Almost her time contains little arsenic and is found in vessels with silver, arsenic and other minerals. The antimony alloys are extremely modern. Small quantities of bile, other metals, the alloy of the accumulator plates, bullets and cables used in the coating gives the toughness and hardness. It is combined with tin and lead, antennas, babbitt metals used according to the compartments of machine beds, named friction preventing alloys. As bismuth the antimony expands slightly to solidification and makes it a round alloy metal for detailed castings.
Name: It name come from the Latin antimonium; possibly of Arabic origin; the chemical symbol from the Latin stibium, mark.
Mineral Group: Arsenic group.
Association: Silver, stibnite, allemontite, sphalerite, pyrite, galena, quartz.
Contents
Chemical Properties of Antimony
| Chemical Classification | Native |
| Chemical Composition | Sb |
Physical Properties of Antimony
| Color | Tin-white |
| Streak | Grey |
| Luster | Metallic |
| Cleavage | Perfect Perfect and easy on {0001}, distinct on {1011}, imperfect on {1014} and indistinct on {1120}. |
| Diaphaneity | Opaque |
| Mohs Hardness | 3 – 3,5 on Mohs scale |
| Crystal System | Trigonal, Hexagonal |
| Tenacity | Brittle |
| Fracture | Irregular/Uneven |
| Density | 6.61 – 6.71 g/cm3 (Measured) 6.697 g/cm3 (Calculated) |
Optical Properties of Antimony
| Type | Anisotropic |
| Color / Pleochroism | Weak |
| Twinning | On {0114}, commonly forming complex groups, fourlings, sixlings; also polysynthetic twins. |
Occurrence of Antimony
It is occour in hydothermal Sb–Ag veins.
Antimony Uses and Facts
- B.C. Articles made before Antimony until 3000 years.
- The first published report on how to isolate antimony was made in 1540 by Vannoccio Biringuccio.
- Antimony’s periodic symbol comes from Jons Jakob Berzelius, who uses the abbreviation stibium.
- Antimony is stable at normal temperatures, but reacts with oxygen when heated.
- There are four antimony allotropes known.
- One of allotropes, metallic antimony, is stable, but the other three are metastable.
- One of the metastatic forms is explosive antimony and produces a white smoke when drawn with a metal object.It has two stable isotopes.
- There are also thirty-five radioactive isotopes.
- The longest half-life of any of the radioisotopes is 2.75 years.
- It is believed to be present in the earth’s crust at about 0.2 to 0.5 per million.
- It is found in more than 100 different minerals.
- It ıs sometimes found in pure form, but it is found in the most common mineral stibnite.
- China is the largest producer of antimony, which usually accounts for 84% to 88% of supply.
- It is listed in the British Geological Survey Risk List for its supply.
- It is also listed as one of the twelve most critical materials by the EU as the overwhelming supply comes from outside Europe (China).
- New antimony accumulation has not been found in China for more than a decade and the current supply is rapidly depleted.
- The predominant uses for antimony include alloying with other metals, creation of flame-retardant products and chemical stabilizers.
Distribution
Numerous localities. In the USA, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Finland, Australia, Chile, Mexico
References
- Bonewitz, R. (2012). Rocks and minerals. 2nd ed. London: DK Publishing.
- Handbookofmineralogy.org. (2019). Handbook of Mineralogy. [online] Available at: http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org [Accessed 4 Mar. 2019].
- Mindat.org. (2019). Antimony: Mineral information, data and localities.. [online] Available at: https://www.mindat.org/ [Accessed. 2019].
