Discovery date : approx 1600BC
Discovered by: -
Origin of the name: The name derives from the Greek 'anti - monos', meaning not alone
Allotropes : White Sb, Yellow Sb, Black Sb
~>ANTIMONY is a chemical element with symbol Sb and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 15 | Melting point | 630.628°C, 1167.13°F, 903.778 K |
| Period | 5 | Boiling point | 1587°C, 2889°F, 1860 K |
| Block | p | Density (g cm−3) | 6.68 |
| Atomic number | 51 | Relative atomic mass | 121.760 |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 121Sb |
| Electron configuration | [Kr] 4d105s25p3 | CAS number | 7440-36-0 |
| ChemSpider ID | 4510681 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
Antimony and its compounds were known to the ancients and there is a 5,000-year old antimony vase in the Louvre in Paris. Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) is mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus of the 16th century BC. The black form of this pigment, which occurs naturally as the mineral stibnite, was used as mascara and known as khol. The most famous user was the temptress Jezebel whose exploits are recorded in the Bible.
Another pigment known to the Chaldean civilization, which flourished in what is now southern Iraq in the 6th and 7th centuries BC, was yellow lead antimonite. This was found in the glaze of ornamental bricks at Babylon and date from the time of Nebuchadnezzar (604–561 BC).
Antimony became widely used in Medieval times, mainly to harden lead for type, although some was taken medicinally as a laxative pill which could be reclaimed and re-used!