Discovery date : 1886
Discovered by: Clemens Winkler
Origin of the name: The name is derived from the Latin name for Germany, 'Germania'.
Allotropes : α-Ge, ß-Ge
~>GERMANIUM is a chemical element with symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to its group neighbors tin and silicon. Pure germanium is a semiconductor with an appearance similar to elemental silicon.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 14 | Melting point | 938.25°C, 1720.85°F, 1211.4 K |
| Period | 4 | Boiling point | 2833°C, 5131°F, 3106 K |
| Block | d | Density (g cm−3) | 5.3234 |
| Atomic number | 32 | Relative atomic mass | 72.630 |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 73Ge,74Ge |
| Electron configuration | [Ar] 3d104s24p2 | CAS number | 7440-56-4 |
| ChemSpider ID | 4885606 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
Germanium was discovered by Clemens A. Winkler at Freiberg, Germany, in 1886. Its existence had been predicted by Mendeleev who predicted its atomic weight would be about 71 and that its density around 5.5 g/cm3.
In September 1885 a miner working in the Himmelsfürst silver mine near Freiberg, came across an unusual ore. It was passed to Albin Weisbach at the nearby Mining Academy who certified it was a new mineral, and asked his colleague Winkler to analyse it. He found its composition to be 75% silver, 18% sulfur, and 7% he could not explain. By February 1886, he realised it was a new metal-like element and as its properties were revealed, it became clear that it was the missing element below silicon as Mendeleev had predicted. The mineral from which it came we know as argyrodite, Ag8GeS6.