Discovery date : 1790
Discovered by: Adair Crawford
Origin of the name: Strontium is named after Strontian, a small town in Scotland.
Allotropes :
~>STRONTIUM is the chemical element with symbol Sr and atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive chemically.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 2 | Melting point | 777°C, 1431°F, 1050 K |
| Period | 5 | Boiling point | 1377°C, 2511°F, 1650 K |
| Block | s | Density (g cm−3) | 2.64 |
| Atomic number | 38 | Relative atomic mass | 87.62 |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 86Sr,87Sr,88Sr |
| Electron configuration | [Kr] 5s2 | CAS number | 7440-24-6 |
| ChemSpider ID | 4514263 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
In 1787, an unusual rock which had been found in a lead mine at Strontian, Scotland, was investigated by Adair Crawford, an Edinburgh doctor. He realised it was a new mineral containing an unknown ‘earth’ which he named strontia. In 1791, another Edinburgh man, Thomas Charles Hope, made a fuller investigation of it and proved it was a new element. He also noted that it caused the flame of a candle to burn red.
Meanwhile Martin Heinrich Klaproth in Germany was working with the same mineral and he produced both strontium oxide and strontium hydroxide.
Strontium metal itself was isolated in 1808 at the Royal Institution in London by Humphry Davy by means of electrolysis, using the method with which he had already isolated sodium and potassium.