Discovery date : 1783
Discovered by: Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein
Origin of the name: The name is derived from the Latin 'tellus', meaning Earth.
Allotropes :
~>TELLURIUM is a chemical element with symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur. It is occasionally found in native form as elemental crystals.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 16 | Melting point | 449.51°C, 841.12°F, 722.66 K |
| Period | 5 | Boiling point | 988°C, 1810°F, 1261 K |
| Block | p | Density (g cm−3) | 6.232 |
| Atomic number | 52 | Relative atomic mass | 127.60 |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 130Te |
| Electron configuration | [Kr] 4d105s25p4 | CAS number | 13494-80-9 |
| ChemSpider ID | 4885717 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
Tellurium was discovered in 1783 by Franz Joseph Müller von Reichenstein at Sibiu, Romania. He became intrigued by ore from a mine near Zalatna which had a metallic sheen and which he suspected was native antimony or bismuth. (It was actually gold telluride, AuTe2.) Preliminary investigation showed neither antimony nor bismuth to be present. For three years Müller researched the ore and proved it contained a new element. He published his findings in an obscure journal and it went largely unnoticed.
In 1796, he sent a sample to Martin Klaproth in Berlin who confirmed him findings. Klaproth produced a pure sample and decided to call it tellurium. Rather strangely, this was not the first sample of tellurium to pass through his hands. In 1789, he had been sent some by a Hungarian scientist, Paul Kitaibel who had independently discovered it.