It can also be added to metallic substances to alter their properties. (Image: w:User:Walkerma/Public domain) Adding Arsenic to Metallic Substancesīut arsenic is much more than just a poison. This deposit could be preserved and used in investigations and legal proceedings involving suspected arsenic poisoning.Īrsenic is famous for its toxicity. This residue can be collected by placing a cold piece of glass into the flame, where it produces a dark deposit of arsenic. When burned, arsine gas produces a distinctive purple flame, and also pure arsenic residue. As the periodic table predicts, this compound has a formula of AsH 3, the same valence and bonding arrangement as NH 3, formed by arsenic’s fellow group member nitrogen when it makes ammonia. The arsenic and hydrogen then react to form arsine gas. So, Marsh’ reaction strips electrons away from arsenic while also producing hydrogen gas from the acid.
Ancient name for antimony series#
Zinc is much higher on the activity series than arsenic. All it took was metallic zinc, sulfuric acid and a flame. That was when chemist James Marsh developed a simple test to detect even small quantities of arsenic. This once made arsenic the poison of choice for people, at least until 1836. When arsenic gets into the human body, it disrupts essential phosphorus-related biochemical processes, acting as a poison to every cell in our body. Arsenic’s famous toxicity comes at least in part from its ability to impersonate its nonmetal sibling phosphorus. The metalloid arsenic’s compounds such as arsenic sulfide and arsenic oxide minerals have probably been known since pre-history. (Image: Kmls/Shutterstock) Arsenic’s Toxicity The substitution of one metalloid for another can dramatically improve the qualities of materials that we use every day. Because of the ways the metalloids combine, they can be considered as the chameleons of the periodic table-elements whose properties can appear metallic in one environment, but decidedly nonmetallic in others.
Davis Jr., Georgetown University The scientific community has decided that metalloids are those elements with properties that are intermediate between those of metals and nonmetals.
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