Tellurium is a semiconductor that shows greater electrical conductivity in certain directions depending on atomic alignment the conductivity increases slightly when exposed to light ( photoconductivity). Amorphous tellurium is a black-brown powder prepared by precipitating it from a solution of tellurous acid or telluric acid (Te(OH) 6). It is a brittle and easily pulverized metalloid. The crystals are trigonal and chiral ( space group 152 or 154 depending on the chirality), like the gray form of selenium. When crystalline, tellurium is silvery-white with a metallic luster. Tellurium has two allotropes, crystalline and amorphous. In humans, tellurium is partly metabolized into dimethyl telluride, (CH 3) 2Te, a gas with a garlic-like odor exhaled in the breath of victims of tellurium exposure or poisoning.Ĭharacteristics Physical properties Tellurium has no biological function, although fungi can use it in place of sulfur and selenium in amino acids such as tellurocysteine and telluromethionine. Tellurium is considered a technology-critical element. A more traditional application in copper ( tellurium copper) and steel alloys, where tellurium improves machinability also consumes a considerable portion of tellurium production. However, they are not a commercially significant source of tellurium itself, which is normally extracted as a by-product of copper and lead production.Ĭommercially, the primary use of tellurium is CdTe solar panels and thermoelectric devices. Gold telluride minerals are the most notable natural gold compounds. Tellurium-bearing compounds were first discovered in 1782 in a gold mine in Kleinschlatten, Transylvania (now Zlatna, Romania) by Austrian mineralogist Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein, although it was Martin Heinrich Klaproth who named the new element in 1798 after the Latin tellus 'earth'. Its extreme rarity in the Earth's crust, comparable to that of platinum, is due partly to its formation of a volatile hydride that caused tellurium to be lost to space as a gas during the hot nebular formation of Earth. Tellurium is far more common in the Universe as a whole than on Earth. It is occasionally found in its native form as elemental crystals. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is a chemical element with the symbol Te and atomic number 52.
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