Tellurium

Elements main page

Tellurium, Te, atomic number 52, is a silver-grey metalloid that sits around the same are as silicon and selenium , and shares many of their traits.

Being a metalloid, it has, like most metalloids, the traits of being more brittle and less consistantly conductive then most metals, but more conductive then non-metals like sulfur or nitrogen, and far more shiny. It has a low melting point, around the same as sulfur, and can easily be melted with a propane torch(as I found out for myself).

Tellurium is not very widely used pure, but it does find many uses in alloys, such as in steel, where it helps it be a little harder and more easily machined into shapes. It is also alloyed in semiconductors to slightly adjust their properties.

Tellurium is surprisingly uncommon on earth, being amoung the 5 least common elements in the earth's crust, however in the rest of the universe it's fairly common. It is normally found in certain gold ores, but is commercially derived in trace amounts from copper and lead ores.

These are my samples!