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Laboratory Cultured Bismuth Crystals
Bismuth is a brittle metallic trivalent element (atomic number 83) that is approximately twice as abundant in the Earth's crust as gold. Bismuth was confused in early times with tin and lead because of its resemblance to those elements. Bismuth was discovered by the Muslim alchemist, Jabir ibn Hayyan in the 8th century and is classified along with zinc, gallium, cadmium, indium, tin, thallium, and lead on the modern day periodic table as a post-transition metal. The most important ores of bismuth are bismuthinite and bismite, but most bismuth is produced as a byproduct of the processing of ores of other metals such as lead, copper, tin, silver, gold, and tungsten.
Elemental bismuth has a low melting point of 271.5°C (520.7°F) and is one of the few substances along with water with a liquid phase that is denser than its solid phase. Due to these properties bismuth was long employed as a component of low-melting typesetting alloys which needed to expand to fill printing molds. Bismuth is the most strongly diamagnetic metal known, which is the property of a material causing it to create a magnetic field in opposition of an externally applied magnetic field, thus causing a repulsive effect.
Bismuth has a rhombohedral crystal structure and exhibits a white, silver-pink hue, often occurring in its native form with an iridescent oxide tarnish exhibiting a range of refractive colors from yellow to blue. High purity, laboratory created bismuth crystals can form distinctive iridescent, rainbow hued hopper-form crystals that are prized by collectors of elements and beautiful curiosities alike.
| CulturedCrystal3 - Bismuth Cultured Crystal - $14.95 |
Locality: Made in Germany
Approximate Size: 33.0mm overall. Please note the image at left may be larger than life to help show the fine details. Approximate Weight: 20.1 grams This cherry-picked bismuth crystal specimen stands up nicely on its own without needing a specimen stand to advantageously orient it for display.
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