Physical Properties
Elemental gallium is not found in nature, but it is easily obtained by smelting. Very pure gallium metal has a brilliant silvery color and its solid metal fractures conchoidally like glass. Gallium metal expands by 3.1% when it solidifies, and therefore storage in either glass or metal containers is avoided, due to the possibility of container rupture with freezing. Gallium shares the higher-density liquid state with only a few materials like silicon, germanium, bismuth and water.
Gallium attacks most other metals by diffusing into their metal lattice. Gallium, for example, diffuses into the grain boundaries of Al/Zn alloys or steel, making them very brittle. Also, gallium metal easily alloys with many metals, and was used in small quantities as a plutonium-gallium alloy in the plutonium cores of the first and third nuclear bombs, to help stabilize the plutonium crystal structure.
The melting point of 302.9146 K (29.7646 °C, 85.5763 °F) is near room temperature. Gallium's melting point (mp) is one of the formal temperature reference points in the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) established by BIPM. The triple point of gallium of 302.9166 K (29.7666 °C, 85.5799 °F), is being used by NIST in preference to gallium's melting point.
The unique melting point of gallium allows it to melt in one's hand, and then refreeze if removed. This metal has a strong tendency to supercool below its melting point/freezing point. Seeding with a crystal helps to initiate freezing. Gallium is one of the metals (with caesium, rubidium, mercury and likely francium) which are liquid at or near normal room temperature, and can therefore be used in metal-in-glass high-temperature thermometers. It is also notable for having one of the largest liquid ranges for a metal, and (unlike mercury) for having a low vapor pressure at high temperatures. Unlike mercury, liquid gallium metal wets glass and skin, making it mechanically more difficult to handle (even though it is substantially less toxic and requires far fewer precautions). For this reason as well as the metal contamination and freezing-expansion problems, samples of gallium metal are usually supplied in polyethylene packets within other containers.
| Property | a | b | c |
|---|---|---|---|
| α (~25 °C, µm/m) | 16 | 11 | 31 |
| ρ (29.7 °C, nΩ·m) | 543 | 174 | 81 |
| ρ (0 °C, nΩ·m) | 480 | 154 | 71.6 |
| ρ (77 K, nΩ·m) | 101 | 30.8 | 14.3 |
| ρ (4.2 K, pΩ·m) | 13.8 | 6.8 | 1.6 |
Gallium does not crystallize in any of the simple crystal structures. The stable phase under normal conditions is orthorhombic with 8 atoms in the conventional unit cell. Each atom has only one nearest neighbor (at a distance of 244 pm) and six other neighbors within additional 39 pm. Many stable and metastable phases are found as function of temperature and pressure.
The bonding between the two nearest neighbors is covalent, hence Ga2 dimers are seen as the fundamental building blocks of the crystal. This explains the drop of the melting point compared to its neighbor elements aluminium and indium.
The physical properties of gallium are highly anisotropic, i.e. have different values along the three major crystallographical axes a, b and c (see table); for this reason, there is a significant difference between the linear (α) and volume thermal expansion coefficients. The properties of gallium are also strongly temperature-dependent, especially near the melting point. For example, the thermal expansion coefficient increases by several hundred percent upon melting.
Read more about this topic: Gallium
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