Bismuth - Bi General Information Discovery Bismuth has been known since the fifteenth century, although it was often confused with tin and lead. Claude Geoffrey the Younger showed it to be distinct from lead in 1753. Appearance Bismuth is a white brittle metal with a pinkish tinge. Source Bismuth occurs as the native metal, and in ores such as bismuthinite and bismite. The major commercial source of bismuth is as a by-product of refining lead, copper, tin, silver and gold ores. Uses Bismuth is used in low-melting alloys with tin and cadmium, which are used in products such as fire detectors and extinguishers, electric fuses and solders. Biological Role Bismuth has no known biological role, and is non-toxic. General Information Bismuth is stable to oxygen and water, and dissolves in concentrated nitric acid. Its soluble salts are characterised by forming insoluble basic salts on the addition of water.

	Physical Information
	Atomic Number		83
	Relative Atomic Mass (12C=12.000)		208.98
	Melting Point/K		545
	Boiling Point/K		1833
	Density/kg m-3		9747 (293K)
	Ground State Electron Configuration		[Xe]4f145d106s26p3
	Electron Affinity(M-M-)/kJ mol-1		-101

	Key Isotopes
	nuclide	206Bi	207Bi	209Bi
	atomic mass			208.98
	natural abundance	0%	0%	100%
	half-life	6.3 days	30.2 yrs	stable

Other Information
Enthalpy of Fusion/kJ mol-1		10.48
Enthalpy of Vaporisation/kJ mol-1		179.1
Oxidation States
main	Bi+3
others	Bi-3, Bi+1, Bi+4
Covalent Bonds /kJ mol-1
Bi - H	194
Bi - C	143
Bi - O	339
Bi - F	314
Bi - Cl	285
Bi - Bi	200

	Ionisation Energies/kJ mol-1
	M - M+	703.2
	M+ - M2+	1610
	M2+ - M3+	2466
	M3+ - M4+	4372
	M4+ - M5+	5400
	M5+ - M6+	8520
	M6+ - M7+	10300
	M7+ - M8+	12300
	M8+ - M9+	14300
	M9+ - M10+	16300