Terminology

Allotropes
Some elements exist in several different structural forms, these are called allotropes.

For more information on Murray Robertson’s image see Uses/Interesting Facts below.

Sulfur

Discovery date	Ancient
Discovered by	-
Origin of the name	The name is derived either from the Sanskrit 'sulvere', or the Latin 'sulfurium'.
Allotropes	α-S (orthorhombic), β-S (monoclinic), S₂, S₃, cyclo-S₈

32.066

Fact Box Terminology

Group
Elements appear in columns or ‘groups’ in the periodic table. Members of a group typically have similar properties and electron configurations in their outer shell.

Period
Elements are laid out into rows or ‘periods’ so that similar chemical behaviour is observed in columns.

Block
Elements are organised into blocks by the orbital type in which the outer electrons are found. These blocks are named for the characteristic spectra they produce: sharp, principal, diffuse, and fundamental.

Atomic Number
The number of protons in the nucleus.

Atomic Radius/non -bonded (Å)
based on Van der Waals forces (where several isotopes exist, a value is presented for the most prevalent isotope). These values were calculated using a multitude of methods including crystallographic data, gas kinetic collision cross sections, critical densities, liquid state properties, for more details please refer to the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.

Electron Configuration
The arrangements of electrons above the last (closed shell) noble gas.

Isotopes
Elements are defined by the number of protons in its centre (nucleus), whilst the number of neutrons present can vary. The variations in the number of neutrons will create elements of different mass which are known as isotopes.

Melting Point (^oC)
The temperature at which the solid-liquid phase change occurs.

Melting Point (K)
The temperature at which the solid-liquid phase change occurs.

Melting Point (^oF)
The temperature at which the solid-liquid phase change occurs.

Boiling Point (^oC)
The temperature at which the liquid-gas phase change occurs.

Boiling Point (K)
The temperature at which the liquid-gas phase change occurs.

Boiling Point (^oF)
The temperature at which the liquid-gas phase change occurs.

Sublimation
Elements that do not possess a liquid phase at atmospheric pressure (1 atm) are described as going through a sublimation process.

Density (kgm^-3)
Density is the weight of a substance that would fill 1 m³ (at 298 K unless otherwise stated).

Relative Atomic Mass
The mass of an atom relative to that of Carbon-12. This is approximately the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. Where more than one isotope exists the value given is the abundance weighted average.

Key Isotopes (% abundance)
An element must by definition have a fixed number of protons in its nucleus, and as such has a fixed atomic number, however variants of an element can exist with differing numbers of neutrons, and hence a different atomic masses (e.g. ¹²C has 6 protons and 6 neutrons and ¹³C has 6 protons and 7 neutrons).

CAS number
The Chemical Abstracts Service registry number is a unique identifier of a particular chemical, designed to prevent confusion arising from different languages and naming systems (where several isotopes exist, a value is presented for the most prevalent isotope).

Fact Box

Group	16	Melting point	115.21 ^oC, 239.378 ^oF, 388.36 K
Period	3	Boiling point	444.61 ^oC, 832.298 ^oF, 717.76 K
Block	p	Density (kg m^-3)	2086
Atomic number	16	Relative atomic mass	32.066
State at room temperature	Solid	Key isotopes	³²S
Electron configuration	[Ne] 3s²3p⁴	CAS number	7704-34-9
ChemSpider ID	4515054	ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database

Interesting Facts terminology

Image Explanation

Murray Robertson is the artist behind the images which make up Visual Elements. This is where the artist explains his interpretation of the element and the science behind the picture.

Natural Abundance

Where this element is most commonly found in nature.

Biological Roles

The elements role within the body of humans, animals and plants. Also functionality in medical advancements both today and years ago.

Appearance

The description of the element in its natural form.

Uses / Interesting Facts

Image explanation

Alchemical symbol for Sulfur against a “fire and brimstone” background.

Appearance

Occurs in large deposits as yellow crystals. It is stable in air and water but will burn if ignited, giving off the acrid gas, sulfur dioxide, its most famous compound, which is used to make sulfuric acid, the single most important industrial chemical. Sulfur dioxide is also produced when coal and oil are burned and is largely responsible for so called ‘acid rain’. Sulfur is essential to all living things and there is a sulfur cycle in nature. The average human contains 140 grammes and takes in about 1 gramme a day.

Source

Uses

Sulfur is used in the vulcanisation of black rubber, as a fungicide and in black gunpowder. Most, however, is used in the production of sulfuric acid, which is the most important chemical manufactured by western civilisations.

Biological role

Sulfur is essential to life as a component of fats, body fluids and bones. It is non-toxic as the element and in the form of the sulphate, but carbon disulphide, hydrogen sulphide and sulfur dioxide are all toxic, especially hydrogen sulphide which can cause death by respiratory paralysis. Sulfur dioxide is also produced when coal and oil are burned and is largely responsible for so called ‘acid rain’. Sulfur is essential to all living things and there is a sulfur cycle in nature. The average human contains 140 grammes and takes in about 1 gramme a day.

Natural abundance

Sulfur is widely distributed in nature as iron pyrites, galena, gypsum, Epsom salts and many other minerals. It is stable in air and water but will burn if ignited, giving off the acrid gas, sulfur dioxide, its most famous compound, which is used to make sulfuric acid, the single most important industrial chemical. It is commercially recovered from wells sunk into the salt domes along the Gulf Coast of the USA, and from the Alberta gas fields. It is also mined in Poland. The Frasch Process is used to force heated water into the wells to melt the sulfur, which can then be recovered chemically. Sulfur can also be recovered from natural gas and crude oil by conversion into hydrogen sulfide, from which sulfur is liberated.

Atomic Data Terminology

Atomic radius/non -bonded (Å)
Based on Van der Waals forces (where several isotopes exist, a value is presented for the most prevalent isotope). These values were calculated using a multitude of methods including crystallographic data, gas kinetic collision cross sections, critical densities, liquid state properties,for more details please refer to the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.

Electron affinity (kJ mol^-1)
The energy released when an additional electron is attached to the neutral atom and a negative ion is formed (where several isotopes exist, a value is presented for the most prevalent isotope). *

Electronegativity (Pauling scale)
The degree to which an atom attracts electrons towards itself, expressed on a relative scale as a function bond dissociation energies, E_d in eV. χ_A - χ_B =(eV)-1/2sqrt(E_d(AB)-[E_d(AA)+E_d(BB)]/2), with χ_H set as 2.2 (where several isotopes exist, a value is presented for the most prevalent isotope).

1^st Ionisation energy (kJ mol^-1)
The minimum energy required to remove an electron from a neutral atom in its ground state (where several isotopes exist, a value is presented for the most prevalent isotope).

Covalent radius (Å)
The size of the atom within a covalent bond, given for typical oxidation number and coordination (where several isotopes exist, a value is presented for the most prevalent isotope). ***

Atomic Data

Atomic radius, non-bonded (Å)	1.800	Covalent radius (Å)	1.04
Electron affinity (kJ mol^-1)	200.4	Electronegativity (Pauling scale)	2.580
Ionisation energies (kJ mol^-1)	1^st 999.588 2^nd 2251.761 3^rd 3356.722 4^th 4556.227 5^th 7004.299 6^th 8495.816 7^th 27107.340 8^th 31719.528

Bonding and Enthalpies terminology

Covalent Bonds
The strengths of several common covalent bonds.

Bonding / Enthalpies

Covalent bonds

S–S 266 kJ mol ^-1

S=S 429.2 kJ mol ^-1

O=S 469 kJ mol ^-1

Mining/Sourcing Information

Data for this section of the data page has been provided by the British Geological Survey. To review the full report please click here or please look at their website here.

Key for numbers generated

Governance indicators

1 (low) = 0 to 2

2 (medium-low) = 3 to 4

3 (medium) = 5 to 6

4 (medium-high) = 7 to 8

5 (high) = 9

Reserve base distribution

1 (low) = 0 to 30 %

2 (medium-low) = 30 to 45 %

3 (medium) = 45 to 60 %

4 (medium-high) = 60 to 75 %

5 (high) = 75 %

(Where data are unavailable an arbitrary score of 2 was allocated. For example, Be, As, Na, S, In, Cl, Ca and Ge are allocated a score of 2 since reserve base information is unavailable. Reserve base data are also unavailable for coal; however, reserve data for 2008 are available from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).)

Production Concentration

1 (low) = 0 to 30 %

2 (medium-low) = 30 to 45 %

3 (medium) = 45 to 60 %

4 (medium-high) = 60 to 75 %

5 (high) = 75 %

Crustal Abundance

1 (low) = 100 to 1000 ppm

2 (medium-low) =10 to 100 ppm

3 (medium) = 1 to 10 ppm

4 (medium-high) = 0.1 to 1 ppm

5 (high) = 0.1 ppm

(Where data are unavailable an arbitrary score of 2 was allocated. For example, He is allocated a score of 2 since crustal abundance data is unavailable.)

Explanations for terminology

Crustal Abundance (ppm)

The abundance of an element in the Earth's crust in parts-per-million (ppm) i.e. The number of atoms of this element per 1 million atoms of crust.

Sourced

The country with the largest reserve base.

Reserve Base Distribution

This is a measure of the spread of future supplies, recording the percentage of a known resource likely to be available in the intermediate future (reserve base) located in the top three countries.

Production Concentrations

This reports the percentage of an element produced in the top three countries. The higher the value, the larger risk there is to supply.

Total Governance Factor

The World Bank produces a global percentile rank of political stability. The scoring system is given below, and the values for all three production countries were summed.

Relative Supply Risk Index

The Crustal Abundance, Reserve Base Distribution, Production Concentration and Governance Factor scores are summed and then divided by 2, to provide an overall Relative Supply Risk Index.

Supply Risk

Scarcity factor	3.5
Country with largest reserve base	n/a
Crustal abundance (ppm)	404
Leading producer	China
Reserve base distribution (%)	n/a
Production concentration (%)	17.40
Total governance factor(production)	6

Top 3 countries (mined)	1) n/a
Top 3 countries (production)	1) China 2) USA 3) Canada

Oxidation states/ Isotopes

Key for Isotopes

Half Life
	y	years
	d	days
	h	hours
	m	minutes
	s	seconds
Mode of decay
	α	alpha particle emission
	β	negative beta (electron) emission
	β+	positron emission
	EC	orbital electron capture
	sf	spontaneous fission
	ββ	double beta emission
	ECEC	double orbital electron capture

Terminology

Common Oxidation states
The oxidation state of an atom is a measure of the degree of oxidation of an atom. It is defined as being the charge that an atom would have if all bonds were ionic. Free atoms have an oxidation state of 0, and the sum of oxidation numbers within a substance must equal the overall charge.

Important Oxidation states
The most common oxidation states of an element in its compounds.

Oxidation States / Isotopes

Common oxidation states	6, 4, 2, -2
Isotopes	Isotope	Atomic mass	Natural abundance (%)	Half life	Mode of decay
	³²S	31.972	94.99	-	-
	³³S	32.971	0.75	-	-
	³⁴S	33.968	4.25	-	-
	³⁶S	35.967	0.01	-	-

Pressure and Temperature - Advanced Terminology

Molar Heat Capacity (J mol^-1 K^-1)

Molar heat capacity is the energy required to heat a mole of a substance by 1 K.

Young's modulus (GPa)

Young's modulus is a measure of the stiffness of a substance, that is, it provides a measure of how difficult it is to extend a material, with a value given by the ratio of tensile strength to tensile strain.

Shear modulus (GPa)

The shear modulus of a material is a measure of how difficult it is to deform a material, and is given by the ratio of the shear stress to the shear strain.

Bulk modulus (GPa)

The bulk modulus is a measure of how difficult to compress a substance. Given by the ratio of the pressure on a body to the fractional decrease in volume.

Vapour Pressure (Pa)

Vapour pressure is the measure of the propensity of a substance to evaporate. It is defined as the equilibrium pressure exerted by the gas produced above a substance in a closed system.

Pressure / Temperature - Advanced

Molar heat capacity
(J mol^-1 K^-1)

22.7

Young's modulus (GPa)

Unknown

Shear modulus (GPa)

Unknown

Bulk modulus (GPa)

7.7

Vapour pressure

Temperature (K)

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

2200

2400

Pressure (Pa)

Help text not available for this section currently

History

Elements and Periodic Table History

Sulfur is mentioned 15 times in the Bible, and was best known for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. It was also known to the ancient Greeks, and burnt as a fumigant. Sulfur was mined near Mount Etna in Sicily and used for bleaching cloth and preserving wine, both of which involved burning it to form sulfur dioxide, and allowing this to be absorbed by wet clothes or the grape juice. For centuries, sulfur along with mercury and salt, was believed to be a component of all metals and formed the basis of alchemy whereby one metal could be transmuted into another.

Antoine Lavoisier thought that sulfur was an element, but in 1808 Humphry Davy said it contained hydrogen. However, his sample was impure and when Louis-Josef Gay-Lussac and Louis-Jacques Thénard proved it to be an element the following year, Davy eventually agreed.

Help text not available for this section currently

Podcasts

Listen to Sulfur Podcast

Transcript :

Chemistry in Its Element - Sulfur

(Promo)

You're listening to Chemistry in its element brought to you by Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry

(End promo)

Chris Smith

Hello, this week stinky sediments, skunks and the smell of hell. Well they all begin with the letter S, and so does this week's element. Here's Steve Mylon.

Steve Mylon

"How did it smell?" That was the only question I needed to ask a geologist colleague of mine about the sediment she was trying to understand. The smell of the sediment tells a great deal about the underlying chemistry. Thick black anoxic sediments can be accompanied by a putrid smell which is unique to reduced sulfur.

Maybe this is why sulfur has such a bad reputation. My son wouldn't eat eggs for 6 months when he got a smell of his first rotten one. In the bible it seems that whenever something bad happens or is about to happen burning sulfur is in the picture:

For example,

In Genesis we hear, "the lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah"

And in Revelation we read that the sinners will find their place in a fiery lake of burning sulfur."

The odd thing is that in both cases we shouldn't expect anything smelly to be produced. When sulfur burns in air, it generally forms sulfur dioxide or sulfur trioxide both of which lack any smell. These compounds can further oxidize and rain out as sulfuric or sulfurous acid. This is the mechanism for acid rain which has reeked havoc on the forests of the northeastern United States as sulfur rich coals are burned to generate electricity in midwestern states and carried east by prevailing winds where sulfuric acid is rained out causing all sorts of ecological problems.

Additionally, the combination of burning coal and fog creates smog in many industrial cities causing respiratory problems among the locals. Here too, sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid are implicated as the culprits. But again, there is no smell associated with this form of sulfur.

So if hell or the devil is said have the 'smell of sulfur', maybe that's not so bad.

But reduce sulfur by giving it a couple of electrons, and its smell is unmistakable. The requirement of sulfur reduction to sulfide has clearly been lost in translation .

Hell that smells like hydrogen sulfide or any number of organic-sulfur compound will not be a nice place at all. The organic sulfide compounds known as thiols or mercaptans smell so bad, that they are commonly added to odorless natural gas in very small quantities in order to serve as a 'smell alarm' should there be leak in a natural gas line. Skunks take advantage of the foul smell of butyl seleno-mercaptan as a means of defending themselves against their enemies. And for me, personally, the worst chemistry of all occurs when reduced sulfur imparts a bad (skunky) taste in bottles of wine or beer. -bound to ruin a nice night out on the town or an afternoon at the local pub.

So, where does the "smell of hell" come from in anoxic sediments. Interestingly, some bacteria have evolved to make use of oxidized sulfur , sulfate, as an electron acceptor during respiration. In a similar manner to the way humans reduce elemental oxygen to water, these bacteria reduce sulfate to hydrogen sulfide- They clearly don't mind the smell.

Smell is not the only interesting chemistry that accompanies reduced sulfur. The deep black associated with anoxic sediments results from the low solubility of most metal sulfides. Sulfate reduction to sulfide generally accompanies the precipitation of pyrite (iron sulfide), cinnabar (mercury sulfide), galena (lead sulfide) and many more minerals. These metal sulfides have become an important industrial source for many of these important metals.

Industry is one place you are almost certain to find sulfur or more importantly sulfuric acid which is used in processes ranging from fertilizer production to oil refining. In fact sulfuric acid ranks as the most highly produced chemical in the industrialized world. Imagine that, the element with such a hellish reputation has become one of the most important.

And some even suggest that sulfur could save the planet. The biogenic compound dimethylsulfide (DMS) is produced from the cleavage of dimethylsufonoprioponate, an osmotic regulatory compound produced by plankton in the ocean. The volatility and low solubility of DMS results in some 20 Tg (10^12) of sulfur emitted to the atmosphere annually. DMS is oxidized to SO2 and finally to sulfuric acid particles which can act as cloud condensation nuclei forming clouds which have a net cooling effect to the planet.

Imagine warmer temperatures followed by greater biological activity resulting in more DMS to the atmosphere. The resulting cloud formation might work to cool a warming planet. It's almost like the plankton are opening an umbrella made up-in part- of sulfur. From a symbol of damnation to savior...what a turn around!!.

Chris Smith

Steve Mylon sniffing out the stinky story of Sulfur. Thankfully next week's element is a lot less odiforous.

John Emsley

The story of its discovery started when Rayleigh found that the nitrogen extracted from the air had a higher density than that made by decomposing ammonia. The difference was small but real. Ramsay wrote to Rayleigh suggesting that he should look for a heavier gas in the nitrogen got from air, while Rayleigh should look for a lighter gas in that from ammonia. Ramsay removed all the nitrogen from his sample by repeatedly passing it over heated magnesium. He was left with one percent which would not react and found it was denser than nitrogen. Its atomic spectrum showed new red and green lines, confirming it a new element.

Chris Smith

And that new element was Argon nicknamed the lazy element because originally scientists thought that it wouldn't react with anything. Now we know that's not true and John Emsley will be here to unlock Argon secrets on next week's Chemistry in its Element, I hope you can join us. I'm Chris Smith, thank you for listening and goodbye.

(Promo)

Chemistry in its elementis brought to you by the Royal Society of Chemistry and produced by thenakedscientists dot com. There's more information and other episodes of Chemistry in its element on our website at chemistryworld dot org forward slash elements.

(End promo)

Help text not available for this section currently

Video

Click here to view videos about Sulfur

Help Text

Resources

Copper Sulfide

Description :

This demonstration involves some fantastic chemistry and makes an excellent introduction to the use of quantitative calculations to find the formula of a reaction product, copper sulfide. Students wil...

Which sodium salt is which?

Description :

Using laboratory tests identify sodium sulphate, sodium sulphite, sodium thiosulphate, sodium metabisulphite and sodium persulphate

Earth's Crust

Description :

An introduction to the common elements found in the Earth's crust. This can be used to underpin topics on useful materials from the Earth and on the extraction of metals.

Minerals & elements in the Earth's Crust

Description :

Gives information about the most common elements in the Earth’s crust and the other the chemical composition of some minerals.

AfL: Iron and sulfur

Description :

Reacting elements with chlorine

Description :

Many elements react with chlorine on heating. The reactions and the properties of the products illustrate the periodic nature of the elements. The reactions require less energy input to initiate than ...

More resources related to Sulfur...

Terms & Conditions

Images © Murray Robertson 1999-2011
Text © The Royal Society of Chemistry 1999-2011

Welcome to "A Visual Interpretation of The Table of Elements", the most striking version of the periodic table on the web. This Site has been carefully prepared for your visit, and we ask you to honour and agree to the following terms and conditions when using this Site.

Copyright of and ownership in the Images reside with Murray Robertson. The RSC has been granted the sole and exclusive right and licence to produce, publish and further license the Images.

The RSC maintains this Site for your information, education, communication, and personal entertainment. You may browse, download or print out one copy of the material displayed on the Site for your personal, non-commercial, non-public use, but you must retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained on the materials. You may not further copy, alter, distribute or otherwise use any of the materials from this Site without the advance, written consent of the RSC. The images may not be posted on any website, shared in any disc library, image storage mechanism, network system or similar arrangement. Pornographic, defamatory, libellous, scandalous, fraudulent, immoral, infringing or otherwise unlawful use of the Images is, of course, prohibited.

If you wish to use the Images in a manner not permitted by these terms and conditions please contact the Publishing Services Department by email. If you are in any doubt, please ask.

Commercial use of the Images will be charged at a rate based on the particular use, prices on application. In such cases we would ask you to sign a Visual Elements licence agreement, tailored to the specific use you propose.

The RSC makes no representations whatsoever about the suitability of the information contained in the documents and related graphics published on this Site for any purpose. All such documents and related graphics are provided "as is" without any representation or endorsement made and warranty of any kind, whether expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.

In no event shall the RSC be liable for any damages including, without limitation, indirect or consequential damages, or any damages whatsoever arising from use or loss of use, data or profits, whether in action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use of the material available from this Site. Nor shall the RSC be in any event liable for any damage to your computer equipment or software which may occur on account of your access to or use of the Site, or your downloading of materials, data, text, software, or images from the Site, whether caused by a virus, bug or otherwise.

We hope that you enjoy your visit to this Site. We welcome your feedback.

References

Images: Visual Elements © Murray Robertson 2011
Mining and Sourcing data: British Geological Survey – natural environment research council.
Text: John Emsley Nature’s Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2011.
Additional information for platinum, gold, neodymium and dysprosium obtained from Material Value Consultancy Ltd www.matvalue.com
Data: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, CRC Press, 92nd Edition, 2011.
G. W. C. Kaye and T. H. Laby Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants, Longman, 16th Edition, 1995.
Members of the RSC can access these books through our library.

Explore all Elements

Krypton

Vanadium

Xenon