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Germanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid (more rarely considered a metal) in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbors silicon and tin. Like silicon, germanium naturally reacts and forms ...
synthetic element. The carbon group is a periodic table group consisting of carbon (C), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), and flerovium (Fl). It lies within the p-block. In modern IUPAC notation, it is called group 14. In the field of semiconductor physics, it is still universally called group IV.
Germanium dioxide, also called germanium (IV) oxide, germania, and salt of germanium, [1] is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ge O 2. It is the main commercial source of germanium. It also forms as a passivation layer on pure germanium in contact with atmospheric oxygen.
Two oxides of germanium are known: germanium dioxide (GeO 2, germania) and germanium monoxide, (GeO). [4] The dioxide, GeO 2 can be obtained by roasting germanium disulfide (GeS 2) or by allowing elemental germanium to slowly oxidze in air, [5] and is a white powder that is only slightly soluble in water but reacts with alkalis to form germanates. [4]
Germanium is usually considered to be a metalloid rather than a metal. [124] Like carbon (as diamond) and silicon, it has a covalent tetrahedral crystalline structure (BCN 4). [125] Compounds in its preferred oxidation state of +4 are covalent. [126] Germanium forms an amphoteric oxide, GeO 2 [127] and anionic germanates, such as Mg 2 GeO 4.
It melts at 938 °C. Germanium is a semiconductor with an electrical conductivity of around 2 × 10 −2 S•cm −1 [306] and a band gap of 0.67 eV. [308] Liquid germanium is a metallic conductor, with an electrical conductivity similar to that of liquid mercury. [309] Most of the chemistry of germanium is characteristic of a nonmetal. [310]
Germane is the chemical compound with the formula Ge H 4, and the germanium analogue of methane. It is the simplest germanium hydride and one of the most useful compounds of germanium. Like the related compounds silane and methane, germane is tetrahedral. It burns in air to produce GeO 2 and water. Germane is a group 14 hydride.
Germanium (32 Ge) has five naturally occurring isotopes, 70 Ge, 72 Ge, 73 Ge, 74 Ge, and 76 Ge. Of these, 76 Ge is very slightly radioactive, decaying by double beta decay with a half-life of 1.78 × 10 21 years [4] (130 billion times the age of the universe). Stable 74 Ge is the most common isotope, having a natural abundance of approximately ...