
PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS
4-3
GENERAL PROPERTIES
OF
THE ELEMENTS
Some properties of the elements are listed in Table
l.* Some of the listed quantities are defined
as
follows.
Atomic number
Z represents the number of protons
per
atom.
Mass number
Z
+
N
is equal to the number of pro-
tons
Z
plus the number of neutrons
N
present in the
nuclei.
Mass
numbers of the most abundant isotopes
are given in order of decreasing abundance. For exm-
ple, Cadmium Cd-48 mass numbers 114-112 means
that cadmium atoms of greater abundance (28.86%)
have
a
mass
number of 114; that is, the nucleus of
Cd1I4 has 114
-
48
=
66 neutrons while isotope Cdl”
of lower abundance (24.07%) has 112
-
48
=
64 neu-
trons.
Atomic radius
values listed provide
a
comparison of
sizes (deduced from interatomic spacing of bound
atoms).
Gram atomic volume
in cubic centimeters gives the
volume occupied in the solid state by an atom at its
melting point. The gram atomic volume contains the
Avogadro number of at0ms.t
Electronegativity
represents the relative tendency of
an
atom
to
attract shared electron pairs. The highest
electronegativity is assigned to fluorine with the value
3.90.
First ionization potential
is the work in electron
volts required to pull
1
electron
off
an
isolated neutral
atom.
1 electron volt
=
1.602
x
joule?
Electron
work
function,
expressed
in
electronvolts,
represents the energy that must be supplied to an elec-
tron to cross over the surface barrier of a metal. That
energy may be supplied by heat (thermionic work
function), by light (photoelectric work function), or by
contact with a dissimilar metal (contact potential).
Electrochemical equivalents
are expressed in joules
per gram (J/g) liberated at the electrode.
PERIODIC CLASSIFICATION OF
THE ELEMENTS
Fig.
1
is
a
periodic table of the elements.
Oxidation number
is defined as the charge that an
atom appears to have in a compound when electrons
are counted according to certain rules:
*
Tables 1 and
2,
Chart 1, and Fig.
1
of
this chapter are
partly based on data
from
the following sources:
Handhook
of
Chemistry and Physics,
55th
ed., CRC Press, Inc., 1974;
Fun-
damentals
of
Chemistry,
John
Wiley
&
Sons;
The Encyclope-
dia
of
Electrochemistry,
Reinhold Publishing
Corp.,
1964;
American Znstitute
of
Physics Handbook,
3rd ed., McGraw-
Hill
Book
Co., 1972;
Lunge’s Handbook
of
Chemistry,
11th
ed., McGraw-Hill
Book
Co., 1973.
t
See Chapter
3
for precise valve.
(A)
In the free elements each atom has an oxidation
number
of
0.
(B)
Electrons shared between
two
unlike atoms are
counted with the more electronegative
atom.
(C) Electrons shared between
the
two like atoms are
divided equally between sharing atoms.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF
THE ELEMENTS
Some of the physical properties of the elements are
listed in Table
2.
GALVANIC SERIES
IN
SEA
WATER
In sea water, two dissimilar metals connected by
a
conductor form a galvanic cell. If the two metals are in
different groups of Chart
1
(separated by spaces), the
metal coming first in the series-starting from cor-
roded end to protected end-will be anodic (i.e., cor-
roded by the metal contained in the group farther from
the corroded end). If the two metals are
in
the same
group, no appreciable corrosive action will take place.
TEMPERATURE-EMF
CHARACTERISTICS OF
THERMOCOUPLESS
Fig. 2 shows temperature-emf characteristics of
thermocouples.
Electromotive Force
and
Other
Properties
Electromotive force and other properties of thermo-
couples are listed in Tables
3
and 4.
CONDUCTING MATERIALS
Conducting materials (Tables
5-7)
can be classified
as follows:
Conductors: Resistivities from
lCG
to
lo4
Clan (1
to
100
pClan). Conductivities from
lo4
to
lo6
Sa-’.
Semiconductors: Resistivities from
1@
to
lo9
Clncm. Conductivities from
lC9
to
lo4
Sa-’.
Insulators: Resistivities from
lo9
to
loz5
Clan.
Conductivities from to
lC9
Sa-’.
SEMICONDUCTING
MATERIALS
Some properties of semiconductor materials are
listed in Table
8.
j
R.
L.
Weber,
Temperature Measurement and Control
(Philadelphia:
Blakiston
Co., 1941; pp. 68-71).