Bismuth
Bismuth is a dense, brittle post-transition metal with atomic number 83. It is the heaviest stable element and sits below arsenic in group 15.
Periodic table: A tabular arrangement of chemical elements ordered by atomic number and recurring chemical properties. Bismuth’s position among the elements helps predict its chemical behavior.
Bismuth trioxide: An oxide of bismuth with the formula Bi₂O₃, used in ceramics and electronic materials. It illustrates the stability and technological uses of bismuth in the +3 oxidation state.
Pepto-Bismol: A brand of over-the-counter medicine whose active ingredient is bismuth subsalicylate. It is a familiar product built around a bismuth compound.
Georgius Agricola: A sixteenth-century German scholar whose writings describe mining and metals, including bismuth. His mineralogical work helped distinguish bismuth from other familiar metals.
Antimony: A brittle metalloid with atomic number 51, located directly above bismuth in group 15. Its position one period higher makes it a close chemical comparison for bismuth.
Group 15: The periodic-table column containing nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. Bismuth shares this column’s five-valence-electron pattern and characteristic chemistry.
Bismuth subsalicylate: A bismuth-containing compound used as an active ingredient in medicines for stomach and intestinal symptoms. Its formulation shows how bismuth chemistry can produce useful, poorly absorbed medicines.
Wood's metal: A low-melting alloy of bismuth, lead, tin, and cadmium. Bismuth gives this alloy its ability to melt in hot water.
Claude François Geoffroy: A French chemist who demonstrated in 1753 that bismuth was distinct from lead and tin. His experiments established bismuth as a separate chemical element.
Lead: A dense, soft, toxic metal with atomic number 82, immediately preceding bismuth. Bismuth often replaces lead where lower toxicity is desirable, though the elements differ in behavior.