Tellurium Facts
Tellurium Facts
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| Interesting Tellurium Facts: |
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| Tellurium was discovered in 1783 by Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein. |
| Von Reichenstein was a mine inspector in Transylvania, and discovered tellurium in gold ore. |
| Martin Heinrich Klaproth named it tellurium, after tellus for "earth." |
| Tellurium is one of the rarest elements on Earth, but is abundant in space. |
| It is found on Earth with nearly the same abundance as platinum. |
| Tellurium is believed to have been depleted from the crust during the formation of the planet due to its volatile reaction with hydrogen. |
| It is sometimes found in its natural form, but is more often found with gold or other metals in mineral forms. |
| Tellurium is typically produced from the sludge byproduct of copper refining. |
| One pound of tellurium is usually produced from the refining of 550 tons of copper. |
| It is also gathered from the dusts of lead refining. |
| Tellurium has eight native isotopes. |
| Five of those isotopes are stable, but the remaining three are radioactive isotopes. |
| The stable isotopes account for only about 33% of tellurium found on Earth. |
| One of the radioisotopes, Te-128, has the longest half-life of any of the radionuclides. |
| The most common use for tellurium is in industrial alloying with lead, copper, or iron. |
| Tellurium also plays a key role in solar panel technology. |
| Panels made with tellurium helped produce some of the maximum efficiencies in solar power generation. |
| Tellurium is also alloyed with mercury and cadmium to form a superconductor that is infrared sensitive. |
| As demand for tellurium has increased, the price per pound has increased in the 21st century from $14 to over $100. |
| The US Department of Energy has estimated that the demand for tellurium will cause a deficiency by 2025. |
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