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Antimony

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Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

FormalPara Element Data

Antimony (Sb: atomic weight 121.76) is a silvery metalloid with common oxidation states of (−3), (+3) and (+5). Antimony has two stable isotopes: 121Sb (natural abundance of 57.36 %) and 123Sb (natural abundance of 42.64 %).

Properties

Antimony has four allotropes, which include the blue-white metalloid, the most common allotrope of antimony, and three meta-stable allotropes, yellow, black and explosive. Antimony forms a variety of chemical compounds such as chlorides (SbCl3), fluorides (SbF3), oxides (Sb2O3 and Sb4O10) and sulfides (Sb2S3) (Greenwood and Earnshaw, 1997; Wiberg et al., 2001).

History and Use

Antimony has found many commercial applications. Antimony trioxides (Sb2O3) are most often used as fire retardants in foam filled furniture, accounting for roughly 60 % of its commercial production. Antimony is also used as an alloying material for lead-acid batteries, bullets, and solder (roughly...

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References

  • Baes, C. F., Jr., and Mesmer, R. F., 1976. The Hydrolysis of Cations. New York: Wiley.

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  • Butterman, C., and Carlin, J. F., Jr., 2003. Mineral Commodity Profiles: Antimony. U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, Internal Government Report, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/#mcs

  • Carlin, J. F., Jr., 2011 Mineral Commodity Summaries: Antimony. U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, Internal Government Report, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/#mcs

  • Greenwood, N. N., and Earnshaw, A., 1997. Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edn. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

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  • Krupka, K. M., and Serne, R. J., 2002. Geochemical Factors Affecting the Behavior of Antimony, Cobalt, Europium, Technetium, and Uranium in Vadose Sediments. Richland: PNNL-14126 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

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  • Wiberg, E., Wiberg, N., and Holleman, A. F., 2001. Inorganic Chemistry. San Diego: Academic Press.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSUS – California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Jacqueline R. Houston

Authors
  1. Jacqueline R. Houston
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacqueline R. Houston .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Houston, J.R. (2016). Antimony. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_56-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_56-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39193-9

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