Scan And The Gallium example essay topic

Gallium 1871 Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendelev predicts the existence and properties of the element after zinc in the periodic table. He Gives it the name 'ek a aluminium'. 1875 Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers gallium. Its properties closely match those predicted by Mendelev. Gallium, atomic number 31, is very similar to aluminum in its chemical properties. It does not dissolve in nitric acid because of the protective film of gallium oxide that is formed over the surface by the action of the acid.

Gallium does however dissolve in other acids, and alkalies. Gallium was discovered (1875) by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who observed its principal spectral lines while examining material separated from zinc blende. Soon after he isolated the metal studied its properties, which coincided those that Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendelev had predicted a few years earlier for ek a-aluminium, the then undiscovered element lying between aluminum and indium in his periodic table. Though widely distributed at the Earth's surface, gallium does not or concentrated in in dependant minerals, except for gal lite.

It is extracted as a by-product from zinc blende, iron pyrites, bauxite, . Silvery white and soft enough to be cut with a knife, gallium takes on a bluish tinge because of superficial oxidation. Unusual for its low melting point (about 30 degrees C, 86 degrees F), gallium also expands upon solidification and supercool's readily, remaining a liquid at temperatures a slow as 0 degrees C (32 degrees F). Gallium has the longest use full liquid range of any element. The liquid metal clings to glass and similar surfaces. The crystal structure of gallium is orthorhombic.

Natural gallium consists of a mixture of two stable isotopes: gallium-69 (60.4 percent) and gallium-71 (39.6 percent). Somewhat similar to aluminum chemically, gallium slowly oxidizes in moist air until a protective film forms, and it becomes passive in cold nitric acid. Gallium has been considered as a possible heat-exchange medium in nuclear reactors, although it has a high neutron cross section. Radioactive gallium-72 shows some promise in the study of bone cancer; a compound of this isotope is absorbed by the cancerous portion of the bone. The most common use of gallium is in a gallium scan. Gallium scans are often used to diagnose and follow the progression of tumors or infections.

Gallium scans can also be used to evaluate the heart, lungs, or any other organ that may be involved with inflammatory disease. A gallium scan usually requires two visits to the Nuclear Medicine Department. On the first day you relieve an injection in a vein in your arm, you will then be scheduled to return between 2 and 5 days later, depending on your diagnosis. Your initial scan can take several hours, while you lay on a stretcher, or imaging table, and a camera is positioned above you or below you, taking pictures as it moves slowly along the length of your body. No must be taken before the scan, and the gallium is usually excreted through the bowel.