Hydrogen and Alkali Metals

BS Chemistry 1A
1
HISTORY
• Turquet De Mayerne repeated Paracelsus’s experiment in 1650 and found that
the gas was flammable.(2) Neither Paracelsus nor De Mayerne proposed that
hydrogen could be a new element. Indeed, Paracelsus believed there were only
three elements – the tria prima – salt, Sulfur, and Mercury– and that all other
substances were made of different combinations of these three. (3)
• Hydrogen was first recognized as a distinct element in 1766 by English scientist
Henry Cavendish, when he prepared it by reacting hydrochloric acid with Zinc. He
described hydrogen as “inflammable air from metals” and established that it was
the same material (by its reactions and its density) regardless of which metal and
which acid he used to produce it.(1) Cavendish also observed that when the
substance was burned, it produced water.
• French scientist Antoine Lavoisier later named the element hydrogen (1783). The
name comes from the Greek ‘hydro’ meaning water and ‘genes’ meaning forming
– hydrogen is one of the two water forming elements.
Appearance and Characteristics
Harmful effec ts :
Hydrogen is highly flammable and has an almost invisible flame, which can lead to
accidental burns.

Charac teri s ti c s:
Hydrogen is the simplest element of all, and the lightest.
In its commonest form, the hydrogen atom is made of one proton, one electron, and no
neutrons. Hydrogen is the only element that can exist without neutrons.
Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless gas which exists, at standard temperature and pressure, as
diatomic molecules, H2.
It burns and forms explosive mixtures in air and it reacts violently with oxidants.
On Earth, the major location of hydrogen is in water, H2O. There is little free hydrogen on
Earth because hydrogen is so light that it is not held by the planet’s gravity. Any hydrogen
that forms eventually escapes from the atmosphere into space.
Although hydrogen is usually a nonmetal, it becomes a liquid metal when enormous
pressures are applied to it.
Such pressures are found within gas giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter’s high
magnetic field (14 times Earth’s) is believed to be caused by a dynamo effect resulting from
electrically conducting metallic hydrogen circulating as the planet rotates.
Uses of Hydrogen

1 2 3
Large quantities of hydrogen are Liquid hydrogen is used as
Hydrogen is also
used in the Haber process a rocket fuel, for example
used in metal
(production of ammonia), refining. powering the Space
hydrogenation of fats and oils, Hydrogen’s two Shuttle’s lift-off and
methanol production, heavier isotopes ascent into orbit. Liquid
hydrocracking, and (deuterium and hydrogen and oxygen are
hydrodesulfurization tritium) are held in the Shuttle’s large,
used in nuclear external fuel tank.
fusion.

At the moment, however, the

The hydrogen

4 5 6
The basis of the hydrogen for hydrogen-
hydrogen economy is economy has been
powered cars is produced from
that energy is produced proposed as a
hydrocarbons. Only when solar
when hydrogen replacement for
or wind energies, for example,
combusts with oxygen our current
can be used commercially to
and the only by-product hydrocarbon (oil,
split water into hydrogen and
from the reaction is gas and coal)
oxygen will a true hydrogen
water. based economy.
economy be possible.
ABUNDANCE AND ISOTOPES
Abundance earth’s crust: 1400 parts per million by weight (0.14%), 2.9% by moles
Abundance solar system: 75% by weight, 93% by moles
Source: Hydrogen is prepared commercially by reacting superheated steam with methane
or Carbpn. In the laboratory, hydrogen can be produced by the action of acids on metals
such as Zinc or Magnesium, or by the electrolysis of water (shown on the left).
Isotopes: Hydrogen has three isotopes, 1H (protium), 2H (deuterium) and 3H (tritium). Its two
heavier isotopes (deuterium and tritium) are used for nuclear fusion. Protium is the most abundant
isotope, and tritium the least abundant. Tritium is unstable with a half-life of about 12 years 4
months. Naturally occurring hydrogen is a mixture of the two isotopes 1H and 2H with natural
abundances of 99.99% and 0.01% respectively.

References
• Peter Hoffmann, Tomorrow’s Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and the Prospects for a Cleaner Planet., (2001) p22. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
• P. Litherland Teed, The Chemistry and Manufacture of Hydrogen., (2008) p2. Dabney Press.
• John S. Davidson, Annotations to Boyle’s “The Sceptical Chymist”.
• Andreas Züttel, Andreas Borgschulte, Louis Schlapbach, Hydrogen as a future energy carrier., (2008) p8. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.
• Kendall Haven, 100 Greatest Science Discoveries of All Time., (2007) p62. Libraries Unlimited.
3
HISTORY
• Lithium was discovered by Johan Arfvedson in 1817 in Stockholm,
Sweden, during an analysis of petalite (LiAlSi4O10).
• He found the petalite contained “silica, alumina and an alkali.” (1)
• The new alkali metal in the petalite had unique properties.
• It required more acid to neutralize it than Sodium and its carbonate
was only sparingly soluble in water – unlike sodium carbonate.
• The new alkali differed from Potassium because it did not give a
precipitate with tartaric acid.
• Arfvedson tried to produce a pure sample of the new metal by
electrolysis, but he was unsuccessful; the battery he used was not
powerful enough.
Interesting • Lithium is believed to be one of only three elements –
the others are hydrogen and helium – produced in
Facts about significant quantities by the Big Bang. Synthesis of these
elements took place within the first three minutes of the
Lithium universe’s existence.
• Lithium is the only alkali metal that reacts with nitrogen.
• Humphrey Davy produced some of the world’s first
lithium metal from lithium carbonate. Today lithium
carbonate – or more precisely the lithium ions in lithium
carbonate – are used to inhibit the manic phase of
bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder.
• Lithium based batteries have revolutionized consumer
devices such as computers and cell phones. For a given
battery weight, lithium batteries deliver more energy
than batteries based on other metals; in other words,
lithium batteries have high energy density.
 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Harmful effects:
Lithium is corrosive, causing
skin burns as a result of the
caustic hydroxide produced
in contact with moisture.
Women taking lithium
carbonate for bi-polar
disorder may be advised to
vary their treatment during
pregnancy as lithium may
cause birth defects.
Characteristics:
Lithium is soft and silvery white and it is the
least dense of the metals. It is highly reactive
and does not occur freely in nature.
Freshly cut surfaces oxidize rapidly in air to
form a black oxide coating. It is the only
common metal (but see Radium) that reacts
with Nitrogen at room temperature, forming
lithium nitride.
Lithium burns with a crimson flame, but when
the metal burns sufficiently well, the flame
becomes a brilliant white.
Lithium has a high specific heat capacity and it
exists as a liquid over a wide temperature
range.
Uses of Lithium
1 2
Pure lithium metal is used
in rechargeable lithium
ion batteries and the
metal is used as an alloy
with Aluminum, Copper,
Manganese
and Cadmium to make
high performance aircraft
parts.
4 5
Lithium chloride and
bromide are used as
desiccants.
3
Lithium also has various
nuclear applications, for Lithium carbonate is used
example as a coolant in as a mood-stabilizing drug.
nuclear breeder
reactors and a source of
tritium, which is formed
by bombarding lithium
with neutrons.
Lithium stearate is
used as an all-
purpose and high-
temperature
lubricant.
ABUNDANCE
& ISOTOPES
Abundance earth’s crust: 20 parts per million by weight, 60 parts per million by moles
Abundance solar system: 60 parts per trillion by weight, 10 parts per trillion by moles
Source: Lithium does not occur as a free element in nature. It is found in small amounts in
ores from igneous rocks and in salts from mineral springs. Pure lithium metal is
produced by electrolysis from a mixture of fused (molten) lithium chloride
and potassium chloride.
Isotopes: Lithium has 7 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 5 to 11.
Naturally occurring lithium is a mixture of its two stable isotopes 6Li and 7Li with
natural abundances of 7.6% and 92.4% respectively.

• References
• Thomas Thomson, A system of chemistry of inorganic bodies, 1831, Volume 1
• Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements., 2003, p125 Kessinger Publishing.
• Royal Institution of Great Britain, The Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts, Volume 5, 1818 p338. (pdf)
• William Thomas Brande, William James MacNeven A manual of chemistry (1821) p191. (pdf)
11
HISTORY
In 1806 Sir Humphry Davy discovered that chemical bonding was electrical in nature and that he could
use electricity to split substances into their basic building blocks – the chemical elements.
In 1807, at the Royal Institution, London, a few days after isolating potassium for the first time, he
isolated sodium for the first time by electrolysis of dried sodium hydroxide, which had been very slightly
moistened.
The electrolysis was powered by the combined output of three large batteries he had built.
Davy noted that the metal which formed at the wire electrode he placed in the sodium hydroxide was a
liquid, but became solid on cooling and “appeared to have the lustre of silver.”
“It is exceedingly malleable and is much softer than any of the common metallic substances… this
property does not diminish when it is cooled to 32 oF (0 oC).”
Davy also noted that, when added to water, sodium decomposed the water, releasing hydrogen.
He asked whether the new substance should be classed as a metal and noted that most other scientists
thought it should, despite the fact that its density was much lower than the other metals.
He named the new metal sodium, because he had used caustic soda or, more simply, soda, as his source
of the element.
 • It’s possible this page could have been titled ‘Sodagen.’ This is the
Interesting name Sir Humphry Davy gave the new metallic element in his
laboratory notebook, before deciding he preferred ‘Sodium.’

Facts about • Sodium and its close periodic table neighbor potassium are solids at
room temperature. Their alloys however are not. NaK alloys
containing 10 to 60 percent of sodium by weight are liquids at room
Sodium temperature. The commercially available 78% K, 22% Na alloy stays
liquid at temperatures as low as -12.6 oC (9.3 oF).
• Humans and other animals need sodium to maintain the correct
fluid balance in their cells. An immediate effect of low sodium can
be seen in heat cramping, when athletes’ muscles seize up after
exertion. Heat cramping is caused by the loss of sodium ions when
salt is removed from the body in sweat.
• Sodium is produced in heavy stars, mainly when atoms of Neon gain
a proton. (The neon atoms were themselves produced by
Carbon atoms coming together in nuclear fusion reactions.)
• If all the sodium chloride (table salt) in the oceans could be
extracted and dried, it would cover the entire surface of the USA to
a depth of almost a mile and a half (about 2.3 km). The same salt
could cover all the land on Earth to a depth of almost 500 feet (150
m).
 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Harmful effects: Characteristics:
• Sodium is a soft, silvery-white metal. It is soft
Sodium is considered to enough to cut with the edge of a coin.
be non-toxic. Contact • Freshly cut surfaces oxidize rapidly in air to form a
dull, oxide coating.
with the skin may, • Sodium burns in air with a brilliant yellow flame.
however, cause irritation • Sodium floats on water, because its density is lower
and burns. than water’s. It also reacts vigorously with water –
violently if more than a small amount of sodium
meets water – to produce Sodium hydroxide and
Hydrogen gas. Sodium reacts with water more
vigorously than Lithium and less vigorously than
Potassium. Explosions occur when the heat
generated by the sodium-water reaction ignites the
resulting hydrogen gas.
Uses of Sodium
1 2
Metallic sodium is used
in the manufacture of
sodamide and esters,
and in the preparation
of organic compounds.
4 5
Lithium chloride and
bromide are used as
desiccants.
3
Sodium vapor lamps are
highly efficient in
producing light from
electricity and are often
used for street lighting
in cities.
6
The metal also may be
used to modify alloys
such as aluminum–
silicon by improving
their mechanical
properties and fluidity.
Sodium is used to
descale (smooth the
surface of) metals and
to purify molten
metals.
Sodium is used as a heat
transfer agent; for
example, liquid sodium is
used to cool nuclear
reactors.
Sodium chloride (table
salt, NaCl) is vital for good
nutrition. Sodium ions
facilitate transmission of
electrical signals in the
nervous system and
regulate the water
balance between body
cells and body fluids
ABUNDANCE AND ISOTOPES
Abundance earth’s crust: 2.4 % by weight, 2.1 % by moles
Abundance solar system: 40 parts per million by weight, 2 parts per million by moles
Source: Due to its high reactivity, sodium is found in nature only as a compound and never
as the free element. Sodium is our planet’s sixth most abundant element and it is
the most abundant alkali metal. Sodium is obtained commercially by electrolysis
of molten sodium chloride.
Isotopes: Sodium has 16 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 20 to
35. Naturally occurring sodium consists of its one stable isotope, 23Na.

References
• Peter Hoffmann, Tomorrow’s Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and the Prospects for a Cleaner Planet., (2001) p22. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
• P. Litherland Teed, The Chemistry and Manufacture of Hydrogen., (2008) p2. Dabney Press.
• John S. Davidson, Annotations to Boyle’s “The Sceptical Chymist”.
• Andreas Züttel, Andreas Borgschulte, Louis Schlapbach, Hydrogen as a future energy carrier., (2008) p8. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.
• Kendall Haven, 100 Greatest Science Discoveries of All Time., (2007) p62. Libraries Unlimited.
19
HISTORY
In 1806 English chemist Sir Humphry Davy discovered that
chemical bonding was electrical in nature and that he could use
electricity to split substances into their basic building blocks – the
chemical elements.
In 1807 he isolated potassium for the first time at the Royal
Institution, London. He electrolyzed dried potassium hydroxide
(potash) which he had very slightly moistened by exposing it to
the moist air in his laboratory. The electrolysis was powered by
the combined output of three large batteries he had built.
When he applied a voltage from his batteries to the potassium
hydroxide, he found globules “having a high metallic lustre”
collected at the negatively charged electrode. (1)
HISTORY
Potassium was the first metal to be isolated by electrolysis.
Davy was astonished at the new metal’s low density, observing that it floated on oil –
something no other metal would do. He placed a piece of potassium in water and observed
that the water, “decomposes it with great violence, an instantaneous explosion with brilliant
flame. He also (bravely) added potassium to hydrochloric acid and saw it burn with a bright red
flame. (3)
The name potassium is from the English word ‘potash’, originally meaning an alkali extracted
with water in a pot of ash of burned wood or tree leaves.
Potassium’s symbol K comes from ‘kalium’ the name of the element in Germany and
Scandinavia. (4)
Just a few days after isolating potassium, Davy isolated sodium for the first time using the
same method.
 • Potassium and its close periodic table neighbor sodium are
Interesting solids at room temperature. Their alloys however are not.
NaK alloys containing 40 to 90 percent of potassium by
weight are liquids at room temperature. The commercially
Facts about available 78% K, 22% Na alloy stays liquid at temperatures as
low as -12.6 oC (9.3 oF).
Potassium • All living cells need potassium to maintain fluid balance,
therefore we and all other forms of life on Earth need
potassium minerals to survive. Potassium is available in all
meats, plants and dairy products. Fruit and vegetables are the
best sources of potassium.
• Several neurotoxins work by disrupting our cells’ biological
use of potassium. This can result in severe pain, or even
death. These neurotoxins include agitoxin, charybdotoxin and
margatoxin (scorpion stings), apamin (bee stings), and
dendrotoxin (mamba snake bites).
• Most of the universe’s potassium atoms were made in the
final moments of giant stars as they exploded in supernovae.
Potassium is made in the oxygen burning shell of stars when
they explode. This is not normal burning, of course; it is
nuclear fusion. Potassium is made, along with several other
elements including sulfur, and silicon, during explosive oxygen
burning in supernovae.
 • All plants need potassium to survive; over 90% of all
Interesting human use of potassium compounds is in the
manufacture of plant fertilizers.
Facts about • People whose diets are low in potassium can suffer from
hypokalemia. Severe hypokalemia can be life
Potassium threatening. Symptoms include irregular heartbeat,
fatigue, muscle cramps and constipation. It is unusual for
people to be deficient in potassium solely as a result of
getting too little in their diets. Usually hypokalemia is
caused by other issues such as diarrhea and/or vomiting,
use of antibiotics, and kidney disease.
• Most people are familiar with carbon dating, which uses
the decay of the radioactive carbon-14 isotope to find
the ages of once-living things such as animal and plant
matter. The radioactive isotope potassium-40 gives us a
way of dating rocks. Potassium-40 decays to argon-40
and calcium-40 with a half-life of 1.25 billion years. The
ratio of potassium-40 to argon-40 trapped in rock is used
to determine how long it is since the rock has solidified.
 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Harmful effects:
•In healthy people with normal
kidney function, a potassium intake
from foods does not seem to pose
potential for increased risk, because
excess potassium is readily excreted
in the urine. In people whose
urinary excretion of potassium is
impaired, a potassium intake below
4.7 g (120 mmol)/day is appropriate
because of adverse cardiac effects.
If the digestive system is bypassed
and potassium salts are injected into
a vein, the heart can be stopped.
•Due to its highly reactive nature,
elemental potassium must be
handled with extreme care.
Characteristics:
Potassium is silvery-white, low melting, metal soft
enough to be easily cut with a knife. It tarnishes
rapidly in air, forming a dull oxide coating.
Potassium burns with a lilac colored flame. It is
extremely reactive, reacting violently with water, for
example, to produce Hydrogen gas and potassium
hydroxide.
Potassium is a very light metal (the second least dense
metal after Lithium) and would float on water if it
were not so reactive.
Uses of Potassium
1 2
Potassium is vital for
plant growth. Plants use
it, for example, to make
proteins, hence the
greatest demand for
potassium compounds is
in fertilizers.
4 5
Potassium hydroxide is
a strong alkali and an
important industrial
chemical. It is used in
the manufacture of soft
soaps and as an
electrolyte in alkaline
batteries.
3
Potassium is silvery-
white, low melting,
metal soft enough to be
easily cut with a knife. It
tarnishes rapidly in air,
forming a dull oxide
coating.
6
Potassium chloride is
used as a healthier
alternative to table
salt.
Potassium burns with a
lilac colored flame. It is
extremely reactive,
reacting violently with
water, for example, to
produce hydrogen gas and
potassium hydroxide.
Toughened glass can be
made by immersing glass
in molten potassium
nitrate.
ABUNDANCE AND ISOTOPES
Abundance earth’s crust: 2.1 % by weight, 1.6 % by moles
Abundance solar system: 4 parts per million by weight, 100 parts per billion by moles
Source: Potassium does not occur as a free element in nature; it is too reactive, forming
compounds from which it is difficult to separate. Potassium is obtained commercially
by electrolysis of potassium hydroxide or potassium chloride
Isotopes: Potassium has 20 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 35 to
54. Naturally occurring potassium is a mixture of three isotopes and they are found
in the percentages shown: 39K (93.6%), 40K (0.01%), and 41K (6.7%).

References
John Davy (Editor), The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy, Vol V, 1840, p61 Smith, Elder and Co. Cornhill.
John Davy, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy, 1836, p384 Longman.
John Davy (Editor), The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy, Vol V, 1840, p68 Smith, Elder and Co. Cornhill.
Vivi Ringnes, Origin of the Names of Chemical Elements., J. Chem. Educ., 1989, 66 (9), p731.
Potassium, The National Acadamies Press
Potassium, Linus Pauling Institute
Ellie Whitney, Eleanor Noss Whitney, Sharon Rady Rolfes, Understanding Nutrition., p400, 2010 Cengage Learning
37
HISTORY
• Rubidium was discovered in 1861, in Heidelberg, Germany,
by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff using spectroscopy,
the method the pair had invented and developed in the
previous two years.
• When Bunsen and Kirchhoff placed different salts in the
flame of the recently invented Bunsen burner, they saw
colored lines in each of the spectra they took.
• Bunsen and Kirchoff had discovered Cesium in 1860 when
they analyzed the spectrum of mineral water.
• In 1861 they began studying the mineral lepidolite (a
lithium, potassium and aluminum silicate) which had been
found in Saxony, Germany.
• Bunsen and Kirchoff used hydrochloroplatanic acid to
precipitate potassium chloroplatinate from the mineral. In
the potassium chloroplatinate they found another salt.
HISTORY
• Bunsen was able to extract rubidium metal from its chloride
salt by electrolysis. He found that the metal was more
electropositive than potassium and decomposed water
releasing hydrogen. (4)
• The rubidium concentration in the lepidolite had been so tiny
that Bunsen and Kirchoff needed to process 150 kilograms
(330 lb) of the ore to extract enough metal to study its
properties. (2)
 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Harmful effects:
Rubidium is not known to be
toxic.
Characteristics:
Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element. It
is solid at room temperature but melts easily, at
39.3 oC.
Like the other group 1 metals, rubidium reacts
violently with water, forming corrosive Rubidium
hydroxide (RbOH) and Hydrogen gas, which is ignited
by the heat of the reaction.
Rubidium can also ignite spontaneously in air. It
forms alloys with Cesium, Gold, Sodium, and
Potassium and it forms amalgams with Mercury.
Rubidium burns with a reddish-violet flame color.
Uses of Rubidium

1 3
Rubidium is used in
photocells, as a getter Rubidium compounds give
(remover of trace gases) a purple color in fireworks.
in vacuum tubes and as
working fluid in vapor
turbines.

2 4
Rubidium-87 is slightly
Rubidium salts are used
radioactive and has
in glasses and ceramics.
been used extensively in
dating rocks.
ABUNDANCE AND ISOTOPES
Abundance earth’s crust: 90 parts per million by weight, 21 parts per million by moles
Abundance solar system: 30 parts per billion by weight, 0.4 parts per billion by moles
Source: The main ore of rubidium is lepidolite which contains 1.5% rubidium. Rubidium is
usually obtained as a by product of lithium production. Rubidium metal can also
be produced by reducing rubidium chloride with calcium.
Isotopes: Rubidium has 29 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 74
to 102. Naturally occurring rubidium is a mixture of two isotopes, 85Rb and 87Rb
with natural abundances of 72.2% and 27.8% respectively.

References
Photo by Dennis S.K, GNU FDL.
B. Smith Hopkins, Chemistry of the Rarer Elements, 1923, D.C. Heath and Company, p50-51
J W Mellor, A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry., 1927, volume 2, Longmans, Green and Co., p422.
William Thomas Brande, Chemistry, 1863, Blanchard & Lea, p321
55
HISTORY
• Cesium was the first element discovered using a spectroscope.
• It was discovered by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff in
1860 in Heidelberg, Germany, when they analyzed the
spectrum of mineral water.
• When studying the spectrum of spa mineral water residue,
they found a series of colored emission spectra lines that did
not correspond to any known element.
• Bunsen and Kirchhoff named the element cesium, from the
Latin word ‘caesius’ meaning sky blue, after the blue lines they
saw in the spectrum.
 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Harmful effects:
Cesium must be kept under an inert
liquid/gas or in a vacuum to protect it
from air and water. Cesium
compounds are considered to be
mildly toxic.
Characteristics:
Cesium is silvery-gold, soft, ductile alkali metal. It is
liquid in a warm room, melting at 28.4 oC (83.1 oF).
Cesium is one of the few metals that is liquid near
room temperature. The others are Gallium, Francium
and Mercury.
Cesium is an extremely reactive metal and the most
alkaline of the elements. It reacts explosively upon
contact with water producing cesium hydroxide
(CsOH), an extremely strong base that can rapidly
corrode glass.
Uses of Cesium
1 2
Cesium is used in atomic
clocks, which are incredibly
accurate. NIST-F2,
America’s primary time and
frequency standard, is a
cesium fountain atomic
clock developed at the NIST
laboratories in Boulder,
Colorado.
3
Cesium is also used in
photoelectric cells and Cesium hydroxide is used
as a catalyst in the
to etch silicon.
hydrogenation of
organic compounds. The
metal is used as a
‘getter’ in vacuum
tubes.
ABUNDANCE AND ISOTOPES
Abundance earth’s crust: 3 parts per million by weight, 0.5 parts per million by moles
Abundance solar system: 8 parts per billion by weight, 70 parts per trillion by moles
Source: Cesium is found in the minerals pollucite and lepidolite. Commercially, most
cesium is produced as a byproduct of the production of lithium metal. More than
two-thirds of the world’s reserves of Cesium – 110,000 tons – are found at Bernic
Lake, Manitoba, Canada.
Isotopes: Cesium has 36 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 112 to
148. Naturally occurring cesium consists of its one stable isotope, 133Cs.

References
B. Smith Hopkins, Chemistry of the Rarer Elements, 1923, D.C. Heath and Company, p50-51
J W Mellor, A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry., 1927, volume 2, Longmans, Green and Co., p422.
William Thomas Brande, Chemistry, 1863, Blanchard & Lea, p321
87
HISTORY
• Francium was discovered by Marguerite Perey in 1939 when she was researching the radioactive
decay of Actinium 227.s
• The discovery took place at the Curie Institute in Paris. The element takes its name from the
country of its discovery – France.
• The discovery began, in 1935, when Perey aged 26, read a research paper claiming that American
scientists had discovered beta particles being emitted by actinium which had a higher amount of
energy than normal.
• Perey was curious about this finding, and already being an expert on actinium related work, she
decided to carry out her own experiments on actinium. She produced an ultra-pure actinium
sample and studied its radiation. Perey discovered that about 1% of actiniums radioactivity was
caused by it emitting alpha particles, not beta particles.
 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Harmful effects:
Francium is highly radioactive.
Characteristics:
• Heavy, unstable, radioactive metal with a maximum half-
life of only 22 minutes. It has a low melting point (27 oC,
81 oF)
• The second rarest element in the Earth’s crust, next
to astatine. Less than thirty grams of francium exists on
Earth at any given time.
• The least electronegative of all the elements, therefore it
should be the most chemically reactive alkali metal.
Unfortunately, it is not available in sufficient quantities to
show it reacting with water – it is made in tiny quantities
in particle accelerators. In theory, its reaction with water
would be more violent than Cesium’s and very much
more violent than Sodium’s.
Uses of Francium

1
Commercially, there are
no uses for francium,
due to its rarity and
instability. It is used for
research purposes only.
 Francium Decay
Interesting • Francium’s isotopes, with mass numbers ranging from 200 to
232, most commonly undergo alpha- or beta-decay.
Facts about • Here are just a few examples of francium’s decay paths:
• Francium-223 is the element’s longest lived isotope. It has a
Francium half-life of 22 minutes. It can emit an alpha-particle (a helium
nucleus) to form astatine-219 or a beta-particle to form
radium-223. (A beta-particle is an electron which is emitted
from a nucleus when a neutron converts to a proton.)
• Francium-221 has a half-life of 5 minutes. It can emit an alpha-
particle to form astatine-217 or a beta-particle to become
radium-221.
• Francium-216 has a half-life of 0.7 microseconds. It can emit
an alpha-particle to form astatine-212 or a positron to form
radon-216.
• Francium-212 has a half-life of 19 minutes. It can emit an
alpha-particle to form astatine-208 or capture an orbital
electron to form radon-212. (2) (During orbital electron
capture, the nucleus captures one of the atom’s own electrons
and emits a neutrino.)
ABUNDANCE AND ISOTOPES
Abundance earth’s crust: ~ 0 parts per million, ~ 0 parts per million
Abundance solar system: ~ 0 parts per billion by weight, ~ 0 parts per
billion by moles
Source: Francium occurs naturally as a result of the alpha radioactive
decay of actinium.
Isotopes: Francium has 33 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with
mass numbers 200 to 232. None are stable. 223Fr has the
longest half-life at 21.8 minutes.

References
E.K. Hyde, a. Ghiorso, G.T. Seaborg, Physical Review., 1950, 77, p765, Issue 6.