Chalcogen



Group 16
Period
2 8
O
3 16
S
4 34
Se
5 52
Te
6 84
Po
7 116
Uuh

The chalcogens (with the "ch" pronounced with a hard "c" as in "oxides are not considered chalcogenides.

The name is generally considered to mean "ore former" from the Greek chalcos "ore" and -gen "formation". [1]

Oxygen and sulfur are insulator). Nevertheless, tellurium, as well as selenium, is often referred to as a metal when in elemental form.

Chalcogens are quite common as minerals. For example, iron ore and AuTe2 gave its name to the gold rush town of Telluride, Colorado in the United States.

The formal oxidation number of the chalcogen is generally -2 in a chalcogenide but other values, such as -1 in pyrite, can be attained.

The highest formal oxidation number +6 is found in many-electron wavefunction approach allowing detailed computer simulation, though the concept, while flawed, is still useful in thought experiments.

Explanation of above periodic table slice:
Nonmetals Metalloids Poor metals Atomic numbers in red are gases Atomic numbers in black are solids Solid borders indicate primordial elements (older than the Earth) Dashed borders indicate radioactive natural elements Dotted borders indicate radioactive synthetic elements


See also

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chalcogen". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.