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Element 55 - Cesium (Cs)
From
caesius
, or sky-blue (its salts turn flames blue); discovered 1860; the softest metal, liquid at warm room temperature. Extremely reactive, it finds limited use in vacuum tubes and in atomic clocks so accurate that they vary no more than five seconds in 10 generatirons.
Properties
Atomic Number
:
55
Atomic Weight
:
132.9054
Electron Configuration
(at ground state):
1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
3d
10
4s
2
4p
6
4d
10
5s
2
5p
6
6s
1
Oxidation States
(Bold most stable):
+1
Boiling Point
(K):
944
Melting Point (K):
301.54
Density
(at 300K -- g/cm
3
):
1.87
Atomic Volume (at 300K -- cm
3
/mol)
70
Number of stable
isotopes
:
1
Mass Number
(Bold naturally occurring) --
Half-Life
--
Disintigration Type
:
134 -- 2.06 years --
beta particle
(
electron
) emission
135 -- 2.9 x 10
6
years --
beta particle
(
electron
) emission
137 -- 30.17 years --
beta particle
(
electron
) emission
Covalent Radius (Å):
2.35
Atomic Radius (Å):
2.67
First
Ionization Potential
(V):
3.894
Electronegativity
(Pauling's):
0.79
Specific Heat
Capacity (at 300K -- J g
-1
K
-1
):
0.24
Heat of Vaporization (kJ/mol):
67.740
Heat of Fusion (kJ/mol):
2.092
Electrical Conductivity (at 293K for polycrystalline material -- 10
6
-1
cm
-1
):
5.3
Thermal Conductivity (at 300K -- W m
-1
K
-1
):
35.9
Crystal Structure:
Cubic, body centered
Acid
-
Base
Properties:
Very basic