Brittle metal, silvery luster with pink tinge. Stable to oxygen and
water. Dissolves in concentrated nitric acid. Basic oxide. Used in alloys,
pharmaceuticals, electronics, catalysts, cosmetics, and pigments. The
radioactive isotope, Bi210, is found as a daughter product of
Pb210 from Th in thorium minerals.
Diagnostic tests:
On charcoal alone, or better with soda (Na2CO3),
bismuth gives a very characteristic orange-yellow sublimate; brittle
globules of the reduced mental are also obtained (with soda). When mixed
with potassium iodide and sulfur and fused on charcoal, a beautiful red
sublimate of BiI3 is obtained, yellow near the assay.
In solution, bismuth is precipitated as white Ba(OH)3 by the
addition of excess amounts of NH4OH.
References
Emsley, J., 1991; THE ELEMENTS : Sec. Ed.,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 251 p.
(* - Mineral Name Is Not IMA Approved)
(! - New Dana classification added or changed from Danas New Mineralogy)
(? - IMA Discredited Mineral Species Name)
There are 229 minerals with Bi in the Mineralogy Database.