Bromine Facts

Bromine

Atomic Number: 35

Symbol: Br

Atomic Weight: 79.904

Electron Configuration:[Ar]4s23d104p5

Word Origin: Greek bromos: stench

Element Classification:Halogen

Discovery: Antoine J. Balard(1826, France)

Density (g/cc): 3.12

Melting Point (°K): 265.9

Boiling Point (°K): 331.9

Appearance: reddish-brown liquid, metallic luster in solid form

Isotopes: There are 29 known isotopes of bromine ranging from Br-69 to Br-97.

Magnetic Ordering: nonmagnetic

Electrical Resistivity (20 °C): 7.8×1010  Ω·m

Thermal Conductivity (300 K): 0.122  W·m−1·K−1

CAS Registry Number: 7726-95-6

Bromine Trivia:

• Bromine is named after the Greek word bromos meaning stench because bromine smells...'stinky'.
• Bromine was nearly discovered by two other chemists before Antoine Jerome Balardpublished his discovery. The first was in 1825 by the German chemist Justus von Liebig. He was sent a sample of salt water to analyze from a nearby town. He thought the brown liquid he separated from the salt water was a simple mixture of iodine and chlorine. After he learned of Balard's discovery, he went back and checked. His liquid was the newly discovered bromine. The other discoverer was a chemistry student named Carl Loewig. He separated the same brown liquid in 1825 from another sample of salt water. His professor asked him to prepare more of the brown liquid for further testing and soon learned of Balard's bromine.
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• Elemental bromine is a toxic substance and can cause corrosion burns when exposed to skin.
• Compounds containing bromine in the -1oxidation state are called bromides.
• Bromine is the tenth most abundant element in sea water with an abundance of 67.3 mg/L.
• Bromine is the 64th most abundant elementin the Earth's crust with an abundance of 2.4 mg/kg.