Jo Nova has launched a new publication, inspired today by their latest article. Read on.
You might think journalists at a popular science magazine would be able to investigate and reason.
watch New Scientist closely, as they do the unthinkable and try to defend gross scientific malpractice by saying it’s OK because other people did other things a little bit wrong, that were not related, and a long time ago. Move along ladies and gentlemen, there’s nothing to see…
The big problem for this formerly good publication is that they have decided already what the answer is to any question on climate-change (and the answer could be warm or cold but it’s always ALARMING). That leaves them clutching for sand-bags to prop up their position as the king-tide sweeps
away any journalistic credibility they might have had.
I’ve added my own helpful notes into the New Scientist article, just so you get the full picture.
Read the whole story at , and tell her I sent you.
UPDATE: More bullying from scientists
In WUWT comments, Keith Minto points out the New Scientist is listed in the Climategate emails
From: “Michael E. Mann”
To: Phil Jones
Subject: Re: More Rubbish
Date: Thu, 17 May :30 -0400
yep, I’m watching the changing of the guard live on TV here!
New Scientist was good. Gavin and I both had some input into that. They
are nicely dismissive of the contrarians on just about every point,
including the HS!
I have been reading this publication on and off since Nigel Calder was the editor. It was quite an curious, edgy publication then, willing to push boundaries (it was the first to publish Sir Alister Hardy’s Aquatic Ape Hypothesis) even though it then arrived 3mts late by seamail from Britain.
Nigel Calder co-authored “The Chilling Stars” with Heinrick Svensmark and made it into a very readable cosmic ray/cloud formation story that has captivated so may of us.
Unfortunately, along the way it lost the ability to question and forgot
what the ‘Scientist’ part of its title really meant.
It appears that Mann was discussing this New Scientist article from May 16th, 2007
Interestingly, after that fawning article on “a guide for the perplexed”
see in the CRU email archive on March 8th there is an email that names one of the authors of the May16th New Scientist article, Fred Pearce, where complaints are lodged about the upcoming March 10th issue and plans are suggested to counter it.
Here are web links for the two people mentioned:
it appears there were BCC’s to CRU, otherwise we’d not have this email in that collection.
Here’s the email:
From: Eystein Jansen &eystein.jansen@xxxxxxxxx.xxx&
To: Richard Somerville &rsomerville@xxxxxxxxx.xxx&
Subject: Re: [Wg1-ar4-clas] Responding to an attack on IPCC and ourselves
Date: Thu, 8 Mar :33 +0100
Cc: wg1-ar4-clas@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
just a quick reply. I am in on this, and will respond to a draft letter, in the hope that
you will make the first, Richard? I agree that it can be short. It is strange to see this,
knowing that the delegations I spoke to in/after Paris clearly said that the CLAs got it
their way, and that I believe this is the strong common perception we also had as CLAs
about the outcome.
Best wishes,
Den 8. mar. 2007 kl. 03.11 skrev Richard Somerville:
Dear Fellow CLAs,
The British magazine *New Scientist* is apparently about to publish several items critical
of the IPCC AR4 WGI SPM and the process by which it was written.
There is an editorial, a
column by Pearce, and a longer piece by Wasdell which is on the internet and referenced by
I think that this attack on us deserves a response from the CLAs.
Our competence and
integrity has been called into question.
Susan Solomon is mentioned by name in
unflattering terms.
We ought not to get caught up in responding in detail to the many
scientific errors in the Wasdell piece, in my opinion, but I would like to see us refute
the main allegations against us and against the IPCC.
We need to make the case that this is shoddy and prejudiced journalism.
Wasdell is not a
climate scientist, was not involved in writing AR4, was not in Paris, and is grossly
ignorant of both the science and the IPCC process.
His account of what went on is
factually incorrect in many important respects.
New Scientist inexplicably violates basic journalistic standards by publicizing and
editorially agreeing with a vicious attack by an uncredentialed source without checking
facts or hearing from the people attacked.
The editorial and Pearce column, which I regard
as packed with distortions and innuendo and error, are pasted below, and the Wasdell piece
is attached.
My suggestion is that a strongly worded letter to New Scientist, signed by as many CLAs as
possible, would be an appropriate response.
I think we ought to say that the science was
absolutely not compromised or watered down by the review process or by political presure of
any kind or by the Paris plenary.
I think it would be a mistake to attempt a detailed
point-by-point discussion, which would provo that process would never
Please send us all your opinions and suggestions for what we should do, using the email
list [1]wg1-ar4-clas@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
I am traveling and checking email occasionally, so if enough of us agree that we should
respond, I hope one or more of you (not me) will volunteer to coordinate the effort and
submit the result to New Scientist.
Best regards to all,
Richard C. J. Somerville
Distinguished Professor
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0224
La Jolla, CA , USA
Here’s the editorial that will appear in New Scientist on March 10.
Editorial: Carbon omissions
IT IS a case of the dog that didn’t bark. The dog in this instance was the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
For several years, climate scientists have grown increasingly anxious about “positive
feedbacks” that could accelerate climate change, such as methane bubbling up as
permafrost melts. That concern found focus at an international conference organised by
the British government two years ago, and many people expected it to emerge strongly in
the latest IPCC report, whose summary for policy-makers was published in Paris last
It didn’t happen. The IPCC summary was notably guarded. We put that down to scientific
caution and the desire to convey as much certainty as possible (New Scientist, 9
February, p 3), but this week we hear that an earlier version of the summary contained a
number of explicit references to positive feedbacks and the dangers of accelerating
climate change. A critique of the report now argues that the references were removed in
a systematic fashion (see “Climate report ‘was watered down'”).
This is worrying. The version containing the warnings was the last for which scientists
alone were responsible. After that it went out to review by governments. The IPCC is a
governmental body as well as a scientific one. Both sides have to sign off on the
The scientists involved adamantly deny that there was undue pressure, or that the
scientific integrity of their report was compromised. We do know there were political
agendas, and that the scientists had to fight them. As one of the report’s 33 authors
put it: “A lot of us devoted a lot of time to ensuring that the changes requested by
national delegates did not affect the scientific content.” Yet small changes in language
which individually may not amount to much can, cumulatively, change the tone and message
of a report. Deliberately or not, this is what seems to have happened.
Senior IPCC scientists are not willing to discuss the changes, beyond denying that there
was political interference. They regard the drafting process as private. This is an
understandable reservation, but the case raises serious doubts about the IPCC process. A
little more transparency would go a long way to removing those qualms.
Here’s the Pearce column:
Climate report ‘was watered down’
* 10 March 2007
* From New Scientist Print Edition. [2]Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
* Fred Pearce
BRITISH researchers who have seen drafts of last month’s report by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change claim it was significantly watered down when governments became
involved in writing it.
David Wasdell, an independent analyst of climate change who acted as an accredited
reviewer of the report, says the preliminary version produced by scientists in April
2006 contained many references to the potential for climate to change faster than
expected because of “positive feedbacks” in the climate system. Most of these references
were absent from the final version.
His assertion is based on a line-by-line analysis of the scientists’ report and the
final version, which was agreed last month at a week-long meeting of representatives of
more than 100 governments. Wasdell told New Scientist: “I was astounded at the
alterations that were imposed by government agents during the final stage of review. The
evidence of collusional suppression of well-established and world-leading scientific
material is overwhelming.”
He has prepared a critique, “Political Corruption of the IPCC Report?”, which claims:
“Political and economic interests have influenced the presented scientific material.” He
plans to publish the document online this week at [3]www.meridian.org.uk/whats.htm.
Wasdell is not a climatologist, but his analysis was supported this week by two leading
UK climate scientists and policy analysts. Ocean physicist Peter Wadhams of the
University of Cambridge, who made the discovery that Arctic ice has thinned by 40 per
cent over the past 25 years and also acted as a referee on the IPCC report, told New
Scientist: “The public needs to know that the policy-makers’ summary, presented as the
united words of the IPCC, has actually been watered down in subtle but vital ways by
governmental agents before the public was allowed to see it.”
“The public needs to know that the summary has been watered down in subtle but vital
ways by governmental agents”
Crispin Tickell, a long-standing UK government adviser on climate and a former
ambassador to the UN, says: “I think David Wasdell’s analysis is very useful, and unique
of its kind. Others have made comparable points but not in such analytic detail.”
Wasdell’s central charge is that “reference to possible acceleration of climate change
[was] consistently removed” from the final report. This happened both in its treatment
of potential positive feedbacks from global warming in the future and in its discussion
of recent observations of collapsing ice sheets and an accelerating rise in sea levels.
For instance, the scientists’ draft report warned that natural systems such as
rainforests, soils and the oceans would in future be less able to absorb greenhouse gas
emissions. It said: “This positive feedback could lead to as much as 1.2
================
Here’s the editorial
and another
discussing the WG1 being “watered down”.
Looks like they got their way, since the May 17th article was highly pro AGW or as Dr. Mann said:
They are nicely dismissive of the contrarians on just about every point, including the HS!
Your tax dollars at work.
Interestingly, due to Climategate, WUWT is now within striking distance in terms of reach and traffic of the New Scientist, and Scientific American. Prior to Nov 19th, WUWT was around the world rank 40K mark on a regular basis, now we’ve moved up. In the USA WUWT is now ranked 4823 according to .
Click for details at Alexa.
WUWT readers can help close the gap by referencing WUWT articles in letters to the editor, other blog posts, and blog comments where relevant. Thanks for your consideration. – Anthony
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%d bloggers like this:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
← germanium →
[] 3d10 4s2 4p2
2, 8, 18, 4
Physical properties
0; (938.25&#160;°C, 0;°F)
;K (;°C, ;°F)
near&#160;
5.323&#160;g·cm-3
liquid, at&#160;m.p.
5.60&#160;g·cm-3
36.94&#160;
334&#160;kJ·mol-1
23.222&#160;J·mol-1·K-1
P&#160;(Pa)
100&#160;k
at&#160;T (K)
Atomic properties
4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4 (an
Pauling&#160;scale: 2.01
1st:&#160;762&#160;kJ·mol-1
2nd:&#160;0;kJ·mol-1
3rd:&#160;0;kJ·mol-1
empirical: 122&#160;
122&#160;pm
211&#160;pm
Miscellanea
thin&#160;rod,&#160;at&#160;20&#160;°C
6.0&#160;um·m-1·K-1
60.2&#160;W·m-1·K-1
at&#160;20&#160;°C: 1&#160;Ω·m
0.67&#160; (at&#160;300&#160;K)
103&#160;GPa
41&#160;GPa
75&#160;GPa
after , homeland of the discoverer
Prediction
Most stable isotopes
Main article:
72Ge is stable with 40 neutrons
73Ge is stable with 41 neutrons
74Ge is stable with 42 neutrons
1.78×1021
Germanium is a
with symbol&#160;Ge and &#160;32. It is a lustrous, hard, grayish-white
in the , chemically similar to its group neighbors
and . Purified germanium is a , with an appearance most similar to elemental silicon. Like silicon, germanium naturally reacts and forms complexes with
in nature. Unlike silicon, it is too reactive to be found naturally on Earth in the free (native) state.
Because very few minerals contain it in high concentration, germanium was discovered comparatively late in the history of chemistry. Germanium ranks near fiftieth . In 1869,
its existence and some of its properties based on its position on his
and called the element . Nearly two decades later, in 1886,
found the new element along with
and , in a rare mineral called . Although the new element somewhat resembled
in appearance, its combining ratios in the new element's compounds agreed with Mendeleev's predictions for a relative of silicon. Winkler named the element after his country, . Today, germanium is mined primarily from
(the primary ore of zinc), though germanium is also recovered commercially from , , and
Germanium "metal" (isolated germanium) is used as a
and various other electronic devices. Historically the first decade of semiconductor electronics was based entirely on germanium. Today, however, its production for use in semiconductor electronics is a small fraction (2%) of that of ultra-high purity silicon, which has largely replaced it. Presently, germanium's major end uses are in
applications. Germanium compounds are also used for
catalysts and have most recently found use in the production of . This element forms a large number of
compounds, such as , which are useful in .
Germanium is not thought to be an essential element for any living organism. Some complexed organic germanium compounds are being investigated as possible pharmaceuticals, though none have yet proven successful. Similar to silicon and aluminum, natural germanium compounds tend to be insoluble in water, and thus have little oral . However, synthetic soluble germanium salts are , and synthetic chemically reactive germanium compounds with
are irritants and toxins.
In his report on The Periodic Law of the Chemical Elements, in 1869, the
chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev predicted the existence of several unknown , including one that would fill a gap in the
in his Periodic Table of the Elements, located between
and . Because of its position in his Periodic Table, Mendeleev called it ekasilicon (Es), and he estimated its
as about 72.0.
In mid-1885, at a mine near , a new
was discovered and named , because of its high
content. The chemist
analyzed this new mineral, which proved to be a combination of silver, sulfur, and a new element. Winkler was able to isolate this new element and found it somewhat similar to , in 1886. Before Winkler published his results on the new element, he decided that he would name his element neptunium, since the recent discovery of planet
in 1846 had been preceded by mathematical predictions of its existence. However, the name "neptunium" had already been given to another proposed chemical element (though not the element that today bears the name , which was discovered in 1940), so instead, Winkler named the new element germanium (from the
word, Germania, for ) in honor of his homeland. Argyrodite proved empirically to be Ag8GeS6.
Because this new element showed some similarities with the elements
and antimony, its proper place in the periodic table was under consideration, but its similarities with Dmitri Mendeleev's predicted element "ekasilicon" confirmed that it belonged in this place on the periodic table. With further material from 500&#160;kg of ore from the mines in Saxony, Winkler confirmed the chemical properties of the new element in 1887. He also determined an atomic weight of 72.32 by analyzing pure
deduced 72.3 by a comparison of the lines in the spark
of the element.
Winkler was able to prepare several new compounds of germanium, including its , , , , and
(Ge(C2H5)4), the first organogermane. The physical data from these compounds — which corresponded well with Mendeleev's predictions — made the discovery an important confirmation of Mendeleev's idea of element . Here is a comparison between the prediction and Winkler's data:
Ekasilicon
atomic mass
density (g/cm3)
melting point (°C)
oxide type
refractory dioxide
oxide density (g/cm3)
oxide activity
feebly basic
feebly basic
chloride boiling point (°C)
86 (GeCl4)
chloride density (g/cm3)
Until the late 1930s, germanium was thought to be a poorly conducting . Germanium did not become economically significant until after 1945, when its properties as a semiconductor were recognized as being useful in . During , small amounts of germanium had begun to be used in some special , mostly . Its first major use was the point-contact
pulse detection during the War. The first
alloys were obtained in 1955. Before 1945, only a few hundred kilograms of germanium were produced in smelters each year, but by the end of the 1950s, the annual worldwide production had reached 40 .
The development of the germanium
in 1948 opened the door to countless applications of . From 1950 through the early 1970s, this area provided an increasing market for germanium, but then high-purity silicon began replacing germanium in transistors, diodes, and . For example, the company that became
was founded in 1957 with the express purpose of producing silicon transistors. Silicon has superior electrical properties, but it requires much greater purity, which could not be commercially achieved in the early years of .
Meanwhile, the demand for germanium for use in
communication networks, infrared
systems, and
increased dramatically. These end uses represented 85% of worldwide germanium consumption in 2000. The US government even designated germanium as a strategic and critical material, calling for a 146&#160; (132&#160;) supply in the national defense stockpile in 1987.
Germanium differs from silicon in that the supply for germanium is limited by the availability of exploitable sources, while the supply of silicon is only limited by production capacity since silicon comes from ordinary sand or . As a result, while silicon could be bought in 1998 for less than $10 per kg, the price of 1&#160;kg of germanium was then almost $800.
germanium is a brittle, silvery-white, semi-metallic element. This form constitutes an
known as α-germanium, which has a metallic luster and a , the same as . At pressures above 120 , a different allotrope known as β-germanium forms, which has the same structure as β-. Along with silicon, , , , and , it is one of the few substances that expands as it solidifies (i.e. ) from its molten state.
Germanium is a .
techniques have led to the production of crystalline germanium for semiconductors that has an impurity of only one part in 1010, making it one of the purest materials ever obtained. The first metallic material discovered (in 2005) to become a
in the presence of an extremely strong
Pure germanium is known to spontaneously extrude very long . They are one of the primary reasons for the failure of older diodes and transistors depending on what they eventually touch, they may lead to an .
See also .
Elemental germanium oxidizes slowly to
at 250&#160;°C. Germanium is insoluble in dilute
but dissolves slowly in concentrated
and reacts violently with molten alkalis to produce
3]2-). Germanium occurs mostly in the
+4 although many compounds are known with the oxidation state of +2. Other oxidation states are rare, such as +3 found in compounds such as Ge2Cl6, and +3 and +1 observed on the surface of oxides, or negative oxidation states in , such as -4 in GeH
4. Germanium cluster anions ( ions) such as Ge42-, Ge94-, Ge92-, [(Ge9)2]6- have been prepared by the extraction from alloys containing alkali metals and germanium in liquid ammonia in the presence of
or a . The oxidation states of the element in these ions are not integers—similar to the
of germanium are known:
2, germania) and , (GeO). The dioxide, GeO2 can be obtained by roasting
2), and is a white powder that is only slightly soluble in water but reacts with alkalis to form germanates. The monoxide, germanous oxide, can be obtained by the high temperature reaction of GeO2 with Ge metal. The dioxide (and the related oxides and germanates) exhibits the unusual property of having a high refractive index for visible light, but transparency to
light. , Bi4Ge3O12, (BGO) is used as a .
with other
are also known, such as the di (GeS
2), di (GeSe
2), and the
(GeS), selenide (GeSe), and
(GeTe). GeS2 forms as a white precipitate when hydrogen sulfide is passed through strongly acid solutions containing Ge(IV). The disulfide is appreciably soluble in water and in solutions of caustic alkalis or alkaline sulfides. Nevertheless, it is not soluble in acidic water, which allowed Winkler to discover the element. By heating the disulfide in a current of , the monosulfide (GeS) is formed, which sublimes in thin plates of a dark color and metallic luster, and is soluble in solutions of the caustic alkalis. Upon melting with
and , germanium compounds form salts known as thiogermanates.
Germane is similar to .
Four tetra are known. Under normal conditions GeI4 is a solid, GeF4 a gas and the others volatile liquids. For example, , GeCl4, is obtained as a colorless fuming liquid boiling at 83.1&#160;°C by heating the metal with chlorine. All the tetrahalides are readily hydrolyzed to hydrated germanium dioxide. GeCl4 is used in the production of organogermanium compounds. All four dihalides are known and in contrast to the tetrahalides are polymeric solids. Additionally Ge2Cl6 and some higher compounds of formula GenCl2n+2 are known. The unusual compound Ge6Cl16 has been prepared that contains the Ge5Cl12 unit with a
structure.
(GeH4) is a compound similar in structure to . Polygermanes—compounds that are similar to —with formula GenH2n+2 containing up to five germanium atoms are known. The germanes are less volatile and less reactive than their corresponding silicon analogues. GeH4 reacts with alkali metals in liquid ammonia to form white crystalline MGeH3 which contain the GeH3- . The germanium hydrohalides with one, two and three halogen atoms are colorless reactive liquids.
addition with an organogermanium compound.
was synthesized by Winkler in 1887; the reaction of germanium tetrachloride with
4). Organogermanes of the type R4Ge (where R is an ) such as
4) and tetraethylgermane are accessed through the cheapest available germanium precursor
and alkyl nucleophiles. Organic germanium hydrides such as
3) were found to be less hazardous and may be used as a liquid substitute for toxic
applications. Many germanium
are known:
, germylenes (similar to ), and germynes (similar to ). The organogermanium compound
was first reported in the 1970s, and for a while was used as a dietary supplement and thought to possibly have anti-tumor qualities.
Using a ligand called Eind (1,1,3,3,5,5,7,7-octaethyl-s-hydrindacen-4-yl) germanium is able to form a double bond with oxygen (germanone).
Main article:
Germanium has five naturally occurring , 70Ge, 72Ge, 73Ge, 74Ge, 76Ge. Of these, 76Ge is very slightly radioactive, decaying by
of 1.78×1021&#160;years. 74Ge is the most common isotope, having a
of approximately 36%. 76Ge is the least common with a natural abundance of approximately 7%. When bombarded with alpha particles, the isotope 72Ge will generate stable , releasing high energy electrons in the process. Because of this, it is used in combination with radon for .
At least 27
have also been synthesized ranging in atomic mass from 58 to 89. The most stable of these is 68Ge, decaying by
with a half-life of 270.95&#160;d. The least stable is 60Ge with a half-life of 30&#160;. While most of germanium's radioisotopes decay by , 61Ge and 64Ge decay by
delayed . 84Ge through 87Ge isotopes also exhibit minor
decay paths.
See also .
Germanium is created through , mostly by the
stars. The s-process is a slow
capture of lighter elements inside pulsating
stars. Germanium has been detected in the atmosphere of Jupiter and in some of the most distant stars. Its abundance
is approximately 1.6&#160;. There are only a few minerals like , , , and
that contain appreciable amounts of germanium, but no mineable deposits exist for any of them. Some zinc-copper-lead ore bodies contain enough germanium that it can be extracted from the final ore concentrate. An unusual enrichment process causes a high content of germanium in some coal seams, which was discovered by
during a broad survey for germanium deposits. The highest concentration ever found was in the
coal ash with up to 1.6% of germanium. The coal deposits near , , contain an estimated ; of germanium.
About 118&#160; of germanium was produced in 2011 worldwide, mostly in China (80 t), Russia (5 t) and United States (3 t). Germanium is recovered as a by-product from
ores where it is concentrated in amounts of up to 0.3%, especially from sediment-hosted, massive ––(–) deposits and carbonate-hosted Zn–Pb deposits. Figures for worldwide Ge reserves are not available, but in the US it is estimated at 450&#160;tonnes. In 2007 35% of the demand was met by recycled germanium.
While it is produced mainly from , it is also found in , , and
ores. Another source of germanium is
of coal power plants which use coal from certain coal deposits with a large concentration of germanium. Russia and China used this as a source for germanium. Russia's deposits are located in the far east of the country on
Island. The coal mines northeast of
have also been used as a germanium source. The deposits in China are mainly located in the
mines near , ; coal mines near ,
are also used.
The ore conc they are converted to the
by heating under air, in a process known as :
GeS2 + 3 O2 → GeO2 + 2 SO2
Part of the germanium ends up in the dust produced during this process, while the rest is converted to germanates which are leached together with the zinc from the cinder by sulfuric acid. After neutralization only the zinc stays in solution and the precipitate contains the germanium and other metals. After reducing the amount of zinc in the precipitate by the , the residing Waelz oxide is leached a second time. The
is obtained as precipitate and converted with
gas or hydrochloric acid to , which has a low boiling point and can be distilled off:
GeO2 + 4 HCl → GeCl4 + 2 H2O
GeO2 + 2 Cl2 → GeCl4 + O2
Germanium tetrachloride is either hydrolyzed to the oxide (GeO2) or purified by fractional distillation and then hydrolyzed. The highly pure GeO2 is now suitable for the production of germanium glass. The pure germanium oxide is reduced by the reaction with hydrogen to obtain germanium suitable for the infrared optics or semiconductor industry:
GeO2 + 2 H2 → Ge + 2 H2O
The germanium for steel production and other industrial processes is normally reduced using carbon:
GeO2 + C → Ge + CO2
A typical single-mode optical fiber. Germanium oxide is a
of the core silica (Item 1).
1. Core 8&#160;um
2. Cladding 125&#160;um
3. Buffer 250&#160;um
4. Jacket 400&#160;um
The major end uses for germanium in 2007, worldwide, were estimated to be: 35% for
systems, 30% , 15% for
catalysts, and 15% for electronics and solar electric applications. The remaining 5% went into other uses such as phosphors, metallurgy, and chemotherapy.
The most notable physical characteristics of
(GeO2) are its high
and its low . These make it especially useful for , , and for the core part of . It also replaced
as the silica
for silica fiber, eliminating the need for subsequent heat treatment, which made the fibers brittle. At the end of 2002 the fiber optics industry accounted for 60% of the annual germanium use in the United States, but this use accounts for less than 10% of world wide consumption.
used for its optic properties, such as in .
Because germanium is transparent in the infrared it is a very important
optical material, that can be readily cut and polished into lenses and windows. It is especially used as the front optic in
working in the 8 to 14&#160;
range for passive thermal imaging and for hot-spot detection in military,
system in cars, and fire fighting applications. It is therefore used in infrared
and other optical equipment which require extremely sensitive . The material has a very high
(4.0) and so needs to be anti-reflection coated. Particularly, a very hard special antireflection coating of
(DLC), refractive index 2.0, is a good match and produces a diamond-hard surface that can withstand much environmental rough treatment.
alloys are rapidly becoming an important semiconductor material, for use in high-speed integrated circuits. Circuits utilizing the properties of Si-SiGe junctions can be much faster than those using silicon alone. Silicon-germanium is beginning to replace
(GaAs) in wireless communications devices. The SiGe chips, with high-speed properties, can be made with low-cost, well-established production techniques of the
The recent rise in energy cost has improved the economics of , a potential major new use of germanium. Germanium is the substrate of the wafers for high-efficiency
for space applications.
Because germanium and
have very similar lattice constants, germanium substrates can be used to make gallium arsenide . The
and several satellites use triple junction gallium arsenide on germanium cells.
Germanium-on-insulator substrates are seen as a potential replacement for silicon on miniaturized chips. Other uses in electronics include
in , and germanium-base solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Germanium transistors are still used in some
by musicians who wish to reproduce the distinctive tonal character of the
from the early
era, most notably the .
Germanium dioxide is also used in
in the production of
(PET). The high brilliance of the produced polyester is especially used for PET bottles marketed in . However, in the United States, no germanium is used for polymerization catalysts. Due to the similarity between silica (SiO2) and germanium dioxide (GeO2), the silica stationary phase in some
columns can be replaced by GeO2.
In recent years germanium has seen increasing use in precious metal alloys. In
alloys, for instance, it has been found to reduce , increase tarnish resistance, and increase the alloy's response to precipitation hardening. A tarnish-proof sterling silver alloy, trademarked , contains 1.2% germanium.
High purity germanium single crystal
can precisely identify radiation sources—for example in airport security. Germanium is useful for
diffraction. The reflectivity has advantages over silicon in neutron and
applications. Crystals of high purity germanium are used in detectors for
and the search for . The slightly radioactive Germanium 76, which decays only through double-beta decay, is used to study that process (for example, in the ongoing
experiment).
Inorganic germanium and organic germanium are different chemical compounds of germanium and their properties are different. Inorganic germanium will accumulate inside the body and will impose health hazards after consumed. Organic germanium is reported to be potentially beneficial for health.
Germanium is not thought to be essential to the health of plants or animals. Germanium in the environment has little or no health impact. This is primarily because it usually occurs only as a trace element in ores and
materials, and is used in very small quantities that are not likely to be ingested, in its various industrial and electronic applications. For similar reasons, germanium in end-uses has little impact on the environment as a biohazard. Some reactive intermediate compounds of germanium are poisonous (see precautions, below).
As early as 1922, doctors in the United States used the inorganic form of germanium to treat patients with . It was used in other forms of treatments, such as a purported immune system booster, but its efficiency has been dubious. Its role in
has been debated, with the American Cancer Society contending that no anticancer effects have been demonstrated.
research has concluded that inorganic germanium, when used as a , "presents potential human ".
Certain germanium compounds are available in low dose in the U.S. as nonprescription dietary "supplements" in oral capsules or tablets. Other germanium compounds have been administered by alternative medical practitioners as non-FDA-allowed injectable solutions. Soluble inorganic forms of germanium used at first, notably the citrate-lactate salt, led to a number of cases of
dysfunction,
and peripheral
in individuals using them on a chronic basis. Plasma and urine germanium concentrations in these individuals, several of whom died, were several orders of magnitude greater than
levels. A more recent organic form, beta-carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (), has not exhibited the same spectrum of toxic effects.
Certain compounds of germanium have low toxicity to , but have toxic effects against certain .
Some of germanium's artificially-produced compounds are quite reactive and present an immediate hazard to human health on exposure. For example,
(GeH4) are a liquid and gas, respectively, that can be very irritating to the eyes, skin, lungs, and throat.
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From Greek, argyrodite means silver-containing.
Just as the existence of the new element had been predicted, the existence of the planet
had been predicted in about 1843 by the two mathematicians
and , using the calculation methods of . They did this in attempts to explain the fact that the planet , upon very close observation, appeared to be being pulled slightly out of position in the sky.
started searching for it in July 1846, and he sighted this planet on September 23, 1846.
R. Hermann published claims in 1877 of his discovery of a new element beneath
in the periodic table, which he named neptunium, after the Greek god of the oceans and seas. However this
was later recognized to be an
of the elements
and tantalum. The name "" was much later given to the synthetic element one step past
in the Periodic Table, which was discovered by
researchers in 1940.
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