Element 32 of Periodic table is Germanium with atomic number 32, atomic weight 72.64. Germanium, symbol Ge, has a Face Centered Cubic structure and Gray color. Germanium is a metalloid element. Trivial name of Germanium is tetrels, crystallogens. Know everything about Germanium Facts, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Electronic configuration, Atomic and Crystal Structure.
Germanium is a chemical element with symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to its group neighbors tin and silicon. Purified germanium is a semiconductor, with an appearance most similar to elemental silicon.
Read key information and facts about element Germanium
Explore our interactive periodic table
Periodic table is arranged by atomic number, number of protons in the nucleus which is same as number of electrons. The atomic number increases from left to right. Periodic table starts at top left ( Atomic number 1) and ends at bottom right (atomic number 118). Therefore you can directly look for atomic number 32 to find Germanium on periodic table.
Another way to read periodic table and locate an element is by using group number (column) and period number (row). To locate Germanium on periodic table look for cross section of group 14 and period 4 in the modern periodic table.
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The element Germanium was discovered by Clemens Winkler in year 1886 in Germany . Germanium derived its name from Germania, the Latin name for Germany
The table below shows the abundance of Germanium in Universe, Sun, Meteorites, Earth's Crust, Oceans and Human Body.
The solid state structure of Germanium is Face Centered Cubic.
The Crystal structure can be described in terms of its unit Cell. The unit Cells repeats itself in three dimensional space to form the structure.
The unit cell is represented in terms of its lattice parameters, which are the lengths of the cell edges Lattice Constants (a, b and c)
and the angles between them Lattice Angles (alpha, beta and gamma).
The positions of the atoms inside the unit cell are described by the set of atomic positions ( xi, yi, zi) measured from a reference lattice point.
The symmetry properties of the crystal are described by the concept of space groups. All possible symmetric arrangements of particles in three-dimensional space are described by the 230 space groups (219 distinct types, or 230 if chiral copies are considered distinct.
Germanium atoms have 32 electrons and the electronic shell structure is [2, 8, 18, 4] with Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers) 3P0.
Shell Structure of Germanium - Electrons per energy level
The ground state electronic configuration of Neutral Germanium atom is [Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p2. The portion of Germanium configuration that is equivalent to the noble gas of the preceding period, is abbreviated as [Ar]. For atoms with many electrons, this notation can become lengthy and so an abbreviated notation is used.This is important as it is the Valence electrons 3d10 4s2 4p2, electrons in the outermost shell that determine the chemical properties of the element.
Complete ground state electronic configuration for the Germanium atom, Unabbreviated electronic configuration
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p2
Germanium atomic radius is 125 pm, while it's covalent radius is 122 pm.
125 pm (1.25 Å)
The electron affinity of Germanium is 119 kJ/mol
Refer to table below for Ionization energies of Germanium
Refer to below table for Germanium Physical Properties
Germanium is Semiconductor of electricity. Refer to table below for the Electrical properties of Germanium
Refer to table below for Thermal properties of Germanium
Isotopes of rhodium. Naturally occurring Germanium has 4 stable isotope - 70Ge, 72Ge, 73Ge, 74Ge.
List of unique identifiers to search the element in various chemical registry databases