In Indium – Element Information, Facts, Properties, Trends,Uses, Comparison with other elements

Indium History

The element Indium was discovered by Ferdinand Reich in year 1863 in Germany . Indium derived its name from indigo

Indium Presence: Abundance in Nature and Around Us

The table below shows the abundance of Indium in Universe, Sun, Meteorites, Earth's Crust, Oceans and Human Body.

Crystal Structure of Indium

The solid state structure of Indium is Centered Tetragonal.

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.

Unit Cell Parameters

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 ( x_i, y_i, z_i) 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.

Space Group Name	I4/mmm
Space Group Number	139
Crystal Structure	Centered Tetragonal

Indium Atomic and Orbital Properties

Indium atoms have 49 electrons and the electronic shell structure is [2, 8, 18, 18, 3] with Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers) ²P_1/2.

Atomic Number	49
Number of Electrons (with no charge)	49
Number of Protons	49
Mass Number	115
Number of Neutrons	66
Shell structure (Electrons per energy level)	[2, 8, 18, 18, 3]
Electron Configuration	[Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p1
Valence Electrons	5s2 5p1
Oxidation State	-5;-2;-1 1;2;3
Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers)	2P1/2

Shell Structure of Indium - Electrons per energy level

n		s	p	d	f
1	K	2
2	L	2	6
3	M	2	6	10
4	N	2	6	10
5	O	2	1

Ground State Electronic Configuration of Indium - neutral Indium atom

The ground state electronic configuration of Neutral Indium atom is [Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p1. The portion of Indium configuration that is equivalent to the noble gas of the preceding period, is abbreviated as [Kr]. 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 4d10 5s2 5p1, electrons in the outermost shell that determine the chemical properties of the element.

Unabbreviated electronic configuration of neutral Indium

Complete ground state electronic configuration for the Indium atom, Unabbreviated electronic configuration

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 5s2 5p1

Atomic Structure of Indium

Indium atomic radius is 156 pm, while it's covalent radius is 144 pm.

Atomic Spectrum of Indium

Indium Chemical Properties: Indium Ionization Energies and electron affinity

The electron affinity of Indium is 28.9 kJ/mol

Ionization Energy of Indium

Refer to table below for Ionization energies of Indium

Indium Physical Properties

Refer to below table for Indium Physical Properties

Elastic Properties

Hardness of Indium - Tests to Measure of Hardness of Element

Indium Electrical Properties

Indium is Conductor of electricity. Refer to table below for the Electrical properties of Indium

Indium Heat and Conduction Properties

Indium Magnetic Properties

Optical Properties of Indium

Acoustic Properties of Indium

Indium Thermal Properties - Enthalpies and thermodynamics

Refer to table below for Thermal properties of Indium

Enthalpies of Indium

Indium Isotopes - Nuclear Properties of Indium

Isotopes of rhodium. Naturally occurring Indium has 1 stable isotope - 113In.

Regulatory and Health - Health and Safety Parameters and Guidelines

Database Search

List of unique identifiers to search the element in various chemical registry databases