Chemical Symbol-Ga
Atomic Mass-69.723
Electron Configuration-1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p1
Melting point-29.78 degrees Celsius
Boiling point-2403 degrees Celsius
Density-5.91 g/cm3
Gallium is a silvery metal, and it looks similar to glass in its texture. At room temperature, it is in solid state. However, it is one of the few metals to melt at near room temperature.
It is used in high-temperature thermometers because of its low melting point and high boiling point. If painted on glass, it makes a very good mirror. It is used as a doping material for semiconductors and for making transistors. Of its compounds, gallium arsenide has been used in converting electricity into light. It also forms compounds with most metals, so is used to make some alloys. Also, gallium trichloride has been studied at the Gallium Neutrino Observatory in Italy to observe neutrinos.
Gallium was predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev as ekaaluminum and discovered spectroscopically by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875. Later in the year he obtained the free metal. Its name comes from the Latin gallus, a translation of "Lecoq", which means a cock. Gallium can be found as a trace element in bauxite, coal, diaspore, germanite, and sphalerite. Also, dusts from burned coal have had up to 1.5 percent gallium. Gallium costs about 3$/gram.