Cadmium

Key information

Atomic number:

Atomic weight:

112

Density:

8650 kg/m³

Boiling point:

1038.16° K

Melting point:

594.06° K

Heat vapour:

100.08 kJ/mol

Heat fusion:

6.11 kJ/mol

Thermal conductivity:

14.6 W/m/K

Specific heat capacity:

92.13 J/kg/K

Cadmium is a soft, bluish-white metal. In 1817 the German Friedrich Stromeyer observed that one of the by-products of the zinc factory at Saizgitter was a yellow-coloured oxide. His subsequent analysis of this material brought to light a new metal, with chemical properties much like those of zinc. The zinc ore was traditionally called calamine or cadmia, and the association of the new element with zinc prompted the name "cadmium".

Valency: