Wikijunior:The Elements/Tellurium
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Te-TableImage.svg/500px-Te-TableImage.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Tellurium.svg/55px-Tellurium.svg.png)
What does it look, feel, taste, or smell like?
[edit | edit source]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Tellurium_crystal.jpg/250px-Tellurium_crystal.jpg)
Tellurium is a silver-white metalloid. Tellurium compounds generally smell awful. If a human being is exposed to tellurium, even in very small amounts — keeping in mind, tellurium is toxic, so people shouldn't be exposed to it, even in very small amounts — their body metabolizes it so that their breath then smells so horrible that, reportedly, lab workers exposed to tellurium had to be given a leave of absence till it worked out of their system.
How was it discovered?
[edit | edit source]Where did its name come from?
[edit | edit source]The name "tellurium" comes from the Latin word tellus meaning "earth".
Where is it found?
[edit | edit source]Did You Know?
- Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur.
- Tellurium was discovered in the 18th century in a gold ore from the mines in Romania.
- Tellurium has two allotropes, crystalline and amorphous.
What are its uses?
[edit | edit source]Is it dangerous?
[edit | edit source]Yes. Tellurium is mildly toxic, so people should be very careful when handling it.