Something really awesome: the pure green color from flame test of thallium(I) ions. Before anyone plans to try out this experiment: thallium and its compounds are extremely toxic, and should be handled with great care.

Thallium (Greek θαλλός, thallos, meaning “a green shoot or twig”) was discovered by flame spectroscopy in 1861. The name comes from thallium’s bright green spectral emission lines as seen on the picture.

The two main oxidation states of thallium are +1 and +3. In the oxidation state +1 it is really similar potassium ions, since the ionic radius of thallium(I) is 1.47 Å while that of potassium is 1.33 Å. When it’s get in the body it behaves similarly to potassium ions and travels through the whole body and can cause serious damage. For more read : Thallium poisoning case of Zhu Ling

The saturated solution of thallium(I) formate and thallium(I) malonate in water is known as Clerici solution. It has a variable and easily controllable density in the range 1–5 g/cm3 and was used in separating minerals by density with a traditional flotation method.

9:30 pm • 12 January 2015 • 193 notes • View comments