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gallium

Also known as Ga, element 31, 31Ga

Gallium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Discovered by the French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in Paris, France, 1875, elemental gallium is a soft, silvery metal at standard temperature and pressure. In its liquid state, it becomes silvery white. If enough force is applied, solid gallium may fracture conchoidally. Since its discovery in 1875, gallium has widely been used to make alloys with low melting points. It is also used in semiconductors, as a dopant in semiconductor substrates.

OverviewAI-generated

Gallium is a chemical element with the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. It has a mass of 69.723 and a density of 6.095. The element exhibits an electronegativity of 1.81 and an ionic radius of 0.62. Its primary oxidation state is 3.

The substance was discovered in 1875. It is represented by the canonical SMILES string "[Ga]" and the Unicode character "鎵". In chemical contexts, it is identified by the formula Ga. The element has a topological polar surface area of 0 and involves zero hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, with a net charge of 0.

Synthesized by Vinony from 25 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubChem, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Chemical data

Formula: Ga
Molecular weight: 69.723 g/mol
IUPAC name: gallium
SMILES: [Ga]
InChIKey: GYHNNYVSQQEPJS-UHFFFAOYSA-N
Polar surface area: 0 Å²
H-bond donors: 0
H-bond acceptors: 0
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Research

22,904 papers

Gallium Liquid Metal: Nanotoolbox for Antimicrobial Applications.ReviewACS nano · 2023Truong VK, Hayles A, Bright R et al.DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c06486
Gallium Complexes as Anticancer Drugs.ReviewMetal ions in life sciences · 2018Chitambar CRDOI: 10.1515/9783110470734-016
Liquid Metal Gallium Pharmaceuticals.ReviewTheranostics · 2025Wang D, Xu W, Liu Y et al.DOI: 10.7150/thno.116184
Gallium containing calcium phosphates: Potential antibacterial agents or fictitious truth.ReviewActa biomaterialia · 2022Mosina M, Kovrlija I, Stipniece L et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2022.07.063
Evolution of gallium applications in medicine and microbiology: a timeline.ReviewBiometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2022de Assis ASJ, Pegoraro GM, Duarte ICSDOI: 10.1007/s10534-022-00406-4
Gallium in cancer treatment.ReviewCurrent topics in medicinal chemistry · 2004Jakupec MA, Keppler BKDOI: 10.2174/1568026043387449
Gallium nitrate.ReviewThe Annals of pharmacotherapy · 1992Hughes TE, Hansen LADOI: 10.1177/106002809202600310
Gallium and its competing roles with iron in biological systems.ReviewBiochimica et biophysica acta · 2016Chitambar CRDOI: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2016.04.027

via PubMed

~36 min read

Encyclopedic overview

23 sections

Contents

Physical properties
Isotopes
Chemical properties
Aqueous chemistry
Oxides and chalcogenides
Nitrides and pnictides
Halides
Hydrides
Organogallium compounds
History
Occurrence
Production and availability
Applications
Semiconductors
Galinstan and other alloys
Biomedical applications
Radiogallium salts
Other uses
Gallium in the ocean
Precautions
Notes
References
External links

The melting point of gallium, , is used as a temperature reference point. Gallium alloys are used in thermometers as a non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative to mercury, and can withstand higher temperatures than mercury. A melting point of , well below the freezing point of water, is claimed for the alloy galinstan (62–⁠95% gallium, 5–⁠22% indium, and 0–⁠16% tin by weight), but that may be the freezing point with the effect of supercooling.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “gallium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.