Periodic Table of Elements

32

Germanium

72.63

First proposed to exist by Dmitri Mendeleyev in 1871. Mendeleev called it "ekasilicon". Germanium was discovered by Clemens Alexander Winkler in Germany in 1886 in a mineral sample from a silver mine. Winkler named the element as germanium for the country of Germany.

Name: Germanium
Symbol: Ge
Atomic number: 32
Atomic weight: 72.63
State: solid
Group, period, block: 14, 4, p
Color: grayish-white
Classification: metalloid
Electron configuration: 3d10 4s2 4p2
2,8,18,4

Physical properties

Density: 5.323 g/cm-3
Melting point: 1211.40 K,938.25 °C,1720.85 °F
Boiling point: 3106 K,2833 °C,5131 °F

Atomic properties

Oxidation states: 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4
Electronegativity: 2.01 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies: 1st: 762 kJ·mol-1
Covalent radius: 122 pm
Van der Waals radius: 211 pm
  • Ge
  • Electron Configuration

Isotopes

There are five naturally occurring isotopes of germanium exist, 70Ge, 72Ge, 73Ge, 74Ge, and 76Ge.