S periodic table how to#

Antoine Lavoisier recognized it as an element in 1777, although it was considered by some to be a compound of hydrogen and oxygen its elemental nature was established by the French chemists Joseph Gay-Lussac and Louis Thenard. Sulfur was regarded by the alchemists as the principle of combustibility. Pliny the Elder in 50 ce reported a number of individual uses of sulfur and ironically was himself killed, in all probability by sulfur fumes, at the time of the great Vesuvius eruption (79 ce). The use of sulfur in explosives and fire displays dates to about 500 bce in China, and flame-producing agents used in warfare ( Greek fire) were prepared with sulfur in the Middle Ages. Greek mythology includes sulfur chemistry: Homer tells of Odysseus’ use of sulfur dioxide to fumigate a chamber in which he had slain his wife’s suitors. The beginnings of practical and industrial uses of sulfur are credited to the Egyptians, who used sulfur dioxide for bleaching cotton as early as 1600 bce. “Fire and brimstone” references in the Bible are related to sulfur, suggesting that “hell’s fires” are fuelled by sulfur. The combustion of sulfur had a role in Egyptian religious ceremonials as early as 4,000 years ago. Deposits of sulfur in volcanic regions probably originated from gaseous hydrogen sulfide generated below the surface of Earth and transformed into sulfur by reaction with the oxygen in the air. In underground deposits of very pure sulfur that are present in domelike geologic structures, the sulfur is believed to have been formed by the action of bacteria upon the mineral anhydrite, in which sulfur is combined with oxygen and calcium. Seawater contains about 0.09 percent sulfur in the form of sulfate. On the basis of the finding that certain meteorites contain about 12 percent sulfur, it has been suggested that deeper layers of Earth contain a much larger proportion. Sulfur occurs in the uncombined state as well as in combination with other elements in rocks and minerals that are widely distributed, although it is classified among the minor constituents of Earth’s crust, in which its proportion is estimated to be between 0.03 and 0.06 percent. In cosmic abundance, sulfur ranks ninth among the elements, accounting for only one atom of every 20,000–30,000.

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S periodic table how to#

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