Germanium for 13 May 2025

by Vajiram & Ravi - 13 May 2025

Vajiram & Ravi provides Daily Germanium for 13 May 2025, tailored for aspirants. We cover all relevant news and events crucial for the exam, ensuring you stay updated & well-prepared.

Germanium

May 13, 2025
Germanium

Germanium Latest News

India is engaging with the Chinese government to navigate export restrictions on germanium, a critical mineral that is used in manufacturing of semiconductors, fiber optic cables and solar panels. 

About Germanium

  • It is a chemical element between silicon and tin in Group 14 (IVa) of the periodic table.
  • It has the chemical symbol Ge and the atomic number 32.
  • It is a silvery-gray metalloid, intermediate in properties between the metals and the nonmetals. 
  • It has a diamondlike crystalline structure, and it is similar in chemical and physical properties to silicon. 
  • Germanium is stable in air and water and is unaffected by alkalis and acids, except nitric acid.
  • Although germanium was not discovered until 1886 by Clemens Winkler, a German chemist, its existence, properties, and position in the periodic system had been predicted in 1871 by the Russian chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev, who called the hypothetical element ekasilicon. 
  • Germanium did not become economically significant until after 1945, when its properties as a semiconductor were recognized as being of value in electronics. 
    • It remains of primary importance in the manufacture of transistors and of components for devices such as rectifiers and photocells.
  • It is widely distributed in nature but is too reactive to occur free. 
  • Germanium ores are rare. They are found in small quantities as the minerals germanite and argyrodite.
  • Today, germanium is extracted as a by-product of zinc production and from coal fly ash. 
  • It is estimated that 75% of worldwide production of germanium is sourced from zinc ores, mainly the zinc sulfide mineral sphalerite, and 25% from coal.
  • Major Producers: 
    • The major worldwide producer of germanium is China, responsible for around 60% of total production. 
    • The remaining production of germanium comes from Canada, Finland, Russia, and the United States.

Germanium FAQs

Q1: Is germanium a conductor?

Ans: Germanium is not a good conductor; it is a semiconductor.

Q2: Is germanium toxic to humans?

Ans: Germanium compounds are relatively less toxic compared to other metalloids and metals

Q3: Germanium is mostly extracted as a by-product of which metal?

Ans: Zinc

Source: TH

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