Tellurium Atomic number 52 Earth miners Commentary

Transylvania—Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein, Martin Heinrich Klaproth elements

Tellurium

• Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein was trying to extract antimony
• from the gold ore known as white leafy gold ore from Faczebaja.
• Instead he extracted a new metalloid, unknown to science,
• but that fit into the periodic table next to antimony.
• *
• Martin Heinrich Klaproth isolated the same element from calaverite,
• another ore with tellurium and gold,
• gave Müller credit for the first discovery,
• and, in 1798, because it was “borrowed from old Mother Earth,”
• named it after the Latin for “earth,” tellus.

Atomic number 52

• Tellurium in iron, copper, and lead alloys
• makes the alloys easier to machine.
• Cadmium telluride is sensitive to sunlight in solar panels;
• mercury cadmium telluride is sensitive to infrared;
• and zinc cadmium telluride is sensitive to X-rays.
• Tellurium suboxide is in the readable, writable layer
• in CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

Earth miners

• Ancient earth miners
• dug deep into mountains.
• Some said they were looking for gold.
• Some said they were trying
• to escape from cities and towns
• from the law and from mothers in law.
• These ancient miners
• sometimes found pigments, crystals,
• and minerals of obscure composition.
• Deep in the earth, their inner rooms and passageways
• would forget the coldness of surface stone
• to radiate comfort and warmth.