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A clarification of the properties of Bismuth

Jul 28, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write to clarify the explanation of the chemical element “Bismuth” that appeared in a recent derogatory comment about Vishnu Bisram. 

I made a promise not to respond to attacks from Freddie Kissoon.
However, wherever I traveled over the last couple of weeks in Guyana, individuals competent in Chemistry were explaining that Freddie provided an improper explanation misleading people about the properties of the scarce element. They urged my intervention to clear up any misconceptions about the element.

A couple of UG lecturers pointed out to me that Freddie provided a simplistic, unprofessional explanation of Bismuth and asked if I can explain the term since they don’t want to do so themselves fearing they be attacked and harassed.

Firstly, this letter is not meant to be a rebuke of Freddie but a clarification of the properties of Bismuth. Since he is a scholar of German history and Guyana history, I don’t expect him to know the properties of Bismuth.

Secondly, I am not a specialist on the element Bismuth as I never studied it in detail.
It is not a regularly used element in the lab but I used it sparingly while I worked in a Chemistry lab in the 1970s and am familiar with some of its properties.

Let me note that my first undergraduate degree was in Bio-Chemistry before I made the transfer to a second undergraduate major in Political Science and graduate degrees in virtually every Social Science disciplines.

So I understand the properties of the element. An element is a type of atom that is distinguished by its atomic number; that is, by the number of protons in its nucleus.

The term is also used to refer to a pure chemical substance composed of atoms with the same number of protons.  Bismuth has an atomic number of 83 and Isotope 14. 

People who understand the language of Chemistry would know what this means. Anyone who studies the periodic tables in Chemistry would understand some of the properties of the element which is found in a column of other elements with similar properties. 

As written in books, Bismuth “is a brittle metal with a white, silver-pink hue, often occurring in its native form with an iridescent oxide tarnish showing many refractive colours from yellow to blue.

When combusted with oxygen, bismuth burns with a blue flame and its oxide forms yellow fumes”. It has very low thermal conductivity and high electrical resistance.

Bismuth is rarely found in nature as an element. It is not considered to be very toxic and is used in the making of solders; it Freddie claims that Bismuth has changing forms.

My teaching colleagues indicate that Bismuth is not known for that feature. The element is not as unstable as Freddie thinks.

In fact, it is stable in oxygen and water. It forms insoluble compounds in water but dissolves in nitric acid. 
Since it has low solubility, it does not change features readily.  It would be advised for people not familiar with the technical aspects of the sciences to refrain from using scientific terms to derogate others.  They expose their ignorance.

Vishnu Bisram

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