Bismuth Information

Bismuth occurs naturally but commercially is frequently mined as an ore as pure Bismuth is not often found in quantities high enough for commercial mining purposes. Bismuth has 86% the density of lead. Bismuth is brittle and has a silvery white appearance at first but will get a pink tinge once it has undergone some oxydation. Most metals are good conductors of both heat; Bismuth is one of the worst conductors of heat of the metals.

Bismuth expands 3.32% on solidification and it reacts with water to make bismuth(III) oxide when red hot.

Bismuth has few uses. Bismuth is used occasionally in medicines, paints. Bismuth is more frequently used in automatic sprinklers (fire supression) us some, Bismuth has been used as a lead replacement in shotgun shells and as fishing weights to a small extent and in varying percentages in solder.

Bismuth has a melting temp of 520F (271C)!