Gallium, Good Death, and the Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery

Gallium (Ga) was discovered by the French scientist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875, who also discovered two other elements, samarium (Sa), and dysprosium (Dy)—which means difficult to obtain in Greek. All you Francophiles might have noticed that Lecoq (French) and Gallus (Latin) sort-of-kind-of mean the same thing. But in an 1877 article Lecoq de Boisbaudran protested he named the element after Gaul, from Gallia (Latin for France) (2). It was a nice coincidence, though. Right, Paul-Émile?

Ga has an atomic weight of 31 and sits just to the right of zinc and right below aluminum on the Periodic Table. It’s a silvery white metallic element which can be near liquid at room temperature (85°F; 30°C) and has an outrageously long range of temperature before it vaporizes (4352°F; 2400°C), which makes it great for use in high-temp thermometers (1).

What else is Ga used for? It turns out when combined with other elements or chemicals, it’s found in semiconductors, replacing silicon in cell phone chips, in microwave circuits, and in LEDs—Light-Emitting-Diode—lightbulbs. In fact, more than 95% of Ga in the U.S. is consumed as Ga-arsenide (3) (which sounds terrible because it has ARSENIC in it), but in such small amounts in LED light bulbs, you can safely throw them in the trash (4).

So where does human death and Ga come in? It doesn’t. It turns out pure Gallium is ridiculously safe. So safe, in fact, that you can purchase it online and let your kids play with it(!) (5) (6—Ga melts aluminum. Very cool).

The field of medicine is also studying the effects of Ga, and THIS is where DEATH comes in—to infectious bacteria. Yes. Ga kills bacteria. In fact, it has been shown to be both antibacterial and anti-viral in fabrics (like face masks)(7), as are a lot of other pure metals to varying extents (8). Ga is being tested in bone regeneration matrices (9)(10), prevention and treatment of bacterial infection and antibacterial resistance (11) and doped into treatments to stop hemorrhage (12).

So, Gallium = good death. 😉

Just a caveat on the everyday use of LED light bulbs that are more energy efficient and decrease carbon emissions compared to, for example, incandescent light bulbs—which is why their use has been essentially mandated. It turns out China produces ~95% of the raw Ga used in the world today (13). This is a huge security issue, and Ga use is expected to surge in the coming decades. It’s also a safe bet that China doesn’t use renewable energy for mining, so the carbon footprint of this element may not be as environmentally friendly as touted. Developed nations don’t want to mess up their own countries with nasty mining operations, so there is also an enormous environmental toxicity problem in developing nations that are an indirect cause to human death and suffering (14). So, am I hypocritical by using products that make my life better while making the lives of others more difficult? I am. I love my phone, my microwave oven, and paying lower electric bills. Do I know what to do about the NIMBY (15) problem?

I don’t. If you do, I’d love for you to comment.