Word Discovery of sulfur

Origin: Sanskrit: Sulfur has been known since ancient times. In the Bible, it is

sulvere, Latin: sulpur, called brimstone. It can be found in its elemental state around

sulphurium: words for volcano vents.

sulfur or brimstone The name may have been derived from the Arabic ‘sufra’

What is Sulfur? meaning yellow, or the Sanskrit ‘shulbari’ meaning enemy (ari)
of copper (shulba).
Sulphur is a
multivalent non-metal, abundant, tasteless and odorless. In its
native form, Sulphur is a yellow crystalline solid. In nature, it The Sanskrit
occurs as the pure element or as sulfide and sulfate minerals. possibility is
Although Sulphur is infamous for its smell, frequently compare appealing, because
to rotten eggs, that odor is actually characteristic of hydrogen it carries a
sulphide (H2S). message about
The crystallography of Sulphur is complex. Depending on the people’s
specific conditions, Sulphur allotropes form several distinct knowledge of
crystal structures. chemistry from long ago: sulfur actually does react easily with
many metals, including copper. (Sanskrit is one of the oldest
Indo-European languages – over 3000 years old. Despite this, it
is the human language most compatible with artificial
intelligence.
 What are the Physical Properties of Sulfur?

Color Pale yellow - Non-metallic

Phase Solid

Crystalline
structure Rhombic, Amorphous and Prismatic
& Forms

There are several known allotropes

*Allotropic
including brimstone

Odor Odorless

Taste Tasteless

Solubility Insoluble in water

Boiling point The boiling point of sulfur is 444.6°C

Conductivity A poor conductor of heat and electricity

About the Scientist:
Antoine Lavoisier revolutionized chemistry. He named the
elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen; discovered oxygen’s
role in combustion and respiration; established that water is a
compound of hydrogen and oxygen; discovered that sulfur is an
element, and helped continue the transformation of chemistry
from a qualitative science into a quantitative one.
Upon melting, sulfur is converted into a
mobile yellow liquid, which turns brown
Viscosity
and becomes a viscous, dark brown mass
(resistance to
at about 190°C. The viscosity decreases
flow - stickiness)
above 190°C, and at 300°C sulfur again
becomes a flowing liquid
*Allotropic - Allotropes are forms of an element with different
physical and chemical properties occurring in two or more
crystalline forms in the same physical state.
 Sulfur melted directly from sulfur
ores is called lump sulfur, while
sulfur that is obtained from H₂S
and SO₂ is called gaseous lump
sulfur. Lump sulfur purified by
distillation is called refined sulfur.

What are the Chemical Properties of Sulfur?

Chemical Formula S Sulfur condensed from sulfur vapors at a

temperature above the melting point and then
Familiar compounds are Sodium
poured into molds is called roll sulfur.
sulfite, hydrogen sulfide (a
Compounds
poisonous gas that smells like
rotten eggs) and sulfuric acid Sulfur formed as a fine powder in
the condensation of sulfur at a
The oxides are sulfur dioxide and
temperature below the melting point
sulfur trioxide, which when
Oxidation of walls of a condensing chamber is
dissolved in water make sulfurous
known as flowers of sulfur.
acid and sulfuric acid, respectively

It is chemically reactive, especially

Sulfur in a highly-dispersed
upon heating, and combines with
state is called colloidal
Reactivity almost all the elements. Upon
sulfur.
heating, sulfur reacts with metals,
forming the corresponding sulfides

Types of Sulfur
 Uses of the element Sulfur  used in the vulcanization of rubber;

 Elemental sulfur is used as an electrical insulator;

 a component of
gunpowder;

 but the principal use of sulfur however is in the

preparation of its compounds.

Uses of Compounded Sulfur

 Sulfur dioxide – used as a

bleaching agent, disinfectant,
and refrigerant;


Sodium bisulfite – used in
paper manufacture;
 Carbon disulfide – an important organic solvent; used in ointments and dusting powders for treating
certain skin diseases (seborrhea, psoriasis), in a powder
used against helminthic invasions (enterobiasis), and in
 Hydrogen sulfide, solutions for the fever therapy of progressive paralysis.
 Sulfur trioxide, and
Trivia about the element:
 Thionyl chloride – used as reagents in chemistry;
 Epsom salts (magnesium  Pure sulfur has no smell. The strong smell associated

sulfate) – used as a laxative, bath with sulfur should actually be attributed to compounds of

additive, exfoliant, and magnesium sulfur.

supplement in plant nutrition.  Brimstone is an ancient name for sulfur that means
"burning stone".
 Molten sulfur is red.
 Sulfur is used in medicine becau
se of its capacity to react with organic matter of organism
s to form sulfides and pentathionic acid, substances that
must be present before certain keratolytic, antimicrobial,
and antiparasitic processes can occur.
 Sulfur burns with a blue
 Sulfur is component of flame in a flame test.
Wilkinson ointment and
other preparations used in
treating scabies.

 Sulfur is the seventeenth most common element in the

Earth's crust.
 Purified and
 Sulfur is the eighth most common element in the human
precipitated sulfur is
body.
 Sulfur is the sixth most common element in seawater.
 Gunpowder contains sulfur, carbon and saltpeter.
 Sulfur makes up almost 3% of the earth’s mass. If you
think that’s not much, next time you look to the sky and
see the moon, think of this: the earth contains enough
sulfur to make not just one new moon, but two!
 When Shakespeare’s Othello asks for punishment, one
possibility he mentions is: “…roast me in sulphur!”
 Sulfur burns with a very satisfying blue flame – its old
name is brimstone, which means ‘burn stone’ or ‘stone
that burns.’
 Pure sulfur has no smell, but many of its compounds
stink! For example, sulfur compounds called mercaptans
give skunks their awful smell. Rotten eggs (and most
stink bombs) get their distinctive aroma courtesy of
hydrogen sulfide, H2S.
 Certain cave bacteria digest hydrogen sulfide and
produce snottites (think of slimy stalactites) in caves.
These snottites drip sulfuric acid with a pH as low as zero
– that’s enough to burn holes in your clothes if you stand
underneath them. Snottite bacteria thrive in areas where
there are sulfur deposits or sulfur-containing minerals or
hydrocarbons. The sulfuric acid they excrete carves out
new cave systems underground by dissolving rocks.
 There’s a much higher proportion of sulfur in the earth’s
core than in its crust – approximately 100 times more.
 Penicillin is a natural, sulfur-based antibiotic.