Pure sulfur is a tasteless, odourless, brittle solid that is pale yellow in colour, a poor conductor of electricity, and insoluble in water. It reacts with all metals except gold and platinum, forming sulfides; it also forms compounds with several nonmetallic elements.
It is used for making car batteries, fertilizer, oil refining, water processing, and mineral extraction. Other applications for sulfur-based chemicals include rubber vulcanization, bleaching paper, and product making such as cement, detergents, and pesticides. And some gunpowder.
Sulfur (also spelled sulphur in British English) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with the chemical formula S8.
The nucleus consists of 16 protons (red) and 16 neutrons (yellow). 16 electrons (white) bind to the nucleus, successively occupying available electron shells (rings).
Sulfur was known as brenne stone for "combustible stone" from which brim-stone is derived. It was known from prehistoric times and thought to contain hydrogen and oxygen. In 1809, the French chemists Louis-Joseph Gay-Lussac and Louis-Jacques Thenard proved the elemental nature of sulfur.
Sulfur, the tenth most abundant element in the universe, has been known since ancient times. Sometime around 1777, Antoine Lavoisier convinced the rest of the scientific community that sulfur was an element. Sulfur is a component of many common minerals, such as galena (PbS), gypsum (CaSO4·2(H2O), pyrite (FeS2), sphalerite (ZnS or FeS), cinnabar (HgS), stibnite (Sb2S3), epsomite (MgSO4·7(H2O)), celestite (SrSO4) and barite (BaSO4). Nearly 25% of the sulfur produced today is recovered from petroleum refining operations and as a byproduct of extracting other materials from sulfur containing ores.
Sulfur is used in the vulcanisation of black rubber, as a fungicide and in black gunpowder. Most sulfur is, however, used in the production of sulfuric acid, which is perhaps the most important chemical manufactured by western civilisations.
Sulfur occurs naturally as the element, often in volcanic areas. This has traditionally been a major source for human use. It is also widely found in many minerals including iron pyrites, galena, gypsum and Epsom salts. Elemental sulfur was once commercially recovered from wells by the Frasch process.
Pure sulfur is a tasteless, odourless, brittle solid that is pale yellow in colour, a poor conductor of electricity, and insoluble in water. It reacts with all metals except gold and platinum, forming sulfides; it also forms compounds with several nonmetallic elements.
It is a reactive element that given favorable circumstances combines with all other elements except gases, gold, and platinum. Sulfur appears in a number of different allotropic modifications: rhombic, monoclinic, polymeric, and others.