Antimony

Occurrence, isolation & synthesis


Silvery-white, hard, brittle metal, with a scale like crystalline structure, or a dark grey lustrous powder [8].

Occurrence


In nature, antimony is found in the Earth's crust. It is mined in China, Mexico and Bolivia [8]. The isotopes found in nature are 121Sb (57.25 %, stable) and 123Sb (42.75 %, stable) [8].

In pure solid form, antimony can exist in a rhombic [2] and trigonal [5] structure.