Antimony in the Environment
Description
Antimony (Sb) is a metallic element (actually a metalloid) like arsenic. Antimony sits immediately below arsenic in the periodic table, and has many of the same chemical properties. In particular antimony readily forms complex negatively charged ions with oxygen (oxyanions) in the environment. Antimony can be in the 3+ or 5+ oxidation state in these oxyanions, just like arsenic. As for arsenic, the 5+ oxidation state is the most common in the environment.
|