Arsenic (symbol As: atomic number 33, atomic weight 74.9) is named from the Greek arsenikos meaning male, and was discovered around 1250 AD. Metallic arsenic is gray and sublimes at 613°C. Arsenic can exist in any one of four different oxidation states: As−III, As (metallic arsenic), AsIII and AsV, but has only the one stable isotope. As−III and AsIII are the more toxic forms of arsenic. In addition to its much publicized role as a poison, arsenic has been histroically used in tonics, medicines and dyes, and is currently used as an additive to animal feed, wood preservative (copper chrome arsenate), special glasses, pesticides and in electronic components (e.g. as a semiconductor: gallium arsenide). Arsenic is cycled through sediments, solution, the atmosphere and the food chain in much the same way as mercury (Nriagu, 1994). The carcinogenic properties of arsenic in drinking water are still a subject of some controversy, although environmental criteria for arsenic are being...
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Bibliography
Cullen, W.R., and Reimer, K.J. (1989). Arsenic speciation in the environment. Chem. Rev., 89, 713–64.
Nriagu, J.O. (1994). Arsenic in the Environment, Advances in Environmental Sciences, Vol. 26. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 430 pp.
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© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Webster, J.G. (1998). Arsenic . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_15
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