INDIUM

— In. Atomic Weight, 114.8. A metal belonging to the aluminum group, and first discovered in 1863, by Reich and Richter in zinc blende. It is a white metal, softer than lead and easily malleable. It is not affected by air or by moisture. It has a specific gravity of 7.1 and a melting point of 155° C. It can be obtained from the oxide by reduction in a, current of hydrogen, or by fusion with sodium, or it can be prepared electrolytically from solutions of the chloride, nitrate or sulphate. It di olves slowly in hydrochloric and dilute sulphuric acid, but rapidly in nitric acid. When heated on charcoal in the blowpine, it gives a blue coloration to the flame and forms an fncrustation of oxide. It combines with selenium and tellurium. forming black metallic ma es.