I always knew mercury was liquid at room temperature, and also that bromine was and asked about it once. They say it is also a liquid element at room temperature, but it fumes. 1)Does this mean it is combining with oxygen or something and soon will be just a gas? So at room temperature it may be liquid, but it doesn’t last long, unlike mercury? Why does this deserve to be called a liquid, if this is true?
Imagine my shock and surprise when I was sitting in a laboratory room at our local college for a union meeting about whether we should stay with Blue Cross or go to Humana ,and unable to tolerate tediousness, I saw on the Periodic Table of Elements hanging in this interesting room that mercury, bromine, cesium, and francium were all indicated as liquids! I know that I read somewhere that there are only two atoms of francium in the earth or universe, and I never knew cesium was considered as a liquid! 2) IS it? and
3) are these the four official liquid elements: mercury, bromine, francium, and cesium? Or are there more?
Well, gallium melts at 86 degrees. http://www.matweb.com/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=MEGa00&group=General
I may be way off on this, but I think the key concepts of whether or not something is a liquid are what temperature and what pressure it is being stored at.
Well, every element is a liquid–at the right temperature and pressure.
Um, I’d assume the OP is referring to STP. I’d expect that there’s a table somewhere in the CRC to find this information.
Anyone who doesn’t know what STP and CRC mean is hereby banned from giving serious answers to this thread. 
Oh, good, then I’m free to spout out wiseass answers like this! 
Only two atoms of Francium? Is there a punchline?
What do you call a regular procession of pachyderms?
ANs: The Periodic Tableau of the Elephants.
But seriously now, I SAID above AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.
I know gold can be a liquid, but not at room temperature.
I also know that some elements CAN NOT be in all three forms at some temperature, or I think I also know this. Ie.,I think some solids at the phase change don’t go to liquid but right to gas form, which is called sublimation.
Why would they indicate on the Periodic Table whether an element was solid, liquid, or gas if we are just supposed to take it for granite that any can be all at the right emperature and pressure? They must have something in mind by classifying like this, more than meets the eye.
Welcome on board as a moderator… and after such a short time! You must be gooood!
Manhattan et al can really use the help.
Moderator? Eh?
Nukeman, astro was making a sarcastic comment on my overweening arrogance. As far as I know, I haven’t been given moderator status on this board.
Of course, if I have, then astro’s account is going to be summarily deleted, as he forgot to add ‘Heil SCSimmons’ to the end of his post, per my new rules.
Oh…woops. I didn’t read your post properly.
Anyway,
‘Heil SCSimmons!’ nazi salute, goose stepping etcetera
Rubber Bible Online: http://www.hbcpnetbase.com/hbcp/default.jsp
Cool!
Unfortunately it’s a subscription service, and you have to phone for the price. Although there is a free one-week trial.
To get back to the OP:
One of the best references on the web, for anything to do with elements:
Questions concerning elements liquid at “room temperature” are common trivia grist - with varying answers. In addition to the ones already mentioned, add Rubidium. Most of these elements are solid at STP, strictly speaking, but melt at temperatures only a few degrees above it, so can BE liquid in a humanly habitable environment. At STP, the strict answer is two - mercury and bromine. For trivia questions, one has to argue about what phrases like “room temperature” mean. Gallium will melt on hot day.
The boiling point of bromine is about 140 F, and it vaporizes easily at temperatures lower than that, which is what the OP’s source is referring to as “fuming”. Note that this does not mean it’s not a liquid. Water evaporates at room temperature, too, filling the air with water vapor. Bromine vapor ain’t near as innocous as water vapor, of course, in fact it’s rather nasty. Note that mercury produces vapor, too, which is why it’s a health hazard. Web element’s basic data description of bromine, with a picture of the stuff:
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Br/key.html
Francium and astatine are the two candidates for the rarest elements which actually do occur naturally on the Earth. Both are radioactive and appear in the breakdown sequences of heavier elements. The most stable isotopes of both have very short half lives - 8 hours for astatine, 22 minutes for francium. I remember hearing that at any given moment there is about 2 kg of astatine on the Earth. Webelements says about 30 g for astatine, 20-30 g for francium. Either way, it’s obviously hard to estimate. Of course that’s around 6-8 * 10**22 Fr atoms …
And we’ll heil … braaack*, … heil braaaack right in SCSimmons face, and maybe slam his nose in the CRC for good measure, and dare him to do anything about it.
I call bromine a liquid because when I need to use bromine I get a bottle of it and suck it out with a syringe. It looks and acts like a liquid in every respect. Melts at about -10 C, boils at about 60 C. It is usually kept under a nitrogen atmosphere.
From the cesium FAQ: “Physically, it is a soft metal or light liquid, pale gold in color when pure, silvery-white otherwise. It melts at 28.4 C, just below body heat, and boils at 669.3 C.” Francium has an estimated melting point of 27 C. Its most stable isotope has a half-life of just 22 minutes, so it can be difficult t tell.
I don’t believe there is anything official about it. “Liquid” has a fairly hazy definition as it is which is compounded by where the periodic table makers decide to put the cut off line for “room temperature.”
I just want to point out that someone above said “take it for granite” instead of “take it for granted” and no one else noticed. That’s funny.
-Kris
PS Not trying to give you a hard time, it’s just funny…
PPS I am pretty sure that you can predict the properties of an element from its atomic weight etc, so even if there were only two atoms of Francium on the planet, scientists would know what state it would be in at room temperature. Could be wrong about that. I don’t know what STP or CRC mean, but I did make a wiseass comment so I think I am excused. Or something. Ironically.
RE: "take it for granite"
Yeah, yeah, we noticed Kris.
Some things should not be encouraged, though.
I though you meant “granite” as in “written in stone”. 