Gallium

Gallium is used to dope semiconductors and manufacture of transistors.   Gallium arsenide can convert electricity into coherent light.   Because of its low melting point, it is used in low-melting alloys. ^{Lide 4-12}

Gallium was discoverd 1875 by Paul Lecoq de Boisbaudran, a French chemist, using spectroscopic methods.   He also obtained the free metal in that year by electrolysis of a solution of the hydroxide in potassium hydroxide, KOH.   Gallium is often found in minute amounts in diaspore, sphalerite, germanite, bauxite, and coal ores. ^{Lide 4-12}