Chemical Element Titanium: Structure and Properties
The chemical element Titanium was not refined into pure metallic form until 1910 but since then it has become vital to many industries due to its light weight and great strength, especially when alloyed with other metals such as Aluminium and Iron. It is used heavily in the aerospace industry, medical applications and applications where corrosion resistance is a major factor.
Pure Titanium is a white metal. This is never found in nature due to the reactiveness of the element. Like Aluminium, metal Titanium forms a very thin coating of oxide on the outside that prevents further corrosion.Isotopes of Titanium All Titanium atoms contain 22 protons in the nucleus, but the number of neutrons can vary. There are a total of 25 isotopes of Titanium. The neutron contents of these forms range from 16 to 41, giving an overall range of 38-Titanium to 63-Titanium. Only five of these isotopes are non-radioactive and therefore stable. These five are 46-, 47-, 48-, 49- and 50-Titanium. 48-Titanium is the most common and makes up 73.7% of any sample. The other four stable isotopes range from 5 to 8% of any given sample of the element. Electron Arrangement of Titanium The chemical element Titanium has 22 electrons in its neutral state and this allows us to understand why it forms the compounds it does. The traditional Bohr method of allocating electrons to shells fails past the 20th element so we need to look closely at the electron details for the filling of the subshells for this element.
By following the pattern provided, we arrive at the electron configuration of 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d2 4s2, which can be seen in picture form shown above. This shows us that there are 2 outer shell electrons (4s2) and then 2 more electrons (3d2) which are then followed by full electron subshells. As elements are stable when they have 8 electrons in the outer shell, Titanium tends to drop off both the 4s2 and the 3d2 electrons to end up with an outer third shell containing 8 electrons. This gives Titanium a +4 charge since there are 4 less electons than protons. It is this +4 charge that directs the bonding of Titanium with other elements.
Compounds of TitaniumAs with virtually all metals found in nature, Titanium is in the form of positive ions that combine with negative ions to form neutral compounds. The two simplest examples are the combination of Titanium with the Oxide ion (O2-) formed from oxygen and the Chloride ion (Cl1-) formed from Chlorine. Titanium Dioxide: To make a neutral compound from the Titanium ion and oxide ions requires a simple ratio of 2 oxides to one Titanium ion, giving us the formula TiO2. This is a brilliant white compound favoured for use in paints. Titanium Tetrachloride: Highly toxic and not found in nature, Titanium Tetrachloride is nonetheless provides a clear and simple example of ionic bonding. The 4+ charged chemical element Titanium ion combines with 4 Chloride ions, each of which carries a single negative charge. This gives the chemical formula of TiCl4 It is worth noting that these formulae are ratios. There are no molecules of TiO2 or TiCl4, as molecules require covalent bonding such as that found in the alkane family of molecules.
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