This cache is the 14th in a series of 22 hides to be named after chemical elements and placed on Ramsey streets (and sometimes points North) with the same name. The series will speed up the qualification requirements for challenge cache GC2P5TJ, since some already published elements require traveling great distances. The closest cache named Germanium is located 16 miles South.
History: Germanium was an element whose existence was predicted by Mendeleev in 1871. He predicted that the then unknown element germanium should resemble silicon in its properties. He suggested therefore the name ekasilicon (symbol Es). His predictions for the properties of germanium are remarkably close to the reality. Germanium was discovered in a mineral called argyrodite by Clemens Alexander Winkler in 1886.
Sources: Germanium is not found as the free element in nature. Germanium is found in germanite, argyrodite, and some zinc ores. It is also present in coal and its presence in coal insures reserves for many years.
Uses:
- doped with arsenic, gallium, or other elements for use as a transistor element. Its application as a semiconductor provides the largest use for germanium
- alloying agent
- phosphor in fluorescent lamps
- a catalyst
- germanium and germanium oxide are transparent to the infrared and are used in infrared spectroscopes and other optical equipment, including extremely sensitive infrared detectors. Also for wide-angle camera lenses and microscope objectives.
- possible chemotherapy applications?
- use as a gamma-radiation detector