Selenium Research Paper

Constantly my chemistry teacher encourages us to shrink down to the size of an atom and see the world from a subatomic state. I encourage people to imagine themselves as an atom, as crazy as it seems, and direct their attention to the neoteric world around themselves. One may come to notice that atoms of dissimilar elements have many comparable qualities when looking at them in this light. Any element that one could view is sure to strike one into a state of awe; however, selenium is a particular element that has an alluring history, intriguing characteristics, and an impressive role in society.
Selenium was discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius at Stockholm in 1817 and is named after the Greek word for the moon, Selene (“Selenium”). Jöns discovered the element in the bottom of a chamber where sulfuric acid was being produced (“Selenium”). Upon his first impression, Berzelius believed that Selenium was tellurium because of the strong smell of radishes that the element had emitted once heated (“Selenium”). Of course, he eventually found that it was indeed a new element. He made remarks of the elements properties and noted that the element had many analogous traits with both sulfur and tellurium (“Selenium”). This element affected Berzelius physically as well. Working with the element caused him to have
The six stable isotopes of selenium are 74Se, 76Se, 77Se, 78Se, 80Se, and 82Se (Chemical). “These isotopes occur naturally with approximate abundances of 0.87, 9.02, 7.58, 23.52, 49.82, and 9.19%.” (Chemical) Artificial isotopes have also been created by using the neutron activation method. Neutron activation essentially determines the concentration of an element in materials ("For Chemical Analysis”). One important isotope that has been created is the gamma-emitting 75se (Chemical). The nuclear properties of selenium are an essential part of its attributes, but the chemical properties are just as