Indium is a metallic chemical element that is soft, ductile, and malleable. It has a silvery white color and its properties are quite similar to to gallium. (The element above Indium in the periodic table) The element Indium "wets" glass and is useful in mixtures to make the resulting alloy the chateristic of being able to be melted at low-melting points. By "wetting" glass it helps make mirrors better and more resistant to atmospheric damages. Other practical uses Indium now gives is in the making of transistors and photoconductors.
Interesting Facts:
Although not much information is known of this element, it is known that Canada is now producing approximately 1 million grams of Indium and using it for its uses. Indium is mostly found in Canada (45%), and another 45% of the element can be found in China, Russia and France. Japan is the current leading consumer to this element. It is also expected that the use of this element will increase as this element helped in making LCDs and high definition TVs.
It is also known that when Indium is in pure form, it gives out a high pitched screech when bent.
One of the most surprising things is that Indium is as abundant as silver and costs approximately 1-5 dollars per a gram only!
The above pictures are pictures of the element Indium.
Photo Credit:
http://www.seilnacht.tuttlingen.com/Lexikon/49Indium.htm
The picture above shows the energy shields of one atom of Indium. Energy shields indicate the number of electrons surrounding the protons and neutrons in the middle. The number of energy shields and electrons per a energy shield may be found out by using the periodic table. In some cases, knowing how the energy shields look like and knowing how many electrons on the outer layer may tell you how reactive the element is and whether it is an Alkaline Metal, Alkaline Earth Metal, Noble gases etc.
Photo Credit:
http://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/in.html