Gallium

Gallium is a soft, silvery post-transition metal with a surprising property: it melts just below 30 °C, so even the warmth of a hand can turn it into a liquid. In nature, it occurs chemically combined in small amounts within other minerals, especially bauxite, the main aluminum ore, and some zinc ores. Industry recovers gallium as a by-product of processing these ores, mainly bauxite, rather than mining separate gallium deposits. Its compounds are particularly important in electronics. Gallium arsenide is used in high-speed circuits and mobile phones, while gallium nitride and related compounds help produce blue LEDs and violet lasers. These semiconductor materials have electrical properties that can be controlled to make useful devices.