October 31 - November 3, 2004
Element of the Day
Monday, October 18
The
name comes from the Sanskrit word "sulvere" and also from the Latin
word "sulphurium". Sulfur is found in meteorites, volcanoes, hot
springs, and as galena, gypsum, Epsom salts, and barite. It is recovered
commercially from "salt domes" along the Gulf Coast of the USA.
Jupiter's moon Io owes its colors to various forms of sulfur. A dark area near
the crater Aristarchus on the moon may be a sulfur deposit. Sulfur is referred
to in Genesis as brimstone, meaning "a stone that burns".
Discovered by: It has been known since ancient times
Uses: Most of the world's sulfur production is used to make sulfuric acid, approximately 40 million tons every year just in the United States. Fertilizers and lead-storage automobile batteries consume a large portion of this supply. Smaller amounts are used as insecticides, as dyeing agents, in the manufacture of gunpowder, in the manufacture of fireworks, and to vulcanize natural and synthetic rubbers. Sulfur dioxide is beneficial in preserving fruits and vegetables and in the brewing and wine making industry as both an antioxidant and an antibiotic. Sulfur also plays an important role in our bodies by formation of cross-linking disulfide bonds, which plays a critical role in the folding and three-dimensional structures of proteins. Sulfur also is partially responsible for the smell of rotten eggs and skunks, by forming foul smelling compounds