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Sulfur: Elements
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Sulfur is an odorless, tasteless, light yellow solid. It is a reactive element that given favorable circumstances combines with all other elements except gases, gold, and platinum. Sulfur appears in a number of different allotropic modifications: rhombic, monoclinic, polymeric, and others. The rhombic structure is the most commonly found sulfur form. Each allotropic form differs in solubility, specific gravity, crystalline, crystalline arrangement, and other physical constants. These various allotropes ... can exist together in equilibrium in definite proportions, depending on temperature and pressure.
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Sulfur is an ubiquitous element of the Earth crust where it is mostly present as sulfate salts. Far from dioxygen it may be present in reduced metal-binding forms, such a pyrite (fool's gold) in rocks. It is an essential component of life. Most recent scenarios depicting the Origin of Life place sulfur at a crucial position. In biological processes the role of sulfur is limited to a series of highly specific objects, in particular involved in electron transfers. The presence of gaseous dioxygen has further enhanced the versatility of the processes where this atom is involved.
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Sulfur ranks about 16th in abundance among the elements in Earth's crust and is found widely distributed in both the free and combined states. In combination it occurs in many important metallic sulfides, such as lead sulfide, or galena, PbS; zinc blende, ZnS; copper pyrite, (Cu,Fe)S2; cinnabar, HgS; stibnite, Sb2S3; and iron pyrite FeS2. It is ... combined with other elements in the form of sulfates such as barite, BaSO4; celestite, SrSO4; and gypsum, CaSO4 ยท 2H2O; and it is present in the molecules of many organic substances such as mustard, eggs, hair, proteins, and oil of garlic. In the free state it is found mixed with gypsum and pumice stone in volcanic regions throughout Iceland, Sicily, Mexico, and Japan, often occurring as a sublimate surrounding the volcanic apertures. Vast subterranean deposits are found in the United States in many parts of Louisiana and Texas, as well as in Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, and California. Free sulfur may be formed from the weathering of pyrites or may be deposited by hot sulfurous waters in which hydrogen sulfide has been oxidized by the atmosphere.
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Sulfur forms compounds in oxidation states -2 (sulfide, S2-), +4 (sulfite, SO32-), and +6 (sulfate, SO42-). It combines with nearly all elements. An unusual feature of some sulfur compounds results from the fact that sulfur is second only to carbon in exhibiting catenation—i.e., the bonding of an atom to another identical atom. This allows sulfur atoms to form ring systems and chain structures. The more significant sulfur compounds and compound groups are as follows.
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Sulfur was used during biblical times as a remedy for skin disorders such as acne and scabies. Flowers of sulfur were burned to disinfect the rooms of persons with infectious disease. Sulfur was ... taken with molasses as an internal cleanser, and was used to treat chronic bronchitis, constipation, and rheumatism. In the early 2000s the element is used in the manufacture of dyes, gunpowder, insecticides, fungicides, sulfuric acid, and rubber (as a hardening agent).
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Sulfur is found in all living organisms as a constituent of some proteins, vitamins, and hormones. Like carbon and nitrogen, sulfur cycles between the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere; but, unlike these two other elements, it has major reservoirs in both the atmosphere and the lithosphere.
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